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posted by martyb on Friday August 23 2019, @06:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the tragedy-of-the-commons dept.

I was going to post this to a particular story, but thought this might generate more attention and discussion as a general submission.

Seriously, what is going on with all these troll mods? Just because you disagree with someone, thus earning a "disagree" mod, does not mean that person is a "troll." To steal a definition from Urban Dictionary:

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

Just because you disagree with someone, does not mean they are trying to do the above. Be faster on the "disagree" and slower on the "troll." Under such abuse, it is hard to have a good discussion and, in itself, is trollish behavior by "generally disrupt[ing] normal on-topic discussion." Other than people disciplining themselves, a concerted effort to police such abuses, or making moderation logs public on the bottom of a comment where the score is shown now, I'm unsure of what to do about. As it stands, it is getting increasingly ridiculous to read what discussion is here on any topic remotely controversial, and is expanding outside of even those. It is starting to drive me away from the site, and I'm somewhat confident it is doing the same for others. I'd be interested to see what others think about the depth of the problem, if they even believe it even exists at all, and what solutions you all have for it.

[Ed note. This story is published exactly as received. First off, it bears repeating that complaining about moderations in the comments often leads (rightly) to an off-topic moderation. That is a contributing factor to my decision to run this story. Secondly, moderation is something that I on occasion have found I've fat-fingered and given a different moderation than expected. Thirdly, in the grand scheme of things, a comment's moderation is — relatively speaking — small potatoes. It is NOT a measure of your IQ or value as a human being. or standing in the community. Just accept that stuff happens and that as likely as not, someone will be along to moderate it the other way. Which is a good opportunity to say: PLEASE USE YOUR MOD POINTS! Lastly, if you think a comment was moderated in error, then send the CID (Comment ID) link e.g. "(#876543)" in an email to admin (at) soylentnews (dot) org. Keep in mind however that we are all volunteers here and there most likely will be a delay between when you send out an email and when we can get around to it. --martyb]

[Updated: 20190823_111312 UTC See comment from JR who far more precisely and eloquently expressed the idea I was attempting to. I concur with his assessment. If I want people to upmod a comment of mine that I believe was unfairly downmodded, then I need to be willing to upmod other's mis-modded comments. For perspective, so far this month, anywhere from ~150-~350 mod points were used in any given day. It bears repeating: use your mod points!]


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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by aristarchus on Friday August 23 2019, @09:27PM (4 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 23 2019, @09:27PM (#884364) Journal

    It is not the difference of opinion, my dear janrinok, that Azuma Hazuki points out, it is the naivete, the unknowing, the ignorance. But you see, if you have this explained to you, and you double down and resort to "difference of opinion", you either are so ignorant that discussion is hopeless, or you are pretending and arguing in bad faith: in other words, a Troll.

    Hi, khallow!

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Disagree=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Disagree' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:23AM (3 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:23AM (#884425) Homepage Journal

    You mean it is "The bullshit excuse of the day to silence those I don't like listening to", don't you?

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 24 2019, @02:17AM (2 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday August 24 2019, @02:17AM (#884506) Journal

      Shut up, you Migrant Buzztard! I do not like listening to you! There! You have been censored. Deal with it.

      And, um, who was getting all down modded because others disagree with him?

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 24 2019, @04:19AM (1 child)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 24 2019, @04:19AM (#884559) Homepage Journal

        I think that was because you were blowing your own horn a little too loudly today. Telling you not to play music is censorship. Telling you I can hear it from five blocks away and it's bloody well 3am and where precisely would you like this half a brick in a sock to hit you first is not.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 24 2019, @05:21AM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday August 24 2019, @05:21AM (#884583) Journal

          So, got your attention? Now about these alt-right types, and neo-Nazis, pretending to be American Vienna Circle libertarians, . . .