Cory Doctorow talks about trolls & communities

From Digg:

http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199600005&pgno=1&queryText=

There are some interesting techniques here regarding flame wars and handling trolls in your community.

Thanks for the link; interesting read.

I like the 'disemvoweling' idea, maybe they should add that here (but not until after V4 has been delivered, or it might never arrive!).

Herbie

Nothing an ignore button can't fix. Reading that put me to sleep.

If C9v4 wasn't vaporware we wouldn't be losing good people.

Good article.

Note to Jeff,

Potential hire and new position title for Channel 9, a "troll-whisperer":

"...Take my friend Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who moderates the sprawling, delightful message-boards on Making Light, a group-blog where the message boards run the gamut from the war in Iraq to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan-fiction, and where they discussion is almost always civil.

Teresa is a troll-whisperer. For some reason, she can spot irredeemable trolls and separate them from the merely unsocialized. She can keep discussions calm and moving forward. She knows when deleting a troll's message will discourage him, and when it will only spark a game of whack-a-mole..."

How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community

http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199600005&pgno=1&queryText=

We are all trolls!
 

raymond wrote:

Potential hire and new position title for Channel 9, a "troll-whisperer":

"...Take my friend Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who moderates the sprawling, delightful message-boards on Making Light, a group-blog where the message boards run the gamut from the war in Iraq to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan-fiction, and where they discussion is almost always civil.

Teresa is a troll-whisperer. For some reason, she can spot irredeemable trolls and separate them from the merely unsocialized. She can keep discussions calm and moving forward. She knows when deleting a troll's message will discourage him, and when it will only spark a game of whack-a-mole..."

I thought that was a really strange way of phrasing things. Then I saw this line:

InfoWeek wrote:

...she is full of maddeningly unquantifiable tips for spotting the right rod to twiddle...

What the heck was this author thinking about when he was writing this article?!?!? Troll whipserer. Rod twiddler?

m-w.com wrote:

twiddle: intransitive verb
1 : to play negligently with something : fiddle
2 : to turn or jounce lightly <twiddles round and round in the water — J. B. S. Haldane>
transitive verb
: to rotate lightly or idly <twiddled his pen>

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/twiddle

C9V4 vaporware?

Really - is this what you guys do all day? Look for things to complain about? I can assure you that C9V4 is real. It is real in the way the dev team is working to improve the overall performance. It is real in the way we are working to improve the overall user experience.

I understand that C9V4 is something that has been talked about for a while. There has been a lot of churn, fire-drills and other projects that have been pushed ahead. In the end, we will ship what will be a better Channel 9. Then, you can all complain about other random things.

As for the ignore button - I have been researching many forum systems and have not run across this feature. Could be that I am not visiting the right sites. Any links pointing to one would be helpful. Personally, I am not sure why you need a button to ignore others. For some of you, an ignore button would prevent participating in the "inspiring" conversations that seem to bounce around the coffeehouse. 

Understand that the dev team is working to get C9V4 out. Please put down the pitchforks, flaming spears, take a deep breath and sleep soundly knowing that we hear the grumblings.

Did Scobble go on a diet, learn to code, and Microsoft rehire him?

dshadle wrote:

Really - is this what you guys do all day? Look for things to complain about?

In my experience--  yes, there are lots of people who do nothing but look for things to complain about.

That's the good thing about working as a developer--  you don't usually have to deal with the general public (although if you end up with the wrong boss or coworkers...)

dshadle wrote:



As for the ignore button - I have been researching many forum systems and have not run across this feature. Could be that I am not visiting the right sites. Any links pointing to one would be helpful. Personally, I am not sure why you need a button to ignore others. For some of you, an ignore button would prevent participating in the "inspiring" conversations that seem to bounce around the coffeehouse.

The hockey board I visit has an ignore button that appears once you log in. The board is powered by phpBB.

I should mention that this ignore feature was installed because we were dealing with one particularly nasty troll. Even with it in place, most people still chose to spar with the troll. 

dshadle wrote:



C9V4 vaporware?

Really - is this what you guys do all day? Look for things to complain about? I can assure you that C9V4 is real. It is real in the way the dev team is working to improve the overall performance. It is real in the way we are working to improve the overall user experience.

I understand that C9V4 is something that has been talked about for a while. There has been a lot of churn, fire-drills and other projects that have been pushed ahead. In the end, we will ship what will be a better Channel 9. Then, you can all complain about other random things.

As for the ignore button - I have been researching many forum systems and have not run across this feature. Could be that I am not visiting the right sites. Any links pointing to one would be helpful. Personally, I am not sure why you need a button to ignore others. For some of you, an ignore button would prevent participating in the "inspiring" conversations that seem to bounce around the coffeehouse. 

Understand that the dev team is working to get C9V4 out. Please put down the pitchforks, flaming spears, take a deep breath and sleep soundly knowing that we hear the grumblings.

Well you see heres the thing. Its been "on its way" for months now. Whenever we ask "when" we are told "soon".

People here arent morons. Well some of us at least. We dont need our expectaions managed over how long it takes to develop software because most of us develop software and know the score.

Just give us a clue. When is it - weeks? Months? end of this year? this quarter?

As for the ignore button - it is a request based on the feedback we've had that there will be no /. style community moderation. I dotn mind if the policy is to allow some people to keep posting the same topic over and over in an attempt to start arguments if thats what you call debate. I just dont want to see it, and that will happen one way or another. The only reason I'm even here at all much these days is that I have a lot of slack time right now... the constant crap ahd pretty much driven me away, otherwise.