Site is a graveyard - How can boards save itself? [Threadbanned users in 1st post]

no it’s not up to posters not to engage low level trolls as you have said/ it’s up to mods to listen to posters when they call out low level trolls

Frankly your whitewash of this issue along with another moderators ill informed view of it gives me all I need to know about how this issue will be handled in the future

Thanks for nothing - I was hoping there might be a breakthrough but you’re obviously only interested in totally low hanging fruit such as abusive name calling that a bot could probably deal with - so be it

I dunno, you'd probably need to spell out what you mean by low-level trolls. Or what threads they're active on and so on.

There is a fair deal of the type of low level trolling that @Oscar_Madison describes. I have no idea how it can be dealt with as those doing it are very careful to stay civil. They engage in a circular pattern of posts that go round and round through the same cycle without ever elaborating much if at all. Answering them is like catching as slippery eel, they're immediately onto the next tangent and when that is queried, the next tangent etc etc then back to their starting position. Every now & then, a sly angle is inserted inviting others to write something they shouldn't and so on. It's easy to say, well ignore it but sooner or later, someone is drawn into the dance. So the whole thread never goes anywhere much as it's clogged up with above and the main collateral damage is a list of thread bans.

You could argue that the pattern described above is perfectly legitimate but it has a stifling effect at the same time. There is a relationship between this repeated pattern above and what seems to be called 'soap boxing' but what it is, is harder to put a finger on.

This is partly why I suggested long running more controversial threads could have specific moderators, as they would likely be able to spot this.

I had the exact same thing happen to me.

I contacted one of the admins, he explained I had received a warning the previous night which coincidently was about 10 minutes before some other warning was due to expire.

Because of the points accumulation I was banned temporarily, coincidently the mod who issued them was quite correctly contradicted by me in open discussion on a forum he doesn't moderate about a week previously with regard to him breaking the law and starting a thread about it.

I had received no notification of any infraction or warning or reason why I was banned, after I contacted the admin fella the next day the messages and idiotic excuse for the warning appeared.

There's literally one of those low level trolls in this very thread, an obvious re-reg who has been making posts that on the surface do not break any rules, but are clearly posted to stir for reactions, just as he does elsewhere. That he didn't get any bites here is a good thing, but I would suggest it demonstrates that in a thread full of regulars most people knew exactly what he was up to and knew not to engage.

Do I know his VPN details and can I identify him in a court of law? Of course not. But I'm not stupid and neither are most people, we can see what is happening in front of us. Remember, pattern recognition is very much a human trait.

Its almost a microcosm of the site. He can troll away until he does get a bite but nothing can be done.

On other sites the general population would police the behaviour by calling it out, but if I was to call him a troll here I would get warned, and he would just adore that.

I don't expect mods to ban trolls just on my say so, but acknowledging that it does happen would be something at least.

The problem in the soccer forum was there were multiple nicknames for multiple managers that irritated some, so it was decided that being adults, managers should be called by their actual names. Just like teams couldn't have their ridiculous mangling of their names used either. Completely sensible rule, and clearly stated. I agreed with it then and still do now.

clearly I am wasting my time with you.

Like I said, I used a common nickname for Sam "BFS" and not with any malice.

I certainly wasn't trying to offend.

On the bright side, it appears Admin is:

1. taking on board feedback and we might see less archaic rules, and
2. The potential conflict of Mods who post as fans on some forums being bias in dealing with other posters, being reigned in.

Strangely the Charter states:

"Nicknames like whisky nose, fat Spanish waiter, Fat Sam, Fat Frank, Maureen, and similar is abuse.

Calling Andy Gray or Pat Dolan names is abuse."

Who wrote this????

When I write BFS in my innocent head I think of it being like BFG…

Ironically, it was you who posted in response the words Big Fat Sam, not me.

Well, this thread took an unexpected turn.

Lads, you know you're being dicks in the don't be a dick thread?