This blog has been getting a lot more traffic lately. The downside is that we’ve had a lot more trolls here lately as well.
Because of this, and because of a shitty situation in one of the comment threads earlier tonight involving an abusive troll who I wish I had banned sooner, I want to open up a discussion to everyone here (that is, everyone here who is not a troll or an MRA).
The question is: Do I need to crack down harder on trolls?
Generally my approach has been to let trolls post unless and until they’re abusive. I know a lot of people here like engaging with trolls and taking them down.
The problem, of course, is that these trolls can quickly become abusive. And this can trigger people.
Should I be quicker to ban people — banning trolls at the first sign that they might become abusive rather than giving them the benefit of the doubt (which, unfortunately a lot of them don’t deserve)? Should I be stricter about who I let post in the first place?
There are actually a lot of people I don’t let post here at all; if their first comment is too aggressive or hostile or (obviously) contains a slur I don’t let their comments through. I’m especially strict when it comes to people posting in threads about women who’ve been harassed.
But I could be stricter, and I could ban more quickly if that’s what you think I should do.
Frankly, I gave up a long time ago on the idea that it’s possible to have any kind of “open debate” with these people. Too many of them are abusive assholes for that to work.
So my priority here is the regular feminist and feminist-friendly commenters on this blog, and coming up with a comment policy and procedures that work better for you all. There are people who enjoy and in many cases feel empowered by being able to confront the trolls here. But I don’t want, and I don’t think any of us want, more situations like the one that happened tonight.
To be honest, I do think I need to crack down harder. I just want to hear what you all think on the issue, and to hear your suggestions as to how to do this most effectively.
The other aspect of this: I think I need to put up more no troll, no MRA open threads. And so I will be doing that.
Thoughts?
(I may not be able to get back to this thread for a little while, but I’ll definitely be back later in the evening.)
Also, how do you brag about that? You know any of them banned for being offensive run back to their buddies for high fives, but how do you boast about being banned for being melatonin in human form?
Mikey made a post on his blog whining about being banned from here. He’s basically saying he didn’t do anything wrong and that the feminists here are just looking for ways to be offended. i find it pretty typical that he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of “triggering” someone.
It’s okay, marinaliteyears. Triggers are specifically a trauma reaction; a trigger is something that clicks into a memory of a traumatic event, causing emotions or sensations from that event to come up.
So the biggest, most callous macho badass can have triggers due to past trauma. A very sensitive person who might feel pain easily might have no traumatic background and thus no triggers. (My sibling Sneak, for instance, is very sensitive, but as far as I know has no triggers.)
Triggers can also be fucking random. Macho Army Bruiser might have a massive trigger about kittens because he saw one blown up one day, but be totally at ease in an Internet flamewar. I can handle Internet trolls and constant social services fail but go to pieces if I get a happy birthday phone call from my folks.
Triggers can also be of different severities and have different effects. My phone call trigger just causes low level fear, shame, and guilt for a few days. Back in the day where my rape triggers ruled my life, an orgasm would cause hysterical tears and shaking in the fetal position for an hour, or a days-long dissociative episode where I’d be spacy and emotionless.
Ah. So I was mostly on track then, just with an unthinking odious assumption on top of it. My bad. Thanks for explaining though.
(the more I think of it, the more I feel like I should have known better. Live and Learn, I suppose.)
@WWTH and Kittehs, thanks, Poppy is adorable. Such unbelievably soft fur and she always says hello and comes for a cuddle when we get home.
With regards to troll-banning, I’m all for having mods. What with work, family commitments and time differences, I tend to play catch up so it’s generally all over when I get here. I enjoy watching everyone rip the trolls apart and I’m privileged to have no triggers. Having said that, I can clearly see when the regulars are calling for a ban, it’s gone too far and David, being human, is not around.
I was thinking reading the comments and the opinions on this topic. If these trolls come on here spewing idiotic hateful comments they deserve to be mocked. If these trolls banned, this community here is so tight and cohesive that it will still be a great blog community even without trolls. There is a lot of good friendships that have developed in this community I have observed over some time and it will still be a nice blog to visit.
Oh, it was this thread someone requested threaded comments right? When I set up the Borg (clicky my nym), pretty much everyone here requested I not do threaded comments, because they hate them.
(Reminder: any [semi] regulars who want to write for the Borg are welcome to, use the contact form on the site and I’ll work the backend magic)
…that came out wrong >.<
Probably already answered, but no, no way would threaded comments be a good idea. First, they make the thing even more confusing to read, imo; second, there’s usually a limit on how much threading can be done, which ends up putting replies all over the place. Our conversations are long and free-flowing. For me, the format is fine.
RE: Argenti
I’ll work the backend magic
My husband just made trollface.
Hey, it made me chuckle. Which is probably unladylike, oh noes, better go find a PUA to reprogram me.
Latest update: Some of the regular gang here have generously volunteered to serve as mods. I’ll try to work out the nuts and bolts of how this will work, and will do another post on that once I do. I’ll try to work out some good way to figure out how best to notify them of possible problems when they’re on and modding.
On the IP bans: I already ban IPs. I ban so, so many IPs. The trouble is that some people post from multiple locations and dedicated trolls/socks use VPNs to change their IPs.
When I sometimes announce that I’ve checked an IP and recognized an old sock, it’s not because they’re using the same IP as they did before — those IPs are already in the mod list. But it’s because their IP is similar to the old one and/or points to the same location in the real world. If I discover, for example, that someone is posting from the same neighborhood in Manila, it’s pretty clear it’s the same person; I don’t get a lot of traffic from the Phillipines.
In the case of some trolls I end up banning as many as a dozen separate IPs to keep them from returning.
Being boring is already bannable, though a lot of trolls get away with it for quite a while (GNL being a great example of how it doesn’t have to be a teal dear to be boring). From the comments policy page:
Oh, and on Mikey’s quote from Dad’s Army: it’s a rapey joke in the original, so it isn’t all that important whether people know the show or not: it doesn’t make the joke any better. I’ve never watched it, but I heard that line quoted a zillion times at work in years past.
On threaded comments, not going to do those. The free-roaming comment threads we have now seem to work best for this blog. That’s what most commenters here say they like, and that’s what”s worked in practice.Even when there was a working forum set up with various topics, etc, the comment threads here were always where most of the action was.
With socks – even if they aren’t using the same IP, if they’re doing shitty things that get people thinking SOCK! they’re probably worth modding, if not outright banning.
Thank you for not going the threaded comment route. I hate those.
Me too. Even if most of the approach to social justice issues on Tumblr didn’t make me roll my eyes I’d avoid it because the way comments are threaded there is so irritating and un-user-friendly.
I’m used to threaded comments, since I was on LJ for years before I was on here, but it can get really awful when you have the sheer volume of comments we do. (Expanding… so much expanding…)
ALSO, random aside: oh, great random knowledge gestalt that is my fellow Mammotheers, I come upon a quest from my roommate, who is seeking council! And by council, I mean stuff.
He’s pagan and seeking a small statue of throned Aphrodite. I think gilded or white he said? His searches have come up dry, and so he requests the sage wisdom of Mammoth. I have no idea whether there are any Hellenistic pagans on this here site, but you guy have surprised me in the past!
In tribute and sacrifice, I offer this picture of a cat farting a rainbow.
From its foot? Poor kitty, being born with it’s ass on it’s foot.
Could be convenient at times – kitty could just stick one foot in the litter.
LBT, how’s your roommate been searching? Has he looked for (this is probably a Duh question) for search terms like “Aphrodite replica”? What’s his budget?
I unfortunately am not sure, Kittehs. I’m assuming he’s been Googling stuff like that, he has good Google Fu. As for his budget… cheaper the better, but it’s his religion, so he’s probably willing to shell out for quality.
It’s a tricky one, isn’t it? From my quick looking so far, replicas of Aphrodite statues are easy to come by, but showing her enthroned, not so much. Demeter yes, Cybele, yes, Persephone, yes, Athena, yes, but not Aphrodite.
… do you think they were all sitting on Hard Thrones?
I think the idea of mods is a fantastic one. Many of the commenters here would rock that role.
RE: Kittehs
Yeah, I think that’s the problem he’s having. I think at worst case, he’ll get Cybele and mod it out, but he really doesn’t want to. (I mean, that’s his pantheon he’d be disrespecting!)
And of course, only the hardest of thrones.
Yeah, I looked up Cybele to see if Aphrodite was one of the Greek pantheon she was associated/combined with – nope, everyone but!
Would it be acceptable to him if there was an equivalent Venus? I know she’s a different deity, but was associated by the Romans (bloody Romans!).
There are coins of Aphrodite enthroned, I think, but that’s not a lot of help for a shrine.