'I could not care less if the winner was transgender - what does that matter?' she said, adding that there was no deliberate act to 'boycott' the podium.
Trolls are notoriously stubborn at sticking with a particular point of view, and at proclaiming they understand the motivations of others.Real productive exchanges here. Thank god some posters here refute the trolls. You’re really convincing them! they’re clearly seeing the light!
Yep. Very productive exchanges.Trolls are notoriously stubborn at sticking with a particular point of view, and at proclaiming they understand the motivations of others.
I have no expectations that refuting trolls will be productive. They just repeat the same points over and over again, not bothering to understand the responses.Yep. Very productive exchanges.
Agreed. Which is why engaging with them is so pointless. I wish posters tempted to engage with trolls would take into consideration the other normal posters. Many of us would prefer to not have to sift through pages and pages of crap, where a poster fixates in refuting every line the troll makes. It creates pages and pages of worthless and repetitive dialogue that normal posters must sift through when reading through threads. It’s really tedious. It also generates the negative attention that the troll craves.I have no expectations that refuting trolls will be productive. They just repeat the same points over and over again, not bothering to understand the responses.
I dunno, I think it can be useful to see others refute their points. The point of a public debate is not to change the mind of the person you're debating, but the spectators. I don't know that this particular debate is really educating anyone, given that everyone has probably decided where they are on this topic, and probably won't change their minds specifically based on arguments from JazzFanz, but I am, at least in theory, in favor of debates.Agreed. Which is why engaging with them is so pointless. I wish posters tempted to engage with trolls would take into consideration the other normal posters. Many of us would prefer to not have to sift through pages and pages of crap, where a poster fixates in refuting every line the troll makes. It creates pages and pages of worthless and repetitive dialogue that normal posters must sift through when reading through threads. It’s really tedious. It also generates the negative attention that the troll craves.
If a poster wants to engage with a troll and/or refute their pts line on line, they can do so in a private manner rather than spam the entire forum. Right?
Yet I will persistin engaging, expecting the trolls not to change at all.Agreed. Which is why engaging with them is so pointless.
That's a possibility. Another option is to devote a thread to it, with the express purpose of allowing those not interested in seeing the exchange to just bypass the thread. Even if the trolls complain about the existence of said thread, no one else has to hear it.If a poster wants to engage with a troll and/or refute their pts line on line, they can do so in a private manner rather than spam the entire forum. Right?
certainly it can when both sides are engaged in good faith arguments. Right? As you said, “in theory” this can be helpful. But haven’t we grown wise to the game these trolls are playing?I dunno, I think it can be useful to see others refute their points. The point of a public debate is not to change the mind of the person you're debating, but the spectators. I don't know that this particular debate is really educating anyone, given that everyone has probably decided where they are on this topic, and probably won't change their minds specifically based on arguments from JazzFanz, but I am, at least in theory, in favor of debates.
But in this particular case, given how many people probably (hopefully) have him blocked, we're just seeing refutations of points we can't see.
That wasn't the start of the discussion, nor @SteakNEggs first post in this thread. Context matters.So what did One Brow do to keep the debate civil? Nothing, he escalated it, right from the start. 3 times.
I think One wanted to continue the discussions but try to keep it contained to a single, easily ignorable, thread. If you remember, there were multiple discussions going on in multiple unrelated threads about trans issues.certainly it can when both sides are engaged in good faith arguments. Right? As you said, “in theory” this can be helpful. But haven’t we grown wise to the game these trolls are playing?
What are we seeing at this pt? Is what we’re seeing public debate? Or is what we’re seeing spamming of threads under the facade of “correcting the trolls” line by line?
It looks to me like we have almost a symbiotic relationship where a handful of troll accounts created by one poster are purposely spamming the site with the explicit motive to illicit responses from him. It creates 2-3 pages per day of repetitive material that the rest of us must tediously sift through. Is this helpful? This is “public debate” to you?
It does matter. Again it was a new discussion, him posting a tweet. He didn't tag you on it, it wasn't a response to a post you made. Context does matter. Yes, it's the same forum, yet a different news story. Context matters.That wasn't the start of the discussion, nor @SteakNEggs first post in this thread. Context matters.
But OB isn’t just engaging with trolls in this one thread, right? Nearly every General Discussion thread is flooded with a troll with multiple accounts spamming the site and OB feeds this troll with line by line rebuttals. I believe that feeding this troll degrades the quality of discussion for the entire site as this troll has zero interest in discussing in good faith subjects from Ukraine to trans issues. All he cares about is generating negative attention. He proves this on a daily basis.I think One wanted to continue the discussions but try to keep it contained to a single, easily ignorable, thread. If you remember, there were multiple discussions going on in multiple unrelated threads about trans issues.
You agree context matters, and then trying to separate this news story from the previous context of SteakNEggs posts. However, his latest post is yet another in a long line of transphobic posts, and that has to be included in the context. Even the choice of news articles used sits steeped in transphobia.It does matter. Again it was a new discussion, him posting a tweet. He didn't tag you on it, it wasn't a response to a post you made. Context does matter. Yes, it's the same forum, yet a different news story. Context matters.
I don't think you should bother talking to that poster. They make the same point over and over, never changing their position or interacting in a genuine way. You're just feeding them opportunities to repeat themself.I think One wanted to continue the discussions but try to keep it contained to a single, easily ignorable, thread. If you remember, there were multiple discussions going on in multiple unrelated threads about trans issues.
He finally gets it!I don't think you should bother talking to that poster. They make the same point over and over, never changing their position or interacting in a genuine way. You're just feeding them opportunities to repeat themself.