You keep talking about trolling, and I understand why you don't want to name names but honestly without examples it's hard to gauge whether there is legitimate trolling going on that is being overlooked, or whether you're assuming conflict in certain areas is trolling. Not all heated arguments arise from someone intentionally stirring the pot. "Troll" does not mean "Someone who honestly disagrees with me and is a jerk about it". "Troll" implies malicious intent to create conflict, and I just don't see that here. I've seen the fuse of disagreement lit by arrogance and explode into one mess of a fight, but I wouldn't call any of that trolling.
I provide a Name for a troll! Tormy!
Tormy, you are accused of being a troll under the definition found here:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1764/what-is-a-trollThe Crime you are accused of is "Posting a controversial thread designed to bring nothing except conflict."
The evidence is found at
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=25372.0I Challenge you to refute this, or deliver yourself to the sentencing of the community as a whole.
Also, to refute your statement that elitism has nothing to do with this topic, I submit for consideration, that the rise in elitism equals exactly the rate of decline of the rehabilitation of n00bs to be functional members of the forum community. Trolls don't care if someone tells them to go search rather than being provided an answer, people whom only registered to find out the answer do. It goes without saying that if you are given information, you have an obligation to provide it. By being forced to hunt for your information, the obligation of providing it goes away, since it was never given to you. This means the people who are the next helpful members of the community feel no tie of loyalty to the community. The only ones with ties then become those with history, or those who get kicks off of trollish behavior.
As such, Elitism IS the problem. The problem is never the symptoms, which would be the rise in trolls, the topics posted where they don't belong, the rate the avatar threads. Separating the cause from the symptoms in understanding the problem gives you the real problem. The cause of any declining forum is that the turnover from old to new doesn't correspond to a turnover of people who care about the content. If you honestly care about what goes into this forum, censor yourself. Ask yourself, does this set the example that you want others to follow.
Some people here (cough Kagus cough) need to seriously take a look at themselves, because my periodic checking has shown me an increasing level of elitism from them, which resembles more and more a behavior that would not be desired in a new person to the forum.
Increased moderation of a forum is never the answer; it is always a change of the base behavior of the "pillars of the community" that changes. Who has the big name recognition here? THEY are the ones that need to set the example. They are the ones that decide how the community works. They do it by mentoring new people out, the next generation of community members. By taking them in and teaching them how to behave, they increase the well-mannered people, which has the side effect of reducing the percentage of trolls.
(Modify: I forgot, I believe in America, so I can't convict without a trial of peers. "Convicted" changed to "Accused.")
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Topic: The forum is changing in a bad way? (Read 8921 times)