What's happening to this board?

[Tchocolatl]

It was me Nazaree, that welcomed you. With the "are you a troll" post as well (You will find my answer about this there.) Therefore, I feel responsible for your post here as well.

Jurica summarized very well what the worst heavy troll is in the senge generally ackowledged.

More details to be found here :

http://curezone.com/forums/troll.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Now, not every mutliple pers. is a troll, nor then jokers and tricksters. The state of mind of the reader of the post often give a colour the post does not have. For example, if you, yourself, are just come back from a bad experience, you may be more sensitive right now. I had such "glasses" few months ago.

Although Trolls are considered the worst nuisance in a forum, I consider that cliques as you have described them is equally responsible for the health (or not) of the live of a forum. (In fact, as I have already "say" hre I consider trolls and clisques like a manifestation of an ego problem more than a problem in itself.) Like in real life, as long as a clique is the authority it tends to consider that what is good for them is Good. Well I stop there, I'm short in time, and I do not want to be TOO long. Just to conclude that the webmaster of the site/forum is making all the difference for the health of democracy on a board, if he/she is democratic or not, because in the last run the WM has the real power over its creation.

End of the lecture

And again, welcome aboard.

[Paula]

Nazaree - this is a sort of general purpose forum probably the only thing a lot of us have in common is Leonard Cohen. As Jurica said you can resurect any old posts or just dive in with the general discussions.

There are politics on this forum as there are anywhere just get involved and ignore the politics.

Confucious say you reap what you sow. Well I don't think it was Confucious but just post and welcome to the forum.

[Paula]

I should clarify "general purpose forum".

I came to this site purely because it was LC's forum. I'd like to think I have made some virtual friends on here. The link on this forum whether we are discussing him or not is Leonard.

Due to the fact you can't discuss his works constantly we just strengthen the bond we have by passing the time of day and bickering and generally being a virtual community. That is the nice aspect of it. It is also useful getting imput on situations from such a diverse, global band of people. It is just a nice community.

[linda_lakeside]

Hi Paula, Nazaree, Tchoco et. al.,

I agree with you in that this a community of sorts and it's hard to talk about Leonard constantly, therefore we fall into what all communities do: socializing. There are a lot of good people here and it can be fun to just pass the time of day.

On Leonard, this forum was abuzz for months after DH - talking about Leonard and his new CD. Now, we're socializing again and I suspect that when Leonard's book comes out, there will be more Leonard talk.

The Trading corner is there for Leonard discussion all of the time. The trading and info passed is informative and I'm sure anyone there would love to talk about this work vs that work.

However, there just doesn't seem to be 'enough Leonard to go around'. By that I mean, he is pretty reclusive, doesn't have a new release every other month - so we socialize in the interim. Personally, I like to socialize with people who love Leonard's music, because they (for the most part) are people of intelligence and their other loves (music, books, art) spill over, and some of us are lucky enough to find a link or get a CD that opens doors for us. I like reading the poetry brought to the forum. Even though I haven't the foggiest on how to discuss poetry. But, it's there to be enjoyed, and I do.

As for 'cliques' the very word implies the exclusion of others. That can't be considered 'healthy' for any community. I like to 'meet' as many people as I can, but those who share a lot of common ground are, of course, likely to stick together.

All in all, I think it's a very good site. As Tom and/or jurica pointed out, many other forums are dead. People just trickle in and trickle out. Here, one is likely to find some activity, day or night.

Linda.

[linda_lakeside]

An addendum: Simply because the entire board isn't presently talking about LC, that does not mean that LC discussions can't be initiated. Nazaree, if you want a discussion re: Leonard, ask someone what they think of such and such, I think most people would be happy to give you their honest opinion.

[Partisan]

I am a little late to this thread as i have been away for a couple of weeks. It is always nice to get personal mentions, even from my detractors. For myself i have only been partisan and Heretic (aside from 2 posts years ago about certain lousy little poems). I don't post much as i don't read that much, and i ignore a lot of posters here. There has always seemed to be however a general consensus that i must be posting here more than i am. Dear departed George(s) was absolutely convinced that anyone who posted anything remotely negative about his drivel must be me for example. It simply was not possible in the world he lives in that anyone else could have a bad word to say about his 'writing'. Someone else has privately asked if i was YDF. Sadly no. YDF is one of the few amusing writers here, however i temper that with my suspicion that YDF is also Paints. You win some, you lose some. But it does highlight the problem.

But what to do? Well yes, you can ignore people you don't know but that is hardly welcoming for newbies (stop laughing at the back, i can be nice to newbies). However someone here recently made an interesting comment. Apparently moderators can see IP addresses. Maybe Jarkko could have these shown on all posts to all users. It would make it very hard to inflict MPD on the board.

p.

p.s. i have been watching with some excitement to see if Linda Lakeside can overtake Tysh Darling's posts per day figure. It is far more fun than actually reading their posts. Then i had a terrible thought. What if they are the same person?

p.p.s. Goddamit, i really hate long posts, and now i am a hypocrite (yes, i know, but save yourself the trouble responding, i could write it for you anyway)

[Critic2]

I am a little late to this thread as i have been away for a couple of weeks. It is always nice to get personal mentions, even from my detractors. For myself i have only been partisan and Heretic (aside from 2 posts years ago about certain lousy little poems). I don't post much as i don't read that much, and i ignore a lot of posters here. There has always seemed to be however a general consensus that i must be posting here more than i am. Dear departed George(s) was absolutely convinced that anyone who posted anything remotely negative about his drivel must be me for example. It simply was not possible in the world he lives in that anyone else could have a bad word to say about his 'writing'. Someone else has privately asked if i was YDF. Sadly no. YDF is one of the few amusing writers here, however i temper that with my suspicion that YDF is also Paints. You win some, you lose some. But it does highlight the problem.

But what to do? Well yes, you can ignore people you don't know but that is hardly welcoming for newbies (stop laughing at the back, i can be nice to newbies). However someone here recently made an interesting comment. Apparently moderators can see IP addresses. Maybe Jarkko could have these shown on all posts to all users. It would make it very hard to inflict MPD on the board.

Hi James, I only just discovered this thread. Normally I look at just the poetry forum. I'm glad no-one has risen to the troll bait of ydf on this thread. I don't find ydf an amusing writer, maybe there was originally a decent idea but the "one trick pony" aspect of his posts has made him boring for far too long now.

throughout the invasion of the trolls on the poetry forum I have not been bothered who they are- whether ydf is responsible for all of paints, mirth, perth, avalon, smokey etc, etc.or whether they are all the Hallmark Lady. It doesn't matter.

I thought that the test is whether they are entertaining or not. Their sad common feature is that they show no writing talent, never post poetry or crits. Personally, I don't find any of them entertaining.

I do notice how angry they are and wish they were brave enough to just be straight about their problem. If a bad review of a poem upset them a year or so ago, maybe it's time to give the rest of the forum a rest. It was very telling that when we have a comp. the paints stable of trolls disappear, presumably embarassed that they can't contribute. The rest of us have great fun.

There are so many nice and interesting people on the poetry forum. I am really pleased that proper posters there are not feeding them ( I am not sure that paints has ever had a reply to any of the dozens of threads he starts) and I will continue to try and take take the same stance however many false accusations the trolls make.

one edit- to add that the trolls do sometimes have small victories, paints/avalon/ydf etc convinced a nice poster called Achilles that I was one of his trolls called Perth. It was frustrating not to be able to convince him otherwise. but small potatoes...

regards

c2

DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS

[Tchocolatl]

And, in term of conflict resolutions :
(from the second link Ihave bring here in a previous post)

"Resolutions and alternatives

In general, popular wisdom advises users to avoid feeding trolls, and to ignore temptations to respond. Responding to a troll inevitably drives discussion off-topic, to the dismay of bystanders, and supplies the troll with the craved attention. When trollhunters pounce on the trolls, ignorers reply with: "YHBT. YHL. HAND.", or "You have been trolled. You have lost. Have a nice day." However, since trollhunters (like trolls) are often conflict-seekers themselves, the loss usually is not on the part of the trollhunter; rather, the losers are the other forum-users who would have preferred that the conflict not emerge at all.

Literature on conflict resolution suggests that labeling participants in Internet discussions as trolls can perpetuate the unwanted behaviors. A person rejected by a social group, both online and "IRL", may assume an antagonistic role toward it, and seek to further annoy or anger members of the group. The "troll" label, often a sign of social rejection, may therefore perpetuate trolling.

Better results normally ensue when users take the moderator role and describe more constructive behaviors in a non-judgmental, non-confrontational way. Trolls are excited by trollhunters and frustrated by ignorers, and neither of these emotions produce positive results for the forum."

[ceetoo]

Michael, please, I am still in grade school and I laugh at this. You are the king troll, you have been here so many times in so many ways. To imply that you "just discovered the thread" is comical.

You are:
mickey_one
Critic2
Youngdrfreud
Daniel H.
paints
and many more by your own admission

And now today's ditty:

You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on

You are the raison d'etra of my one troll persona. My king, my ruler, my reason for posting. It's all about you after all. Thank you for giving me life.

[mickey_one]

.

your troll stuff snipped.

PLONK.

[linda_lakeside]

Partisan,

Point taken. However, I can assure you we are not one and the same.

Linda.

[LaurieAK]

p.

This has nothing to do with 'trolls,' you forced the issue for your punchline.

It's one thing to have a specific argument with an individual and play it out, publicly or privately.
It is another thing to elect yourself to a position of superiority and assume smug humour at the expense of innocent folks:

p.s. i have been watching with some excitement to see if Linda Lakeside can overtake Tysh Darling's posts per day figure. It is far more fun than actually reading their posts. Then i had a terrible thought. What if they are the same person?

What a shit you are. How about picking on folks who really fucking deserve it? It is the least you can do.

L

[ceetoo]

Oh Mickey you're so fine
You're so fine you blow my mind
Hey Mickey!

You noticed me, my day is complete! You finally have the attention and devotion you so desperately crave, and I can sleep peacefully in the knowledge that I was the one to bring you such joy.

And since you are the king troll, I, your unworthy servant, am perplexed. What is a plonk? What is the meaning of the period quote? And what is a snipped?

I must have not bought that particular Leonard Cohen album.

[tom.d.stiller]

What a shit you are. How about picking on folks who really fucking deserve it? It is the least you can do.

Agreed, Laurie. This includes the usage of some words...
tom

[tomsakic]

I know, Partisan, that you aren't all those people - I noticed that you're more or less gone, and I wondered what happened to our George(s). Although I strongly disagreed with your contionus attacks on lizzytish... I am sad that you aren't Young Dr. Freud - it was fun to read his posts, from time to time. They were decnet, funny and not too offensive. As the posts of certain Mr. Daniel are. And my dear Elizabeth and my lady of the Lake (Linda) are great persons. So I agree with previous two posts. I'll say only this: some names are pouring from Poetry by ForumMembers here The end of world is near. Oh my G-d.