Posted by AlexCanada on September 8, 2016, at 23:31:05
In reply to Re: Dealing with difficult posters, posted by baseball55 on September 7, 2016, at 20:37:33
> I don't quite see the "standing up to Lou" perspective. Maybe it's a guy thing. Insulting or arguing with someone we all know is impervious to insults or rational argument isn't standing up to them. It's allowing them to go from being a minor annoyance to becoming a potent destructive force.
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> I have seen this happen time and again on internet forums over the years. What kills the forums are not the periodic obnoxious posts of the troll, but the inevitable and endless litany of responses by those determined to "stand up to" the troll. Soon, the whole forum is nothing more than a forum on the troll.
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> As for the argument that newcomers must be protected and made to understand that the troll does not represent the viewpoints of most posters, what a newcomer in fact sees is a forum where every post becomes a post either by the troll, in response to the troll, in response to responses about the troll and on and on in an endless vicious cycle.
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> Even on a mental health site, I don't assume new posters are so fragile and naive that they are not aware that trolls inhabit any internet forum. But they are probably also aware that forums where people respond to the troll in this vicious feedback loop are not healthy forums.
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> To AC and LH, who have, in recent days, returned to babble and began "standing up to" Lou -- are you aware that Lou is now entirely dominating this forum without having to write another word? And that this had not been true before for a very long time?Lou has dominated this forum for countless years. It's unfortunate that people like you cannot understand the collective damage a poster like this creates. This could have been a thriving community but Hundreds have been chased away literally by just one man.
If Lou isn't banned then we need to make changes. Plain and simple. It is quite frankly stupid and unhealthy to remain on a forum dominated by a toxic individual. Any respectable forum Bans sociopathic trolls like Lou. Obviously the rules do not matter here. Dr Bob fears a lawsuit and is blackmailed by Lou.
Thus we have to take matters into our own hands. We will be moving to a different forum. The best thing that could happen is for this forum to become a wasteland. We need to move on. It's a lost cause.We live in a world of cause and effect. To assume everyone is impervious to Lou's antics and that he has not caused anyone to leave is quite frankly Nonsense. Why do you insist on sticking up for him? Are you lacking human connection? Does it not concern you ever how he has treated people over the past 15 years? Sorry, but you might as well be sticking up for serial killer at this point.
poster:AlexCanada
thread:1091783
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160819/msgs/1091920.html