buze Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I've been around for a few months, and I mostly enjoy the experience around here. However, there's something I don't like at all and is the trolling. Most recent examples are the celebrity death threads, which ends up being closed. It also happen on /other/ threads where there's a nice discussion, then a couple of troll arrive, and the topic gets closed. Now, I'm not sure that moderators realise that, but closing a topic closes it to the trolls, but then they have won. And anyone who participated and took time to answer in a normal, civilised way have lost their time and effort. Closing a topic is basically insulting everyone who participated in a normal way. It seems to be endemic around here, and I don't see people being banned/deleted or whatever for trolling. The same heads pops up again and again and do the same on the next topic. I had one of my topic closed earlier last week because of the trolling, and the interesting thing is that I had received several PMs from people who are no longer willing to give their honest and constructive opinions on the forum because of the trolls. Instead of posting, they PM instead. Does that add value to the forum discussion? Nope. Does closing topics of discussion on a discussion forum helps the forum? Nope. Anyway, here's my rant. I'm sure in 2 pages and 45 minutes, and some abuse, it'll get 'closed' as well, and ultimately I'll join the brigade of lurkers who don't post, but before I do that I just wanted to state this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 There are lots of members on here of different opinions and quite a few people have been banned over the time. I do wonder if many members have 'temporary bans' of a few days etc or warnings but without being a mod I don't think you'd know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Not that I am disagreeing with you but define troll, too often it's just a get out clause when someone gets their brain buzzed up the wrong way and can't argue back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I just got wiped off a FB post because I was thrashing this intellectual bloke somefing chronic , he admitted defeat the easy way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1957 Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 There has been a lot of racism, sexism and generally crass behavior in the past which I think has made the mods a bit more sensitive because some members couldn't behave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 There has been a lot of racism, sexism and generally crass behavior in the past which I think has made the mods a bit more sensitive because some members couldn't behave. I do believe those members have been shown the door to be fair to the mods though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Not that I am disagreeing with you but define troll, too often it's just a get out clause when someone gets their brain buzzed up the wrong way and can't argue back. And why would they 'argue back'? Seriously? There is no 'arguing' about on a discussion forum, you can have a discussion with differing viewpoints without having personal attacks on any of the participants. I own an internet forum, and if I see someone having a 'go' at someone else, I just delete him/her immediately. No discussion. I treat a discussion forum as it was my lounge; if someone is rude, he gets the boot in my lounge. You can have a nice, animated discussion on any topic by being constructive, polite, respectful while still being funny and a bit of a pain in the side if necessary. It requires more time and intelligence than trolling tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1957 Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 You can have a nice, animated discussion on any topic by being constructive, polite, respectful while still being funny and a bit of a pain in the side if necessary. It requires more time and intelligence than trolling tho. Start a thread in the wildfowling section about Canada Geese under the general licence in May... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davyo Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 It has got worse over the years,some very interesting topics closed because of a minority who for what ever reason seem to be out to start and argument.I remember a couple of years back there where 2 members that went on for days slagging each other off.I recall it going on all night once I Checked in on a peticular thread before going foxing one night and they where still at it when I got back.Seems to be a lot of racism around immigration at the moment perticulary around the Brexit vote time.Religion seems also to be a no go area,even the politics around shooting gets a little heated and those same names appear time and again.I often wondered if they actually shoot or have even shot. Overall though it's a really good forum with some good contributors.I think the moderator's have a menial task just trying to keep it fair.I stopped shooting in Nov 2015 but I still enjoy reading the topics of the forum,more off shooting topics and the motoring section more than any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Father said avoid having a discussion about politics or religion because it will always end up in an argument. I don't always understand why some topics are locked but then I don't really care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjpainter Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I think part of the problem for the mods is they're only human beings with real lives and jobs and families. Spending hours trawling for trolls and deleting comments from threads is an irritating, time consuming job, so after a while it's just easier to close a thread. I think this is what happened with my George Michael thread. Some threads just attract them and then the mods have to spend their time constantly policing it and I suspect they might have better things to do! Maybe banning more people might help - perhaps even a stated reason as to why they got banned - but I think this could prove divisive and potentially too open to debate. The relatively low number of people banning would indicate that you'd have to go pretty far to get banned, which is how I'd want it. It'd help if some people could perhaps grow up and separate opinion from personal attack... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 if you want to know what TROLLs are.......................hang around the landrover websites................(if you dare) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebarrels Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 If people concentrated more on shooting rather than bitching and ******* knitting patterns maybe just maybe PW might just return to how it use to be,before the whinging Fa**ys started posting! No wonder most of the decent bods have disappeared,just an observation! BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hambone Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I have been suspended twice, once for poking fun at a few high horse types ( which I thought was harsh ) and another for a tasteless comment during the world cup which was probably deserved even though no offence was intended. I suspect that many who have received these suspensions / warnings simply leave or do not bother to post. Sometimes people are too quick to heat up over an 'internet forum' when they have the choice to look at different threads or simply press the off switch. I think the mods probably issue more warnings than most realise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 I've been around for a few months, and I mostly enjoy the experience around here. However, there's something I don't like at all and is the trolling. Most recent examples are the celebrity death threads, which ends up being closed. It also happen on /other/ threads where there's a nice discussion, then a couple of troll arrive, and the topic gets closed. Now, I'm not sure that moderators realise that, but closing a topic closes it to the trolls, but then they have won. And anyone who participated and took time to answer in a normal, civilised way have lost their time and effort. Closing a topic is basically insulting everyone who participated in a normal way. It seems to be endemic around here, and I don't see people being banned/deleted or whatever for trolling. The same heads pops up again and again and do the same on the next topic. I had one of my topic closed earlier last week because of the trolling, and the interesting thing is that I had received several PMs from people who are no longer willing to give their honest and constructive opinions on the forum because of the trolls. Instead of posting, they PM instead. Does that add value to the forum discussion? Nope. Does closing topics of discussion on a discussion forum helps the forum? Nope. Anyway, here's my rant. I'm sure in 2 pages and 45 minutes, and some abuse, it'll get 'closed' as well, and ultimately I'll join the brigade of lurkers who don't post, but before I do that I just wanted to state this. Agreed, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 It is rather annoying when all you want is to read some interesting or insightful threads and then get to stupid comments that ruin it. I think if the people who post stupid or argumentative comments haven't posted any decent shooting posts or contributed in a constructive way, should be banned. They just ruin for everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbob Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Funnily enough OP I was thinking the same thing today when I checked in to find the two celeb death threads closed. I've been following the forums for a few years and was a bit disappointed at some of the views being aired on those topics. Healthy debate is a good thing and free speech is really important, but I guess forum mods have to draw a line somewhere. It's a shame interesting discussions are effectively shut down though, there must be a better way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon69 Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 (edited) Buze, I agree with you and i think it has got worse recently. Some of the threads I wont bother adding to, as i know i will be spending the rest of the day/night defending my comments. On some other forums, the OP has the ability to remove any unwanted posts and even block certain people from adding to the post, or a function/button to report posts to the mods. I think one/some of these would be good on here. Another good way is for everyone to ignore the trolls posts, as they only feed on peoples reactions. Edit: i have been given a warning for "purposefully avoiding the swear filter" by wrongly spelling a swear word. So i would hope that they have given out a LOT of warnings for some of the comments i've seen recently! Edited December 27, 2016 by silver pigeon69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 All good point SP69. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) It has got worse over the years,some very interesting topics closed because of a minority who for what ever reason seem to be out to start and argument.I remember a couple of years back there where 2 members that went on for days slagging each other off.I recall it going on all night once I Checked in on a peticular thread before going foxing one night and they where still at it when I got back.Seems to be a lot of racism around immigration at the moment perticulary around the Brexit vote time.Religion seems also to be a no go area,even the politics around shooting gets a little heated and those same names appear time and again.I often wondered if they actually shoot or have even shot. Overall though it's a really good forum with some good contributors.I think the moderator's have a menial task just trying to keep it fair.I stopped shooting in Nov 2015 but I still enjoy reading the topics of the forum,more off shooting topics and the motoring section more than any. I belive I was one of those involved in the 48hr marathon slag each other off thread,but the op is talking about trolls and that was not being a troll that was two people with poles apart views clashing head on.And the thread was not locked because of us two as I remember. I am admin in a fb site for political debate,no links or pics allowed,and no going for individuals or groups,it is suprising how heated a thread can get. I don't post so much on hear any more as a lot of speech is actually stifled by people being very wary of what they actually say for fear of being banned. Strangely although I will argue until the cows come home I have never been banned,if I remember I was told off in my first few weeks for swearing or bypassing the swear filter. If conversations went along the lines of "Browning are the best shotgun in the world" "I have to agree with you" Wouldn't that be so boring, And by the way browning are by a long chalk not the best shotgun Edited December 28, 2016 by welsh1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 I belive I was one of those involved in the 48hr marathon slag each other off thread,but the op is talking about trolls and that was not being a troll that was two people with poles apart views clashing head on.And the thread was not locked because of us two as I remember. I am admin in a fb site for political debate,no links or pics allowed,and no going for individuals or groups,it is suprising how heated a thread can get. I don't post so much on hear any more as a lot of speech is actually stifled by people being very wary of what they actually say for fear of being banned. Strangely although I will argue until the cows come home I have never been banned,if I remember I was told off in my first few weeks for swearing or bypassing the swear filter. If conversations went along the lines of "Browning are the best shotgun in the world" "I have to agree with you" Wouldn't that be so boring, And by the way browning are by a long chalk not the best shotgun Nothing wrong with good debate IMO. The same people repeatedly posting just to provoke anyone has happened several times though. It is often the same few again and again. Surely we can see that they give no decent input and cull ?😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grrclark Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) It's a good post Buze and one that I hope will be contributed to in the right way and remain open for discussion. There are a lot of comments that I think show a lack of class or consideration of what is reasonable and decent. The George Michael thread was exactly that. The Carrie Fisher one was taken off topic out of ignorance and only going to head one way, in my opinion of course. A lot of posts are also a bit hostile which is unnecessary. I think the mods on here do a really good job in the circumstance, it is a vibrant forum and covers a load of different areas. I'm glad it isn't all one dimensional about shooting alone, there are so many people with loads of talent and knowledge that has nothing to do with shooting and if it was one dimensional that would be lost. I am not someone who subscribes to the theory that stepping out of line should get someone banned, if doing that repeatedly then fair enough, but there is nothing wrong in people having strong opinions. Sometimes with strong opinions people get a bit carried away. I agree that good respectful debate can be hard to find on here, but it does happen sometimes, there are very many posters on here that I have crossed swords with and I respect a great deal. Differing opinions are how we learn and develop, challenge is healthy if done respectfully. Sadly there is also no shortage of stupid and that I do struggle with. Edited December 28, 2016 by grrclark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overandunder2012 Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 I still read stuff on here but haven't posted for a long time. It's more a go to reference tool for guns for me as the answer to most questions can be found here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaymo Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) The problem stems from one person to another's definition of a 'Troll' It seems on PW that merely disagreeing or having a different opinion on a few subjects can have you labelled as a 'Troll' - and often it is the same names that crop up time after time. Having sent and received PM regarding this issue/the topics posted in, I made the decision to not partake in anything Religious or Political as although I'm not one to get offended by anything, it's not in the 'Spirit' of what I use the forum for. It is however, still a fine place for genuine advice on Shooting topics and I believe the 'Mods' do a fine job-it can't be easy predicting which direction a topic may be leading,regarding Personal or legal defamation etc. Banning of individuals, it happens-warning notices! Yep,had those :-) ( edit to say, sorry for being naughty and avoiding the swear filter) Long may the forum continue.... Edited December 28, 2016 by Jaymo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twistedsanity Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 It's all subjective, if i see a post where several bigots are behaving like bigots and tell them they are then I become a troll apparently just for having a different opinion and being outspoken about it. On twitter recently I was questioning a local police force about the power to bring prosecutions using civilian staff operating mobile speed cameras and rather than answer the question professionally which was clearly very uncomfortable for them due to the number of prosecutions they have brought that were legally unenforceable I was accused of being a troll rather than the force in question admitting they were wrong, asking uncomfortable questions and having strong or different opinions from the majority does not nessecarily make people a "troll", it's often just a regression to calling people names when you no longer have an intelligent argument or point of view to put across Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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