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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Steve Alter <shteevea@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Bob S. admission. YES |
| Date | Sun, 3 Feb 2008 10:04:10 -0800 (PST) |
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Well, I like your records better than Bob's, so I say you get to stay. :-P
I work in online communities and forums, and my expreince is that even the most liberal spaces have a "line", and even if that line seems arbitrary or ill-defined, it's almost always clear when someone has crossed it. The people who do are trolls, and - if they consistently behave in this manner - they should be banned. Just so we're clear, this is an official, general accepted definition of Internet Troll:
Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding.
I'm sorry, but that certainly describes Bob's behavior to me during my brief time on the list, and like all trolls, he just grows and grows as the more people feed him, to the point where, as we've seen, they become a malign and destructive force that threatens the health of the community. There's a huge difference between that kind of consistent behavior, and the more general slagging of musical taste or personal tweaking that goes on, especially between those of you who have long roots and relationships on this list. I think the activities of the past few days make that difference pretty plain.
Where's the line? Who gets to decide? The community. And I think it has.
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