Worth repeating: There are no trolls here

[LibertyEagle]

In many forums there are often individuals who decry others as "troll" and the like. While this may be mildly entertaining and accurate, there are often problems with this tactic to maintaining good community decorum.

My personal philosophy is that there are no trolls, there is just troll behavior. Claiming someone to be a troll assumes you understand the intent of the poster, in our case here, if they are truly a supporter of Dr. Paul or not.

Here at RPFs.com, in this campaign of freedom and peace we do not want to assign people into groups such as if they really support Dr. Paul or not or if they are a troll or not. However, if there is disruptive behavior it should be dealt with. It doesn't manner if the people truly support Dr. Paul or not- we can never really know that but we can study and understand how individuals deceptively engage in troll behavior to incite disruptions against our campaign objectives (different than healthy debate and disagreement). The goal of the forum guidelines and sub-forum structure has been crafted to best deal with issues of disruptive behavior to the forum community and they can continue to be refined, suggestions are always welcome:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=22

Some people argue that we should quickly ban disruptive users, in some cases it may be justified but in other cases if we banned Dr. Paul supporters who are engaging in postings that are possibly harmful to the campaign they'd just go elsewhere and continue to do the same. So in my view, it is an asset to the campaign for the more wise and politically experienced users to help lead the way.

As Bradley in DC stated so wonderful in his "Supporters taking it to the next level" marquee piece: we are the leaders and ambassadors - we need to act like it.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=22808


Thank you, and good day. :)

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=363078#post363078

[Dripping Rain]

thanks LE
i like how this post differentiates between trollish activities and calling people forum trolls
have a good night best forum moderator

[penguin]

I agree and think Bradley in DC made a great point in his post with:

"When I started my political activism many, many years ago as an undergraduate student, I had the great fortune of meeting and working with a brilliant LP activist. I'll share her words of wisdom to me, "Everyone else is inconsistent in their views. Our challenge is to find the issues where we agree with each person, get them understand the principle by which they came to that understanding, and urge them to apply that principle more broadly." Ponder that thought."

There are so many opportunities when you start the conversation with "You are 100% right on that".

[newbitech]

we have a one star spammer running loose.

[aravoth]

we have a one star spammer running loose.

this is true, the star bellied sneech has got to go

[speciallyblend]

o yes there are trolls in this forum any dumbazz voting threads down for no other reason then to vote them down is a TROLL , i have noticed folks voting down threads for no reason or explanation, maybe we should allow everyones votes to be seen so they will be held accountable. YES THERE ARE TROLLS IN RPF no matter what the mods say, until we can see how people vote on the threads i consider them trolls.

when people vote down good threads it is called TROLLS! in my eyes!
ps i would like to see the votes tagged to the user. so if they truly vote a good thread down they can explain their reason and not hide!

it is bs that folks are voting down good threads and im not talking about my threads!!!!

[speciallyblend]

this is true, the star bellied sneech has got to go

i think all votes on threads should have a tag line so you know exactly how folks voted on a thread. then we can figure out the trolls!

or they can explain their ignorance at least!!

do not let them hide their votes . they can debate their reasons.

right now we have a coward among us voting threads down, will not happen if they have to explain or debate their vote touor members. they must give a valid reason if they want to vote down threads or stand up to the grassroots. right now they are scared little weasels voting down threads. cowards

[revolutionary8]

i think all votes on threads should have a tag line so you know exactly how folks voted on a thread. then we can figure out the trolls!

or they can explain their ignorance at least!!

do not let them hide their votes . they can debate their reasons.

right now we have a coward among us voting threads down, will not happen if they have to explain or debate their vote touor members. they must give a valid reason if they want to vote down threads or stand up to the grassroots. right now they are scared little weasels voting down threads. cowards
\
nm
"All roads to hell are paved with good intentions..."

[speciallyblend]

\
nm
"All roads to hell are paved with good intentions..."

and all cowards are cowards! allowing people to see others voting record is just like congress, not a road to hell! accountabilty is all i am asking . if a member is voting threads down for no reason they should be called out!!

maybe we should keep the congress voting record secret if its a all roads to hell are paved with good intentions!

then we could elect folks and guess how they vote. the point is simple not end of the world if we know how folks vote on forum threads. then it would encourage debate and they would need to stand up to their vote on the rpf!

[acptulsa]

...is just like congress, not a road to hell!

Is this kind of a bad example, or is it just me? ;)

Thanks for letting me quote you out of context, K. Funnier that way...

[Sandra]

How are threads "voted on"?

[Sandra]

And we're getting buried in shills.

[kaleidoscope eyes]

I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and anyone who contantly posts "trollishly", meh, I stop reading their stuff, that's the beauty of the internet... they can't control you if you don't let them.

[lynnf]

How are threads "voted on"?


the rating that gives a thread its stars

lynn

[lynnf]

no trolls? go ahead and bury your head in the sand and dream on......


lynn

[LibertyEagle]

If someone is breaking the forum guidelines, please use http://www.ronpaulforums.com/gfx_RedWhiteBlue/buttons/report.gif to flag the post. Otherwise, we won't know.

Thanks. :)

[Sandra]

Shills are incremental trolls, they join the bandwagon then divert. So there's no flagging for shills.

[speciallyblend]

If someone is breaking the forum guidelines, please use http://www.ronpaulforums.com/gfx_RedWhiteBlue/buttons/report.gif to flag the post. Otherwise, we won't know.

Thanks. :)

all i am saying is maybe have a backend system so you can tell who is abusing the thread stars.

or make it public so everyone can see and we can debate the unknown member who would be known. if the members know there votes are visible. then we can confront the trolls/members vs the members who actually have a justified opinion,but i have noticed that someone is voting threads down for no reason!

We get to know how congress votes, so why would it infringe on their right if we knew how they voted on a thread??

until we can figure out what member is voting threads down the report button means nothing!

[acptulsa]

Is there actually a forum member here who refuses to look at a thread unless it has some requisite number of stars? I use 'new posts' and never even see the things, myself. We could cure the controversy by eliminating the rating system altogether.

[speciallyblend]

Is there actually a forum member here who refuses to look at a thread unless it has some requisite number of stars? I use 'new posts' and never even see the things, myself. We could cure the controversy by eliminating the rating system altogether.

before we do that why not just let our congress hide their votes or just do away with it, then we wont have to worry about the corruption.
i like both plans:P

i hear you i do,i am just saying would be nice to know what prick is doing it!

[LibertyEagle]

all i am saying is maybe have a backend system so you can tell who is abusing the thread stars.

or make it public so everyone can see and we can debate the unknown member who would be known. if the members know there votes are visible. then we can confront the trolls/members vs the members who actually have a justified opinion,but i have noticed that someone is voting threads down for no reason!

We get to know how congress votes, so why would it infringe on their right if we knew how they voted on a thread??

until we can figure out what member is voting threads down the report button means nothing!

The Admins probably can tell, Kenny. Mods can't.

[newbitech]

Is there actually a forum member here who refuses to look at a thread unless it has some requisite number of stars? I use 'new posts' and never even see the things, myself. We could cure the controversy by eliminating the rating system altogether.

well I use the rating system to quickly gauge over all sentiment to a particular topic. You are right though, it won't stop me from reading a thread and forming my own opinion.

The only reason I even mentioned it was because I found it rather ironic at the time of this original post that lots of important threads were getting one star spammed including this one and others that had a rating with no comments. As if the OP gave their own thread a 1 star.

I wouldn't call it trollish, but definitely spam. To be honest, I never mind dealing with trolls on the net because I think it helps refine my opinions and deal with real world responses. But spammers on the other hand are the absolute worst liability when it comes to capitalizing on open discussion.