On Civility: Trolls

[varkam]

From the DU Rules:

Do not publicly accuse another member of this message board of being a disruptor, conservative, Republican, FReeper, or troll, or do not otherwise imply they are not welcome on Democratic Underground. If you think someone is a disruptor, click the "Alert" link below their post to let the moderators know.

I know that civility isn't the first order of the day in GDP as of late (oh FSM do I know), but I wanted to post this feeble attempt to keep the peace anyway. I'm not directing this at anyone. I'm really just posting this as a fellow DUer.

All that being said, I know everyone's emotions are running high right now. I know how easy it is to give into the temptation to type those very bad words into the intertube thingy - I've done it myself on many occasions. I just want to ask everyone to keep in mind that the primaries are a very exciting time for everyone who is interested in politics, and as such it isn't beyond the realm of reason that we'd get a whole slew of new members signing up.

That's not to say everyone who signs up is interested in discussion - some aren't. Some are here to disrupt, cause trouble, make you angry, and just engage in general assholery. What I'm asking is that you don't tell these people to go back under the bridge that they crawled out from under, or back to freeperville, or wherever. Even if you are right, even if it is Karl Rove himself posting messages about how Obama enjoys drinking the blood of kittens or how Hillary worships Adolf Hitler, please do not call that person a troll - because that's still against the rules and if there is a post against the rules, that just means it's going to make that much more work for us and take us that much longer to finally getting around to deleting/locking that post that really has gotten under your skin. In addition, you could always be wrong.

Plus, we don't want to scare off new members by being unfriendly to them. I was new once, as all of you reading this were. One of the reasons I stuck around was because I got a lot of love from people who had been here a hell of a lot longer than me (thankfully I didn't join in the midst of a primary). So if you see a new member, tell him hello and welcome them to DU. If you think they're a no-good trolling sonuvabitch, hit the alert button too. We may not agree with you, but I assure you we look at every alert that comes through.

All that being said, we now return you to your regularly scheduled flame war.

:hide:

Oh yeah, McCain sucks!

ETA Ah! I almost forgotten one of the reasons I posted this! I wanted to extend a welcome to all our new members. :toast:

[TZ]

1. Nice!

K+R for you!

[Lithos]

2. McCain doesn't suck

He is so dense his mind has formed it's own black hole from which no light or thought will ever escape.

L-

On Edit: Yeah he does suck, but he sucks so much that normal laws of physics just don't apply to the quality of his suckiness.

[varkam]

7. Agreed.

The amount of his suckage can't be compared to, say, a vacuum cleaner. I think a more suitable reference is along the lines that you suggest, in the form of an end of days type of black hole. In other words, McCain is teh suck.

[Lithos]

9. Thanks

I look at Bush and I see greedy ignorance. I look at McCain and I see greedy dementia. I see Bush at least not doing anything unless it made Cheney money; I don't see anyone directing McCain save the lobbyists - whoever shines the brightest bauble winning.

I suspect that McCain, like Bush, has little to no substance when off teleprompter.

L-

[JimGinPA]

23. Nearly A Mod Flame War!

That would have been... entertaining.

:evilgrin:

[Forkboy]

31. Subthread deleted!

:D

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

:thumbsup:

[woolldog]

4. Good post.

It's important to make people feel welcome. I almost stopped coming here at first because one poster in particular was so rude to me (right from the start) and harassed me constantly from thread to thread, and threatened to have me banned.

[leftstreet]

5. Welcome to ignore!

}(

[varkam]

6. Lol!

I'm already on at least three lists that I know of...

[myrna minx]

8. Yay! The mods speak.

Thanks for all that you do. :toast:

[DeepModem Mom]

10. K&R

[southlandshari]

11. Excellent post

And many thanks to you and all the other mods for all the time and energy you give here.

:toast:

[TahitiNut]

12. So ... what do you want on your pizza?

:silly: :dunce:

[varkam]

16. I'm a sausage, onion, and mushroom kinda guy myself

:D

[Binka]

13. God Damn Skinner Should Pay You Guys & Gals!

[intheflow]

41. Naw.

Then we'd just be accused of being on Skinner's payola whenever a rude/obscene/delusional post was locked or deleted about <insert preferred cadidate>. :P

[Catherina]

14. Rats but ok. I guess that means I should send my troll kit back for a refund?

Thanks for all you do.

[varkam]

17. Lol! Yes, if you send your troll kit back to DU HQ...

we will send you a full refund...in bumper stickers :D

[Catherina]

18. I went to "My DU" looking for it

but I can't find it anymore. I think one of the moderators confiscated it! :rofl:

[varkam]

20. We're wily, what can I say?

:D

[Catherina]

21. Wily, rocking and very quick!

I have a great excuse though. Let me know if it works



If not, does this one work?

[varkam]

22. Lolcats get me every time. I'm a sucker for 'em.

:rofl:

[Catherina]

42. Then this one's for you

:rofl:

[bhikkhu]

15. Thanks for the reminder

It might be easier if new members were specifically advised to enter the GDP at their own risk...

but the well stated guidelines should help.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. For some unknown reason I was called a troll when I first started posting

and I wasnt one & let me tell you mister it hurts your feelings.

[AllentownJake]

30. So was I

and I offered for them. I told them to PM me and I would give them my myarackobama to look me up. I wasn't offended.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

34. One translation, please.

Maybe it was the number in your name.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

36. So was I.

On more than one occasion. The mods were quick in deleting the post but I still saw a few and a great number of "deleted" after my posts.

It was rather sucky.

[varkam]

24. shameless self kick

:kick:

[L0oniX]

25. Alerting

[flowomo]

26. concerning newbies... I posted similarly in Skinner's civility thread...

with a cautionary tale attached.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5447295&mesg_id=5448240

[CabalPowered]

37. An excellent case in point

Well said flowmo.

:thumbsup:

[msallied]

27. Another thing...

I really wish people would stop exercising elitism over so-called "newbies." I have been a longtime lurker here and have only recently decided to start participating. Just because we are new to posting on DU doesn't mean we are new to political debate/discussion. I used to post regularly over at Slate. I think it's unfair to judge the value of someone's postings based on how many posts they have previously made, and I see that happen a lot around here.

Just thought I'd point that out.

[sniffa]

28. Agreed. That's what the alert button is for.

Use it people. :bounce:

[RichardRay]

29. Can I just tell them they're wrong?

As much as I think Carville has jumped the shark lately I did like the title of his book from a few years ago. Sometimes that's really the only thing left to say!

[Forkboy]

32. Not even when it's our daily visitor?

;)

[UALRBSofL]

33. Varkam, what do you think of my new image?

It's Rudy in drag....

I love it.

[indimuse]

35. thx!

Well said. :) K&R

[Kajsa]

38. Thanks, Varkam!

You're right as rain ( where did that expression come from?)
and you rock, guy!

:) :yourock: :pals:

[DesertRat]

39. Thanks. k&r

[madrchsod]

40. civility in gd:p? ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5475153&mesg_id=5475153
Democratic Underground - Spending Saturday night on GD:P... what the hell - Democratic Underground

yes it did happen.....

[mkultra]

43. i guess ill resit my urge to call the OP a troll

Doesn't seem in my best interest.