Israel / Palestine

[briantrumpet]

I've been incorporating that method for years now.

Indeed. Guaranteed to work. I'll be ignoring people here who reply to trolls, as they are part of the problem, however well meaning they are.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

It is really very simple - if you ignore trolls, they just get bored and go somewhere else. You're all being played: the whole point is to get you to react by saying outrageous stuff. So he says outrageous stuff and you react. He wins not by winning an argument, but by you thinking that you can.

It’s been said already, and fairly recently.
Sadly, you’re wasting your time.

People will nod and agree… and then go right back to engaging with the troll.

 

[briantrumpet]

It’s been said already, and fairly recently.
Sadly, you’re wasting your time.

People will nod and agree… and then go right back to engaging with the troll.

I'm not expecting my using the 'ignore' button will dissuade the troll feeders, but at least it keeps the two-way ping-pong relatively out of sight.

IIRC, at one point, if you used 'ignore' on CC, it wouldn't just hide the comments of 'ignored members', but the posts themselves would be invisible, which left a much cleaner thread for those not interested in pointless trollery. Blissful ignorance.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Challenging fake news is a must. One of the reasons the internet has gone to shĩt is because of it and i feel people have an obligation to challenge it. Pure trolling yes, ignore. But when fake news is splattered over a public forum, im not sure how willfully ignoring it helps. Perhaps it is amusing to them, but still, there is always a chance it is believed and this is exactly why fake news gets published as fact, all too often.

 

[Psamathe]

Challenging fake news is a must. One of the reasons the internet has gone to shĩt is because of it and i feel people have an obligation to challenge it.

I'd agree that effectively challenging fake news is worthwhile. But challenging the endless stream from our troll serves no purpose beyond feeding the troll and thus encouraging more.

To properly challenge 99% of fake news posted by the trolley actually means joining Twitter and challenging the source. Just a waste of space and time challenging it here where nobody believes it anyway.

If it posted "It's raining outside" nobody here would believe it 'cos of the track record.

Ian

 

[briantrumpet]

Challenging fake news is a must. One of the reasons the internet has gone to shĩt is because of it and i feel people have an obligation to challenge it. Pure trolling yes, ignore. But when fake news is splattered over a public forum, im not sure how willfully ignoring it helps. Perhaps it is amusing to them, but still, there is always a chance it is believed and this is exactly why fake news gets published as fact, all too often.

I'm afraid that's what the 'fake news' propagators rely on - people thinking that they have to continually 'correct' it... and thus they only amplify it.

If you think challenging fake news is a must, then you might consider the evidence of where doing so has landed the US. It doesn't seem to have worked: Trump is turning the US into a dictatorship. Twitter would shrivel and eventually turn into a Truth Social if people gave up thinking they can 'correct' fake news.

OK, so it *is* important to get factual stuff out there, but that can be done without feeding trolls or letting them dictate the dialogue:

• Never reply to the trolls directly
• Never refer to them by name
• Don't think that they are interested in anything you say in rebuttal: they only want to provoke a response

There's no easy answer, but the worst way of dealing with fake news is to keep feeding the beast via its proxies.

 

[BoldonLad]

Hmm we appear to be discussing the troll a lot, which feeds it. Just saying 😊

 

[matticus]

Hmm we appear to be discussing the troll a lot, which feeds it. Just saying 😊

I know it's not good, but these posts are faaaaaar less annoying than the replies-to-the-troll.

I will bore of them soon, no doubt.

p.s. it also feeds on posts about troll discussion, so could you lay off those too please???

 

[briantrumpet]

It's a plus in many ways that this forum is unmoderated, but it does mean that if the threads aren't going to turn into a continuous troll-fest that bores the pants off everyone else, posters need to starve trolls. As I say, don't name them.

TBH, the people who feed trolls are as tiresome as the trolls themselves. Just stick 'em in a private room together and let them get on with it, and let the rest of us have vaguely sensible discussions.

 

[All uphill]

It's a plus in many ways that this forum is unmoderated, but it does mean that if the threads aren't going to turn into a continuous troll-fest that bores the pants off everyone else, posters need to starve trolls. As I say, don't name them.

TBH, the people who feed trolls are as tiresome as the trolls themselves. Just stick 'em in a private room together and let them get on with it, and let the rest of us have vaguely sensible discussions.

Maybe we need a troll thread, exclusively for trolls and troll-feeders?

We could call it something like "The ceationism, gender, maga, libtard, DJT" thread

 

[CXRAndy]

The outrage is hilarious, we need to ignore cos we don't like the information

I read most posts, however funny and off the wall they are

You lot have got more of this than me. You just want to block , so can have a tidy forum 🤣

 

[First Aspect]

If you argue against fake news, it just gets louder.

 

[briantrumpet]

Maybe we need a troll thread, exclusively for trolls and troll-feeders?

We could call it something like "The ceationism, gender, maga, libtard, DJT" thread

That's quite a cunning plan, and not totally daft. Make it perfectly soundproofed, and then the rest of us can carry on without the noise.

 

[First Aspect]

But it is possible to take the piss.

 

[briantrumpet]

But it is possible to take the piss.

Only if sticking to the rules of no quoting and no identification. But still better just to ignore.