Posted by Lou Pilder on September 14, 2016, at 9:06:44
In reply to Re: Our troll problem. It is about time., posted by Pontormo on September 14, 2016, at 8:14:28
> Let me say why I disagree with this idea.
>
> This seems harmless and even compassionate... maybe morally required... but... ...Let me say why I think it's not.
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> If some number of us could agree to pass over and to ignore posts about or to or by this guy, this pledge would have impact only if we upheld it without reserve. It has to be thorough-going. We can't delude ourselves about how easy it is to start some sort of exchange, to look into a post to oneself, or a series of escalating posts to someone else--and to be piqued, or appalled into response. And the cycle starts.
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> Once you decide to intervene to help a new poster even by" gently" informing them, you momentarily stimulate and thereby awaken the craving for attention. This to be honest is no favor even to the problem person.
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> This might seem a conundrum, except that newcomers are looking around-- they know when they've stepped on a hornet's nest, and when they're encountering helpful threads, and responsive, useful information. We can count on them in ways we've been afraid to, to find what's good and constructive here-- and to avoid what isn't. If they become regulars, or seem to need immediate help, we can communicate our pledge and its rationale to them by private message.
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> But if they get enmeshed with this spider's web-- and we fly to their rescue-- and immediately the web gets stickier and thicker in its tangles, have we really helped them?
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> They'll figure it out-- or if they don't, maybe they find this guy someone they want to engage with, as do a few others. If so, then so be it. If there are a few people here who want to converse with this guy, so be it. If we lose a few new posters-- so be it. It may be the price we pay--- but they may be lurking and testing us out. They;ll be back if we have something to offer them.
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> However---: any hope of quieting it and limiting this presence rests on just doing that very thing-- by not responding and therefore not stimulating his appetite.
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> Every so often, a bright line must be drawn, and much as I'm not a lover of bright lines, this may be one of them.
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> Friends,
Be not deceived. The poster here advocates shunning me to readers and Mr. Hsiung allows that type of hate to be seen as supportive. That type of defamation misleads readers to think that I will cause harm to people and then must be silenced.
The attempt to silence the Jews is a tactic that is not new, a tactic that can arouse anti-Semitic feelings, and used in European Fascism to cause the deaths of 1 and 1/2 million Jewish children and millions of Jewish adults. You that want my voice stilled here are depriving others to hear what I could say that could save their lives, prevent addiction and life-ruining conditions. Their blood will not be upon me.
Lou
poster:Lou Pilder
thread:1091960
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160819/msgs/1092114.html