Bans from forums and accusations of trolling...

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I get that sort of thing a lot. Got another localised ban today for offering someone sympathy because their uncle died of cancer.
Yeah. Ridiculous.

Anyway...
Accusations of trolling.
Not referring to here. Other places. Could be here too, but I really don't post much here.

At some level I kinda wish the word had never been made. People like to throw it around too liberally now.

Long and the short of it is that if I say anything that people take objection to... I generally get reported for trolling... Pretty much the standard reaction of most of the Internet. Unfortunate thing is that mods often tend to agree. And it bothers me. It bothers me because it is false and frequent. It bothers me because an accusation of trolling is an accusation of insincerity, and I take saying what I mean pretty damned seriously. It bothers me because somehow the fault of oversensitive whinge-bags taking offence at completely arbitrary and non-harmful things is pinned on me... time and time again. And the whole thing just escalates out of control.
There is little point telling people that I'm not trolling. Words are cheap. They don't believe me. They don't have any trouble believing each other though, no matter how ludicrous the notion that I somehow telepathically know what bothers them personally OR give a toss what they think about anything enough to target them.

Probably just because people find it easier to take everything personally and act out like a bunch of sh!twads than to assume (more rationally) that not everything is about them.

Don't really know.
Just wish they'd quit it.

Mods are there for a reason.
If you say something to provoke a response, that"s trolling.
If you resort to personal abuse, that"s trolling.
Take a brain check. How would you like it if someone resorted to personal abuse against you.
Everybody has an opinion about something and is entitled to express a viewpoint. So if you disagree, then do so without denigrating their opinion.

Hi Magnanimous, I don't mean to offend you but I do recognize your username from quite a long time ago (and you seemed to have disappeared for a long time) because of your rather cynical posts. I don't know if "cynical" is the best word to describe it but I do remember you because of that. So I would imagine some people might not take your posts very well. Well, I'm being honest.

I think people who are very willing to disagree with other people's posts tend to get into arguments and get reported. Nothing is wrong with disagreeing and expressing your opinions but some people seem to try to interpret other people's posts in a twisted/wrong way or try to find faults with them so that they can disagree and dismiss them.

Point out what "trolling" actually means, i.e., fishing for certain replies (usually negative ones). Trolling the lure so to speak.

Now, you can't call a moron a moron without being called a "troll". Hell, disagreeing with the group consensus in diplomatic terms can put the same label on you.

It's f*****g sickening.

Site rules vary from site to site, but here on WP the key part of the rules is "Attacking an opinion, belief or philosophy is acceptable, but attacking the person making the comments is not." More people fall foul of that rule than any other and after repeat warnings usually leads to a ban. Some folks are either incapable or unwilling to make the required distinction.

?Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.?

I was banned from Swagbucks two years ago in September for getting carried away and "cheating" in the games section according to my attackers on that site.

I got baned only once - for advertising my website in a section for website advertising where there was a clear rule every member can advertise 3 websites there.
I still have no idea why they banned me. Perhaps they were thinking I am a bot because it was my 1st post.

Other than that - I never got even a single warning. For some reason I am able to read the Internet social rules although I can't do it in real life.
I surely got unconventional opinions and I get a lot of enemies but I am able to hold a polite discussion and guard my opinion without personal insults. I can also take personal insults without making a fuss of those. Other members sometimes tell me "don't feed the troll" but I don't care since I am pretty good in dealing with them. I can make them give up using logical arguments and a save amount of humor. It's fun to show a troll where is his place without using so male methods as warnings and bans. I think even a trolls opinion is worth dealing with in the regular, polite way.

Generally on all the forums I was/am actively participating in I get good reputation. "The one who always knows what she is speaking about and is willing to explain it to anyone". I was asked to take the role of moderator a few times but I always refused. I don't have the "guts" to give bans left and right. Even if I see someone as a clear idiot or troll I still think there is a role for him. Perhaps the role of forums "jester" or "mascot"?

BTW: Wrong Planet forum is very liberal compared to other forums. I was quite surprised and I had to lower my guard when I joined it because I couldn't fit in if I stick to the rigid rules I was used to. For example on many forums you are supposed to use a search engine before creating a topic and while you can't create a topic if you find a topic that your message could fit in you are also not allowed to do "topics necromancy" unless you got something very important to say. You also can't hotlink any photos from google (you must host them) and you are supposed to write the bibliography (source link) of any article/book/text/photo you quote/use.
Compared to those it looks like the Wrong Planet moderators are non-existant since this forum is a total chaos. Some of those rules apply here too but noone seem to care. On other forums you get banned or at least warned for breaking any of those. I don't see any control here.

The "reason" is just convention.
If I say something and it provokes a response independent of my intent, or in spite of it, then that is not trolling... irrespective of the content.
Trolling is a matter of intent. The intent to provoke. If the intent isn't there, it isn't trolling... irrespective of any who decide to be provoked regardless...
... and they really do.

That is the nature of people. Anything contrary to their own beliefs, however insane those may be, and they regard it as a personal attack. They choose to get offended. They often choose to get offended by things that have absolutely nothing to do with them. And of course they get offended when they're in the wrong and get corrected... then before you know it they're accusing everyone else of provoking the very idiocy that they willingly give in to.

Oh, and flaming isn't the same as trolling either. Not sure whether it serves any purpose at all, but expressions of contempt are rather cathartic... that is when they're not just intended as a literal conveyance of information, but you'd be amazed how oblivious people can be to THAT use of language. Yeah. Language for communicating. Who would have thought?



I've disappeared and reappeared quite a few times, and not just here either.
I dislike people, generally.
I dislike them for many reasons... I dislike them because they're liars. I dislike them because they're horrendously myopic and hypocritical. I dislike them because no matter what I've done in the past to try and pacify them, it has never EVER been enough. I've tried playing nice, but it doesn't work.
So I just don't try.
Less stress. Less issue. People still get pissy at me. I tell them to f**k off because I don't have the patience for their BS. And sooner or later I get banned from more places, or they get some delusion into their sh***y little heads that somehow their inability to not be offended by anything and everything is somehow an act of malice on my part.

¬_¬


Yeah... unsurprisingly, I can get a bit ranty about this subject.
I'd have no problem being "punished" if it was for things I'd actually done... but I really can't stand when people have it in for me for imaginary slights.