One of the first blog sites to capture my attention was The Standard. I think I commented there for the first time in the winter of 2009. Trolls have come and gone, the regulars have too. Chances are, you will have read The Standard much more and much early than you came across Every Tiny Straw. It's kind of the home for left-leaning political junkies.
I've gone off The Standard over the last few months. Not to say I don't visit at all, but I don't hang around and comment so much. I think it's one of the other commenters there, one Pete George. I won't provide any links, because he's difficult to miss if you visit The Standard. He is pervasive. And frustrating. But he tends to stick within the rules and is very good at not getting banned. Despite calls by several of the regulars to have him banned.
Blogging itself is a fascinating new aspect of our social interaction, as a species. I was reminded of this at the end of long thread of comments on Cr Guyton's blog this afternoon:
Shunda barunda said...
I'm sure you are much nicer in person than you are on the internet.
It is not efficient to be 'nice' on the internet, cut to the chase, provoke, respond, thrash it out.
I do most of my thinking on these discussions away from the computer, you can't judge a character by the blog thing, it is not an accurate enough (which is why facebook causes insecure people so much grief).
Yes, I am nicer in person, the blog comment stuff is more of an evolved personality.
Very good, Mr Barunda. Despite my belligerence, I have taken on board the good advice that I could find amongst your comments and will endeavour to behave better in the future.
Back to the case of Pete George. I've considered joining the chorus of calls for him to be banned. The place is just not as much fun with him around. Yet I've resisted, thus far. And I wasn't sure why. This is what I came up with:
- The Standard is not my blog,
- Pete George stays within the house rules,
- I can vote with my mouse
A couple of days mickeysavage put up a DNFTT notice, but couldn't help himself and reasonably promptly fed the troll. Pete George has the knack of needling the commenters at The Standard; I begrudgingly admire how he picks his path and traces his steps back through every day, apparently oblivious to his shortcomings and in the face of open hostility.
Personally, I believe that Pete George is too canny to earn a permanent ban. The only way to get rid of him is for him to lose interest, through an strictly observed DNFTT notice. This will require one of the supposed hallmark characteristics of the left - solidarity. We are not there, yet.
The Beatles - Abbey Road, 1969
Pete George is a phenomenon. He allegedly was banned at the dim post but they then had one post where a quarter of the comments were about him ...
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you about his staying within the rules and a ban is not appropriate but his output of comments is really distracting and destroys the development of threads. His popping over to the sewer to gloat does not endear him with anyone.
As the only identifiable UF blogger he is somewhat unique. As you can see he invokes a variety of responses from me ...
I just skip past his comments, which means I miss out on entire debates, but such is life.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can see, he's been banned. Perhaps TS will get a better sort of troll, as a result.
I'd like it if vto started his own blog. He's brilliant, apart from when he gets into fights with marty mars.
vto's comment yesterday was a classic of its kind. I'm planning to lift it and tuck it into a post at my place.
ReplyDeleteThere's a list of the bloggerteriat that I want to meet in person, so I can tell them how much I like the stuff they write. VTO is one of them, though he's not top of the list. The others are, in alphabetical order, darkhorse, mickeysavage, Puddleglum and RedLogix. I'd put Queen of Thorns on the list too, but I suspect I'd be totally over-awed.
DeleteWould you care for a coffee when you are in Christchurch in a couple of weeks?
oh hell, I must mention I'd love to meet Robert Winter.
Delete