Comments on: The trolls under the bridge

By: Revisiting Blog Comments & Community Building « Like a Whisper

Revisiting Blog Comments & Community Building « Like a Whisper — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:28:16 +0000

[...] Historiann deals specifically with activist or “identity based” blogs and people who disagree with them – while I am a lot more lax here, I do think her comments about how your behavior is interpreted is a warning to everyone who is tempted to lash out at other comment makers or blog owners [...]

By: “Hit and Run” Comments and How to be Productive on the Internet « Like a Whisper

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:48:50 +0000

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:38:01 +0000

UBS–you’re cool. Reading blogs is not in my opinion “blog stalking,” although I understand that people use it colloquially to mean “monitoring other people’s lives.”

This blog is a public forum. All readers are welcome–all but a few commenters are.

By: Unidentified "Blog Stalker"

Unidentified "Blog Stalker" — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:53:00 +0000

I just wanted to say, quickly, that I read this blog almost every day. I feel like I have learned a lot reading the posts and comments. However, with that being said, I never comment or add to the conversations. I am here to learn. I know who Historiann is, and I respect her intelligence and opinions. Anything she is willing to teach me, I am willing to learn. This blog is an excellent way for her to spread knowledge and wonderful conversation-starters to anyone who wants to read it. After reading this, I started to feel guilty about being a “blog stalker.” I promise, I stalk with the best of intentions, and an eagerness to learn from someone whom I really respect.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:47:51 +0000

Liz2, I think your estimates are correct, although (as I’m sure you know), we don’t always know that we know the same people in common, so that means it’s not 6,000 direct or second-degree connections to someone. (I suppose it depends on how small your field is–if I recall correctly, you’re an Africanist, so I imagine that that’s a pretty small field in the U.S. compared to U.S. or European history.)

The thing I am learning about trolls is that they don’t have the same value system as you and me. I don’t know you, but what I know about you is that you have the kind of life that people can’t have if they’re not taking care of their work and family/personal lives. (That is, the kind of life that people probably can’t manage if they’re spending 10 hours a day blog stalking.) So, fear of repercussions is not foremost in their minds–I think it’s a kind of mania or obsession with having a relationship with people who don’t want to have a relationship with you.

In real life, this is called stalking.

By: Liz2

Liz2 — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:10:28 +0000

I agree with your comment about career suicide in being an a-hole on blogs. I estimated last night that each of my departmental colleagues knows 300 historians if you include people they went to grad school with, their advisors, people they’ve been on panels with, etc. So if I have 20 colleagues, that means I am connected to 6000 historians in the US. That’s a whole lotta people!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:19:43 +0000

Susurro–I wonder if we share trolls? I’ve found that some of my persistent trolls visit and comment on blogs that I link to. Super, super classy guys, aren’t they?

I think DNFTT is the best troll repellent, along with the delete button. This post was meant to serve as a warning–I will delete without either explanation or apology. This is my space–I’m no more obligated to let people in here than I am obligated to let anyone into my home or my body.

Yes, I’ve found evidence in my stats of people using services to scrub their IP addresses. It’s really sad, isn’t it, the amount of time and energy people want to spend harassing us? I can only imagine how emotionally stunted and socially maladjusted they are in real life.

By: susurro

susurro — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:46:16 +0000

IPs can be faked or changed fairly easily you know, I think I wrote a post 3 years ago about running mine through an IP Program and designating a “home” city after I witnessed a particularly viscious flame war in which the blog owner outed the person’s “home” city and encouraged people to find and hurt them.

If you do feed the trolls once and a while, I find they particularly despise diets high in logic, politeness, and suggestions about following established netiquette. And some times the delete button is your best friend (just deleted a 5 page comment that literally questioned the content and the form of every sentence in the post & yet boiled down to “women are stupid. you are stupid. I am brilliant. Let me show you the ways.”)

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:27:13 +0000

Digger–it’s true that not all trolls are male. But the vast, vast, vast majority of them on feminist blogs are. (Or, my bet is that they’re men who are hiding behind a female sock puppet name.)

And for those who aren’t down with all of the lingo, DNFTT = Do Not Feed The Trolls.

By: Digger

Digger — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:10:09 +0000

Some folks just don’t much care for women who are doing their own thing. Particularly if it involves having opinions. Most especially if it involves sharing them. And then not being appropriately apologetic when their errors are graciously pointed out by assorted trolls (who are not all male).

I <3 that you posted the IP address locator url.