What To Do With the Trolls

Submitted by xtramelanin on

Mates,

I am hoping to avoid a 'Lord of the Flies' scenario, but man, we have been infested by trolls lately.  Like many, I appreciate the cool rival fans that post here (e. g. nittany, buckeye chuck and others) and I also don't think we need to be bubble wrapped to protect against the occasional abrasive/snotty remark.  That said, there are some posters that aren't making this a better place.  They come in two kinds:

1.  The aforementioned over-the-top jerk rivals

2.  The more recent multiple account knucklehead(s).

The solutions for each might not be the same.  I guess I'd vote to nuke the rivals who lack self-control, but for the multiple account type(s), I really don't care what they post but enough of the false-conversation volleys.  No matter how many times they are told how silly they look, they persist.

[Insert pic of Gladiator emperor with his thumb out, but not turned either way....but 3.0]

So my question for the board is this:

Assuming our Mgoblog overlords listen to us (and they generally do, at least when we're rational), what would you like to be done with the trolls?

 

XM

MGoBoard
Other

jimmyjoeharbaugh

September 13th, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^

There's a couple things being overlooked here - 

1. JUST IGNORE THEM. This is the best way to deal with the accounts that bother you. The "troll" problem on this board has been made way worse by 3 or 4 people replying to every comment by a suspect user.  This clutters the threads up way worse and takes the level of decorum down a notch.  So, Solution #1 is just IGNORE the people you don't like, don't reply to them, don't enable or encourage them.  This very topic is exhibit A of cluttering the board even more instead of just ignoring it until it goes away.  I went through potty training my toddler like a year ago, and the guidebook we used had an interesting line - a toddler never throws a tantrum in an empty room. 

2. last night there was a purge of several accounts so the whole deal about multiple accounts is probably over for now.  even on mgoblog 3.0, it takes 100 points to make a new post, so even if the users who were purged come back with new accounts, they won't be able to make new posts, which is half the recent problem it seems.  They could still comment, but at least the low-effort posts should be less now. In other words, the majority of the problem is probably solved for now.

by the way i was unfairly dragged into it and banned for no good reason and no evidence of wrongdoing - and i'll keep saying this until the mods admit they may have overdone it.

3. oh yeah, edit.  forgot one thing.  i also suggest a point penalty could solve part of the problem without inflicting the total ban.  

4. one more idea - maybe implement a comment rate limit based on points.  if < 1000 points, can only comment once an hour or something like that.

Joined: 09/12/2018

MGoPoints: 5459

jimmyjoeharbaugh

September 13th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^

i'm not them, never have been, it's easy to tell that by the evidence, let it go. 

again, this is the shit i'm talking about.  i made a reasonable reply to the post - answering the OP's questions - and immediately somebody jumps in to drag me back into the fray on this stuff.  is it that hard to just not post the reply and start the whole thing up again?

when we're talking about trolls, who's the real troll here?  

Joined: 09/12/2018

MGoPoints: 5459

TIMMMAAY

September 13th, 2018 at 7:11 PM ^

Nooo, I'm talking about multi account guy. Threading gets weird at the start of a new page for some reason. You're obviously an astute individual, or you wouldn't be where you are. 

edit: and you make me feel like a seriously inferior parent. 

Joined: 09/08/2008

MGoPoints: 56289

Aspyr

September 13th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^

The problem with just ignoring them is that many of them including your accounts try and create misinformation ( for example MK = Shea ) which then spreads to other non-trolls accounts and/or makes this community look bad especially if they are criticizing players and coaches.

Your purpose here wasn't to be a "oh just ignore me" troll it was to cause people to leave this website out of frustration etc.

 

 

Joined: 06/21/2012

MGoPoints: 2576

jimmyjoeharbaugh

September 13th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^

you can't access my comment history on here anymore because my account got blocked, but you can browse every comment i made on mgoblog until June 2018 at the wayback machine. there's a little blue arrow button at the top where you can jump from snapshot to snapshot to see all the comments.  check it out:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170114142139/http://mgoblog.com:80/users/jamesjosephharbaugh

So pray tell, what have I ever posted that was even remotely close to "misinformation" or "trolling," and how does this comment history look even a tiny bit similar to the MultiTroll's many accounts and recent history?  

I mean if you want to say I did something bad, fine, but please show me the evidence.  the reality is i got banned because of endless baseless accusations that cluttered the board and annoyed everyone. 

also it's clear that this new account SmugBastard is a replacement for the multitroll, I'll join the chorus on that one. But again, their style/pattern doesn't match mine in the least.  

Joined: 09/12/2018

MGoPoints: 5459

Baby Fishmouth

September 13th, 2018 at 9:16 AM ^

I feel bad for the people who live such empty lives that they find entertainment in trying to piss off strangers or that they need multiple accounts to help justify their own existence.  Grow up.  Find a hobby.  Get a second job (first job?)  Be productive, somehow.  Do anything other than broadcast your currently pathetic life to the world.

Joined: 06/13/2014

MGoPoints: 2563

dragonchild

September 13th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^

That's easily said, but it's not like anyone TRIES to be lonely, despite what they may insist.  Fact is, a lot of people are on the Internet, because the Internet is easy.  To a certain extent, forums CAN'T reject them, unlike real social interactions where they might be ignored or even ostracized.

I know firsthand, I'm an awkward fellow so it takes tremendous sustained effort to simply make myself socially tolerable.  If I want to be loathed and detested, shucks, that's effortless -- I just drop my composure and be myself.  After so many years of such an effort:reward ratio, at some point it's more comforting and cathartic to burn all the bridges, piss everyone off and say to one's self, "Fuck them, I LIKE being alone."  That way leads to a hole of impenetrable darkness, so I eventually learned to avoid it, but I also get why so many poor souls willingly crawl into there.  That sad reality will exist either way, the hole of despair will always be packed with Smeagols, but the Internet provides a glowing gateway out of that pit, an unholy temptation where the lonely can channel their bitterness and spit their accumulated bile onto those that rejected them with the comforts of anonymity and -- in many cases -- impunity.

That's not to say these people deserve sympathy.  A concise way to sum up someone who's completely given up on trying and flipped to sabotaging all discourse out of petty misguided revenge is "asshole".  I ain't saying what they do is right. . . but I understand.

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 60918

Rabbit21

September 14th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^

Remember understanding helps you realize why you shouldn't feel bad about it.  It may give you context for how a person is acting, but there still isn't an excuse, being an asshole remains being an asshole.  I completely agree with Dragonchild's eloquent post, I may know why someone is being annoying and I may even have some sympathy for it, but at the end of the day they're still being annoying in spite of a LOT of feedback that they need to calm down.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

Double-D

September 13th, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^

Much of the bullshit just clouds up the board.  Certainly some type of house cleaning is in order.   The dichotomy is we are asking Brian to likely reduce clicks.  

Joined: 12/21/2013

MGoPoints: 87524

Aspyr

September 13th, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^

It was obvious to many that Mineral King - MichiganFan1984 - SkyPanther et all was the same guy.

There were many tells and really the guy flaunted that they were the same account.

If the point system was working all of these accounts would have been in the negative and so we would have been able to self police at least the ability to start a post. Maybe work on a system where anyone that has negative points (-1 to -100) can still post but is greyed out or their posts are defaulted to closed (would have to use the arrow to open) so that a user has the opportunity to reform after a bad post etc.

Bottom line is that it is far easier for the users to identify this type of troll than the mods and he will continue to create accounts (jimmyjoeharbaugh)

Joined: 06/21/2012

MGoPoints: 2576

StephenRKass

September 13th, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^

I no longer read enough or post enough to pick up on the trolls, and study their syntax, and their replies to each other. If and when they can be removed, great. However, generally, they seem to self-destruct / self-immolate.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23001

Perkis-Size Me

September 13th, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^

I'll preface with the fact that I'm not a very savvy IT guy, but I don't know how much you can really do. Unless you ban someone by their IP address (Do the mods have that capability? Is it worth their time to do it? I honestly don't know), you really can't stop someone from coming here and trolling. You ban their username? Fine, they create a new one and come right back. 

I've honestly never found it that hard to just ignore those posters. This is the internet. It's full of shit-talkers and supposed tough guys hiding behind a keyboard, and it will always be that way. In fact, it will probably get worse overall as time goes on. I'm not saying you shouldn't try banning them if they're stepping out of line, but I think its only worth the mods time if they have an effective means of doing so. Banning a username is not going to stop that person from creating a new one and coming right back the very next day. 

 

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105785

SmugBastard

September 13th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^

Please STOP.

This is a college football message board. No one here is Really Cool Above it All.

I imagine at least some, if not a lot, of you troll other boards and tweet 18 year olds about their football careers.

All message boards are the same. This one is no different.

Joined: 09/13/2018

MGoPoints: 25