Hangover from old board

picol

picol

Member
I've been lurking on a part-time basis on this new board for most of the last week or so, and a few times i've felt like contributing but i haven't gone through with it.

When i've been examining the reasons why this might be, i figured out that it has nothing to do with how the new board looks, feels or smells, but everything to do with the toxic atmosphere from the old board caused by the endless yawnfest of trolling, the result of which had left me almost completely uninterested in even visiting the site.

It's true that this new place is still a board for the privileged and reasonable few until the mass-migration occurs, but even so i've just had that feeling that i can't be arsed dealing with trolls or those with general dickheadery as a default setting. the calibre of poster that had become so prevalent.

Although this new board seems pretty decent, so kudos for the development that has gone into it, it will all be for nothing as far as my posting habits are concerned if there is a return to the previous board's toxicity.

Anyway, I just wanted to break the cycle of not posting. How is everyone this fine thursday? I was convinced it was friday when i woke up (n)
 
Morning picol & welcome to the board
Hopefully the board continues to thrive when posters are joining & members growing

I'm actually looking forward to see it when it's up & fully running

Enough of that enjoy the day I'm off to bed after my nightshift

UTMB
 
I was feeling similar myself. I had posted very little in a few weeks prior to joining on here. Trying out things on here has given me an interest in the board again. Maybe the same will happen with you.
 
Just put the trolls on ignore.

I hope they introduce the Ignore Thread feature too, as it removes the temptation of getting drawn in to threads that you know are just going to wind you up.
 
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I must admit my contributions have dwindled. I can't be bothered with the nonsense either. Hopefully it will change.
 
I feel the same about the trolling on the older site. There were too many nasty trolls who kept coming back who seemed to have personal info on people. Not good. I haven't posted much on there at all, and generally keep clear of political debate threads these days.
 
There is an ignore function here so you can silence anyone you consider to be a troll.

Yes it feels like a Friday to me too, but, as I’m off tomorrow it technically is.

Come back, keep posting. Once it’s all migrated this place can be better than FMTTM
 
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I never posted on the old board because of all the trolling, hopefully the new one will be able to block the repeat offenders properly (through their IP addresses?)
 
I think admin would have to take a tougher line on rule breaking especially those who attack others personally. That would help. Borolad’s purge of posters after walletgate last year was actually really good to see.
 
Welcome Picol - I am taking the issue of trolls really seriously. Not just because it puts us all off posting but from the Mental Health point of view also. The rise in suicides locally, particularly male suicides has been devastating and while social media has not been directly linked to any victims as far as I know, we do need to ensure that the atmosphere does not disturb people and add to underlying problems, as much as possible. This site will be stand alone therefore that cuts out one of the routes deployed by Riverside Rifle etc. But becasue of trolls I have had to screen new users for several years now. Which isn't easy to do and means many people could have been blocked quite innocently.
These are divisive times and that is a major problem but we will all probably need to take care and pause for thought before posting. Too many people are taking their lives. Can we help by being part of the solution rather than the problem?
 
I'm not sure how registration will work on here but I hope that it will take some steps to make it harder for repeat offenders to simply re-register with a new username. I'd like to see a sin bin where usernames were put on ice for a few days rather than outright bans perhaps replace their Avatar with a "Troll" or "banned" image for a few days? Perhaps new accounts (once the board is fully open) should be subject to a short wait or authorisation period of a day or two so that trolls cannot simply be straight back on? The ignore user will help but it isn't a magic bullet.
 
Muttley said:
I'm not sure how registration will work on here but I hope that it will take some steps to make it harder for repeat offenders to simply re-register with a new username. I'd like to see a sin bin where usernames were put on ice for a few days rather than outright bans perhaps replace their Avatar with a "Troll" or "banned" image for a few days? Perhaps new accounts (once the board is fully open) should be subject to a short wait or authorisation period of a day or two so that trolls cannot simply be straight back on? The ignore user will help but it isn't a magic bullet.
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Good points there Muttley but wouldn't that increase the work load for admin, as opposed to just a warning then binbed?!
 
Dave - blocking Ip addresses dosn't work anymore - people in the know can just switch IPs in a matter of minutes. Nothing is as straight forward anymore but there are a lot of tools at my diposal on this site that can help better manage things.
 
A lot of it stems from posting stuff to get a reaction and cause trouble as well as multiple user names.
If you post something to upset and cause a reaction they have to accept a response in the same tone.

This especially happens over political posts, the old adage of it you can't handle the heat best stay out of the kitchen applies.
 
I haven't actually come across many multiple user names in the last couple of years. Not obvious to detect anyway. When borolad or me look up those under suspicion they have radically different IPs and emails as well as usernames. Of course they still could be the same poster but maybe not.
 
picol said:
We need a dislike button..
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If it's any consolation, it was my 3rd round of redundancy risk in 18 months, with the latter two taking place inside of 6 months. Luckily managed to time a job offer for a promotion with this redundancy actually progressing, so have gotten a pay rise, promotion, and 2 and half months of gap time. It's been nice to spend time with family and relax after a fairly stressful sitiuation, and looking forward to new challenges.

Downside is I will be commuting to Newcastle instead of working from home.
 
Muttley said:
I'm not sure how registration will work on here but I hope that it will take some steps to make it harder for repeat offenders to simply re-register with a new username. I'd like to see a sin bin where usernames were put on ice for a few days rather than outright bans perhaps replace their Avatar with a "Troll" or "banned" image for a few days? Perhaps new accounts (once the board is fully open) should be subject to a short wait or authorisation period of a day or two so that trolls cannot simply be straight back on? The ignore user will help but it isn't a magic bullet.
Click to expand...

It wont be harder to register, although there should be admin controls that can show admins who has used the same IP addresses across accounts. This isn't always infallible as IPs change and people use workplace connections etc, but it can be a warning.

The best change is that it puts the power in your hands of who you see - if you know someone is an incarnation of a troll or a novelty account, you an just ignore them.

I do think Rob should empower some moderators however, which are different from Admins in that they cant change formatting of the forums etc, they can only delete posts, merge threads, act on reports etc. Real life has a habit of taking priority over things like running a forum, and theres been some notable examples of when someone has gone wild (purposeful spoilers to end of Game of Thrones, for example) and it often happens overnight. A couple of moderators would make this a lot easier to manage - likewise reduce any risk of image spamming, inappropriate content etc. This is Risk free on this platform as the mods cant damage or alter the site, just help keep things ticking over smoothly and this removes the power and effectiveness of a lot of trolling activity.
 
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