From: Philip willarney (pwillarney@yahoo.com)
Date: 09/03/02-11:54:36 PM Z
< about the insulting flame-bait message posted a
couple of days ago>
--- David Hosten <dhosten@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Gordon,
>
> I applaud your firm stance on profanity and
> 'personal disrespect'.
..snip...
Hmm. On the other hand, this may have been a classic
case of what used to be called "trolling" -- posting
an arrogant, insulting, or demeaning post in a
newsgroup or mailing list that normally focused on
some sensitive topic, and steping back to enjoy the
flame war that errupted, which usually brought the
newsgroup to a standstill for some days.
I guess it's kind of like stepping into a rough bar
and shouting "you guys are all f*gs" and waiting for
someone to take a punch at you, although without the
risk of personal injury.
This kind of online rubbish killed off some electronic
communities I was involved with years ago, and there
was a certain lack of connection in the insulting
message with the content of the list over the last few
weeks that seems typical of these attempts to make
people angry.
I've been reading the list quietly for several months,
and generally when folks fly off the handle on the
list, it's "in context" with the list discussion, and
this particular message didn't seem to be.
Philip
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