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Wed, Dec 22, 2010, 8:55 pm CST
I'm not sure how I feel re: censoring/trolls. I agree that personal attacks are never appropriate or called for, however, I also feel that it only reflects poorly on the person making them. Even the best online communities have obnoxious commenters, it doesn't necessarily mean you need to silence them. Slippery slope I guess.
I am more than willing to go along with the majority on this one, since I can see both sides.
Thu, Dec 23, 2010, 2:03 pm CST
On censoring, I'm not totally sure either. I didn't read the posts that were deleted so I can't say if they should or should not have been deleted. I think if the point of a post is simply to be malicious, it really won't be missed if it is deleted. But I agree with LabMom in that it really only reflects on the person posting the comment.
I think that Tideliar and GR were trying to lighten up the heavy discussion and maybe got a little carried away. It probably would have been a good idea for one of us to tell them "enough already". Knowing them and assuming their intentions were the above, I wasn't as offended by it.
Odyssey- I agree also that the behavior of bloggers in the community can reflect on us to a degree. When you talked about trolling, you are talking about behavior, not writing skills. I don't think that any of the bloggers here have a negative impact on the site as a whole due to their writing skills or the topics they choose to write about. I don't see LabSpaces ever bringing on a writer that would post questionable or offensive content that we would need to worry about it. For example, if a writer here posted something about condemning/ "say something stupid about..." people of a certain race, religion, or nationality, I would have a big problem with that. But that isn't happening. All the bloggers here are developing their writing in a positive way.
I think as a community we need to support each other and help each other improve our craft. Criticism of the writing or the subject matter is helpful when done positively or when it comes with tips or ideas. People will always troll and try to break other people down with hurtful words, but as a group, we should not allow it. We can be the ones to tell the trolls to stop, or whoever is being unnecessarily malicious. What do you think?
Thu, Dec 23, 2010, 2:18 pm CST
My feeling - if comments are going to be deleted for being too malicious or personal, then there needs to be a clearly defined (and easy to see) statement saying so, and it needs to be consistently enforced. I personally don't think it's necessary, but the practice should be handled better if it's continued. My bigger concern is that censoring trollers often drags the issue out further, and can sometimes make the trollers appear as "victims", especially if nobody gets a chance to read what they wrote. Sometimes the only way to get a troller to shut the f*#k up is to ignore them (although we probably should have told GR and TL to cut it out). I say let the stupidity of trollers be read by all and reflect poorly on them, and we can work as a community, along with our readers, to keep the conversation positive and productive.
Thu, Dec 23, 2010, 2:31 pm CST
Sometimes the only way to get a troller to shut the f*#k up is to ignore them (although we probably should have told GR and TL to cut it out). I say let the stupidity of trollers be read by all and reflect poorly on them, and we can work as a community, along with our readers, to keep the conversation positive and productive.
Yes- I agree with Dr. O.
Ignoring them is probably the best approach but then leaving the comments also is an embarrassment to them. As part of the community we can be the one to tell another person (if it happens to be one of our own trolling or someone we know) to stop- even privately if we do not want to confront them on the site, to save them further embarrassment. When it is an unregistered visitor, we just need to ignore it and encourage others to ignore it.
...and we can work as a community, along with our readers, to keep the conversation positive and productive.
This would even include hurtful comments about posts or posters on twitter as well, that serve no purpose but to denigrate.
Thu, Dec 23, 2010, 7:06 pm CST
Dr. O, Nicely worded. I definitely agree that we need to be supportive of one another. I don't think there's any room for talking about people behind their back. I'm here to help promote all of you and get the word out about your great blogs, but being a part of a network isn't just about all of you as individuals. We should be helping to give one another constructive criticism to make our blogging better.
Moving on, I do see where everyone is coming from on the trolling issue. Trolls are easy to pick out and do make themselves look terrible, but they also make blogging look terrible. They give us all a bad name. I know in talking with scientists about my website that most aren't excited about discussing their content on-line because they see the internet as a wild west town full of low brow uninteresting discussions. I can see why they feel this way when I pull up a blog post and see childish comments strewn with insults and profanity. That kind of talk would not be tolerated in a face to face discussion or even at a scientific meeting. Why do we put up with it here? I'd be more than happy to put a clear and concise statement above the press release comment section and on my blog stating my trolling policy. Again, I'm not going to tell any of you how to control your blogs. This is all about my personal crusade against trolls :P
I will say that giving trolls warnings and deleting posts has shown to be effective in changing the dialogue and forcing certain commenters to make their point without the distraction of obscene profanity and personal attacks.
Tue, Jan 18, 2011, 6:54 pm CST
Just want to say - I like the way the guest blog is turning out... what do the stats say about it, Brian? Is it pulling traffic?
Tue, Jan 18, 2011, 6:57 pm CST
They're getting as many views as the regulars :) So that's good! I just wish they got more comments :(
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