[Summit] Trolls

[David Schrag]

I don't have a problem with anonymity on the list. It can be a good thing,
if it allows people to air opinions that might be initially held by a small
minority without fear of social reprisal. IMHO, Fr Eng's problem is not
that s/he posts anonymously but that s/he will not engage in an actual
back-and-forth conversation in pursuit of a common understanding. His/her
points might be taken much more seriously if they weren't always made in a
hit-and-run style.

On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 3:50 PM, Elizabeth Grossman <egrossman1 at cox.net>
wrote:

> It seems to me that Michael's well-explained post  highlights two issues:
>  content and anonymity.  For me the second is the more troublesome.
> It seems to me that while there may be, in rare cases, a compelling
> personal  reason  for wishing to speak anonymously (one's security
> --personal and/or financial could be at risk, e.g. )  ) if no such
> compelling reason exists, then I think  list serve posts should *not* be
> anonymous.  I  also feel certain a way could be found to determine if a
> poster's reasons for anonymity met reasonable critieria or not.  Might we
> consider rethinking anonymity on the listserve?  Elizabeth
> On Jan 14, 2015, at 3:26 PM, Emlyn Addison wrote:
>
> Invoking Charlie Hebdo in this context strikes me as completely
> inappropriate.
>
> There is nothing satirical about "Fr Eng's" posts, and Charlie Hebdo did
> not publish anonymously. On the Internet, anonymity plays an important role
> in communications between strangers, but on a small neighborhood list,
> where most people actually know each other, it's a particularly noxious
> form of trolling. It sows the worst kind of mistrust: are you "Fr Eng"? Is
> my neighbor "Fr Eng"?
>
> What little truth might be buried in their tirades is rendered meaningless
> by their behavior. It's an evasion of accountability, pure and simple. And
> there's a word for that.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 1:58 PM, Robert Mathiesen <rmath13 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Michael, as I said, it pushes a very hot button of mine when people
>> identify someone as a troll and urge ignoring that person's posts, as if
>> they never had been made.  Mostly I ignore these pseudonymous or
>> flame-baiting posts, and I think it a good idea to do so.  But I tell you
>> flat out, I shall not go along with a policy of *never ever under any
>> circumstances whatever* responding to posts from such a person.  To every
>> rule there are exceptions.  I do not think it degrades the list all that
>> much to have exceptions.  If I am wrong, and it does, then so be it.
>>
>> And once in a while my temper will get the best of me -- that's what
>> happens with very hot button issues -- and I will lash out at someone who
>> puts up a "don't feed the trolls" post, especially if it sounds like the
>> person wants for no exceptions whatever.  I'm not happy with myself when I
>> get that savage with a fellow poster, and I hope I will always apologize
>> for it later.
>>
>> I do get your points about the usefulness and value of internet
>> communities, and how some people might want to maximize these things.  I
>> also understand how the presence of flame-bait posts can work against these
>> things.  But I can't support your proposed solution to the problem, at
>> least not in the absolute terms that I see some people urging on the list.
>>
>> Some things are far more important, at least to me, than maximizing the
>> usefulness and value of the internet or the efficiency with which some
>> expect to be able to use it.  Among these things is the privilege of
>> anonymity, and the freedom to be inflammatory -- even to the extent of
>> Charlie Hebdo, in case you are wondering.  I don't use anonymity myself,
>> and I'm not inclined to pull Charlei Hebdos, but I will defend people who
>> do these things.  I will defend them even if they bring serious harm to a
>> community of which I am a member.
>>
>> I think this may fall under an irreconcilable difference of opinion
>> between you (and perhaps others) and me.
>>
>> Bob M
>>
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