"Wes" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote:

Ed, what is with you and John lately? You both are sliding into the
gutter with your
responses.

Wes

Testing Adolescent's cool. He reacts in a funny way. It looks like he's
had
it too easy for a while, and I'm just trying to provoke him. d8-)

This is Whac-a-Mole with righties, Wes. It's the only entertainment left
in
this place, thanks to Cliff and a couple of others who keep cross-posting.

If Cliff and TMT left this world or found other interests, this group
would come back to
life. While I like the relative anonymity of Usenet, I'm starting to
think maybe we
should all declare who we are.

I also wonder how many psychologists are researching Usenet and behavior.
It seems to
bring out the worst in some people.

I'm even filtering right wingers out if they are not metalworking
participants at RCM or
AMC.

If only we could learn to stop feeding the trolls. Myself included.


Wes

Wes, take a look at a few patterns that have emerged lately. Adolescent
isn't responding with a list of NGs that happens to include RCM: he CREATES
new posts, one after another, with RCM in the list. He's actively inserting
RCM into the distributions. That's why I have no respect for him, and feel
free to say anything to him that reflects my annoyance. d8-)

And a few weeks ago you, or someone else, trimmed a distro from a thread
that Cliff had created, leaving just RCM on it, and Cliff responded with all
of the other NGs pasted back on.

Also note that Adolescent got no responses from RCM for a long time but he
continued to include RCM in his distro lists. He's operating like a spammer;
once a NG is on there, he keeps using it. It's a numbers game for him.

There is no way that non-response is going to affect these people. Trolling
has morphed into something that's more like spamming. They aren't looking
for an argument so much as a forum for plastering their views up on the
wall, like posters in a subway. Cliff, Adolescent, and one or two others are
creating threads to provoke and to insult other people, and they don't care
when or if anyone responds from those groups. If they don't get enough
response to indicate that they're getting under someone's skin, they just
start new, more provocative threads.

You aren't going to get rid of them, least of all by ignoring them. They'll
just turn up the noise level until they get a response or two. That's all it
takes to keep them going. And if no one responds, they just keep starting
new threads.

Adolescent has picked up one of Gunner's old habits, cutting and pasting
lengthy diatribes from the right-wing media. He's not looking for arguments
at all. You can tell he isn't really into that part of it. What he's "into"
is spreading his obnoxious polemics around Usenet.

I have several people, one from RCM, in my bozo bin and they've all been
there for over a year. But they keep "leaking" through. Often it's because
someone from another NG responded to them -- something which no amount of
discipline on our part will stop.

The effect, to me, is to seriously foul the air and the mood in this place.
It's really become obnoxious, especially since the right wing has taken off
on a rampage against the new administration. These people are among the most
loutish, juvenile, and selfish creeps I've ever seen. In that atmosphere,
good on-topic discussions tend to have a short life and to go through a
transformation into name-calling with amazing speed.

So I'm not really here in spirit. I welcome the few worthwhile things that
get through the noise, but Usenet is near death as it is, and I'm getting
ready to move out and find another place to talk. Maybe I'll follow Jim
Rozen. Meantime, I may hammer on the Whac-a-Moles from time to time, because
it really has no effect, except to relieve some annoyance. I'm really
tempted to take the gloves off and see how much Adolescent can take. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress