I wasn't going to run another post tonight and certainly not one on a sour note. The nice news at this blog today has certainly brought the vipers and trolls out of their fetid pond [do they live in ponds?] and knowing I couldn't give a damn about anything they say, they've by-passed me and have attacked where they perceive there's someone who cares.
Readers, if you knew the viciousness coming out of their keyboards, you'd wonder why we've put up with it so long. Whereas almost everyone commenting today has been supportive and nice, you should read the filth these people were posting about this lady and about me. As I say, I couldn't give a tinkers myself and even put my own in about one of them, a person I call Mr. Three Inches but it's a running battle and clearly these people have no life other than to troll us.
Last report, the two main trolls have fallen out with each other. Ho hum.
Clearly I'll have to put moderation back on for tonight but knowing people don't like it, I may have to run a registration process which would not be in use while I was at the blog but would kick in at night or if I'm away for any length of time. Those not taking this up would be moderated until the next morning or whatever.
Blogger do have this system but I also have another domain in reserve and might switch nourishing obscurity over to it and that will effectively de-troll this blog. Those of us who run blogs know just how persistent these psycho-pests can be but in our case, this has been going on incessantly for a year and a half now.
So, onto moderation - sorry.
James,
ReplyDeleteIt's cool! I know some fellow bloggers who have stopped writing altogether because of the trolls! Please keep writing! Don't let them get you down! Moderation may be the only way to save comments! So onward!
Quite right, James. Your blog to do with as you see fit.
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand the whole troll thing. Are they just jealous nihilists or blighted souls in need of a thumping good attitude adjustment?
Communication is difficult enough online with the lack of audible and visual clues. And if you don't know the writers personally, well, I'm lost.
That said, I was confused yesterday with Ubermouths blog here and couldn't tell if it was a joke or real. Since then postings seem to indicate real. Good!
Congratulations to the both of you and a long, happy life together!
Mad Piper, to be fair to them, there's only my word for it here.
ReplyDelete"blighted souls in need of a thumping good attitude adjustment"
Got it in one.
There was an issue long ago and I took someone's side in it. All hell broke loose and I lost [and have still lost today] a great deal of kudos among certain members of the Brit sphere.
Basically, this guy was caught out doing the same nasties he's still doing, I called him out and naturally, he did the injured innocent bit.
The more material came in the more it was shown to be right. If it hadn't have been, I'd have changed camp.
The very thing I called him out on, he took them and attempted to call me out on, therefore reducing it to a spat between two children, which was the best he could have hoped for - M.A.D.
He began to believe his own lie though, sort of like a method actor and his RL business requires this skill - apparently he's one of the best for a few weeks at a time.
That's what he's doing and doesn't understand that in normal society, what he's doing constitutes libel. Unfortunately, I've shot myself in the foot by being one of the main proponents that the blogosphere is no place for litigation.
For both that reason and lack of money, I don't litigate.
Therefore, with carte blanche to say absolutely anything he likes - that I'm a mad axe murderer, paedophile, terrorist, whatever - I never read the guff - he can influence some people.
Blog friends say it shows weakness but I ask you - form looking at my posts - does it look like I'm weak? I do try to find consensus though and so I ran a post called "olive branch" where I called for an end to hostilities.
That was taken by those supporting him as some sort of admission and by normal people as a capitulation.
No one took it the way I intended it - simply to stop hostilities all around, everyone having said what they were going to.
This is why they're still at it two years later but with one added thing. He's lost all credibility in the sphere now, he's been booted out of things and no one wants to know him.
This is an ego thing and he's done the slide across to me being the one at fault for his own bad choices in the last year. In the last year, I've ahd nothing to do with any of it - check my blog. No email contact either.
That's where we are. Unpleasant but I still think it was right to support the person they attacked. Surely that's what we do in the sphere - back each other up.
James,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading you for a few weeks now and 'weak' is not a word I would use. I would use COURAGEOUS. A mere cursory reading of your topics would make that clear!
You are an honest, thoughtful, considerate, and considerable writer. Or to put it another way, a man of excellent character. That alone puts your trolls to shame.
Now, be at peace, and know there are many that appreciate you.
I'd say you took the right course, excepting the olive branch part. But it was your gunfight. A troll has the function of revealing the very different levels of both courage and judgement in people who are not trolls. This is never enriching, but always educational. Those people who have now seen your position to have been honest and correct, especially those people, are less likely to honor that than they are to be wary of you, since by their own choice they did not see the distinction. You are a reminder of our vast potential for smallness.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are familiar with the great campaign speech Hillare Belloc gave in his first run for Parliament--
As far as possible, I go to Mass every day. This is a rosary. As far as possible I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that he has spared me the indignity of being your representative.
James,
ReplyDeleteYou have a great blog; interesting, informative, and relative.
WM
The comment moderation options are one of the things I like about moving over to Wordpress.
ReplyDeleteBlog friends say it shows weakness
They are wrong, it shows completely the opposite. But I am sure you know what I think about that already.