Disqus, infected

[Haiz]

But you ARE! I'm living proof of it!

I'm not talking about you specifically! I meant more like this, with an entire TROLL ALERT thread started up, I honestly expected worse. I am in no way endorsing the internet being a generally awful place, but the examples presented are pretty tame, even compared to other things we've seen in this very community. once i was unlucky enough to see a pretty gross doodle someone posted in the comments before minna removed it, and there has not been enough brain bleach to unsee it since.

my point is, it's not really worth pulling too many expenses whenever someone says anything disagreeable, it's gonna be exhausting in the long run.

....... there was, however, the episode with some kid in the ssss tumblr tag who attacked anyone (you know, death threats and stuff?) who drew racebend fanart. that was pretty bad. I haven't seen them since I actually confronted them about it - i blocked them whenever they showed up in the tag, but they got into some really nasty arguments with several of my friends months later, so I ended up interfering despite me so not wanting to feed the troll. apparently, confrontation DOES help sometimes.

[Curry]

I meant more like this, with an entire TROLL ALERT thread started up, I honestly expected worse. I am in no way endorsing the internet being a generally awful place, but the examples presented are pretty tame, even compared to other things we've seen in this very community.

Yeah, this is what I was generally thinking. It's a lot for something kind of smaller, so I guess I'm less likely to be seriously worried? Especially if the insults mentioned were so... tame. Most of the time when trolls are mentioned I expect things like haiz mentioned above. Eh, whatever, that's my bit ¯\_( ᐛ )_/¯

[Aliax]

Personally, I'm a lot more worried by the impersonation bit, because that can turn nasty real quick, or even just poison the waters of the community, so I think that bit was worth being mentioned, so people are aware that they might not be talking to who they think they are talking to.

Regarding that one troll: I wouldn't have bothered mentioning him here, but now that it's done, at least people can know to stay away from this one user. Heh.

[shoop]

Haha god just thinking about that tumblr troll makes me wanna punch their face in. What an awful dude.

I'm glad this kinda reached a conclusion. There's definitely a difference between rudeness and trolling. This forum is so Anti-Conflict (which is fine, people like a place where they don't have to defend themselves) I wouldn't be surprised you guys aren't used to sort of regular-brand internet rudeness.

@Aliax: I feel like this could be cleared up on the forum :p no one can impersonate job on here, he'd just have to make a post abt it.

[Aliax]

There's definitely a difference between rudeness and trolling. This forum is so Anti-Conflict (which is fine, people like a place where they don't have to defend themselves) I wouldn't be surprised you guys aren't used to sort of regular-brand internet rudeness.

Er... Just in case: I still say that guy is a troll, and I've seen much, much worse. I've been on the internet for more than 15 years, in some extremely wanky fandoms and comms, where people like this guy were a dime a dozen, and either got zapped on sight because the mods had much bigger problems to deal with, or were left to eat each other in the middle of the room while the rest of us had our little discussions in the corners. If anything, this forum is too nice for me: I feel like an elephant in a china shop, like I'll be hurting feelings left and right if I don't keep myself on my toes at all times, because I'm used to quite rougher environments. Luckily for me, the comments on Disqus are "less nice", which is why I participate more heavily there than here.

@Aliax: I feel like this could be cleared up on the forum :p no one can impersonate job on here, he'd just have to make a post abt it.

You mean... like he did with this very thread ??? ?

[JoB]

I meant more like this, with an entire TROLL ALERT thread started up, I honestly expected worse.

I guess that that's referring to me as the thread starter? Please note that I wasn't referring to only that one instance, and I did call them "wannabe trolls" as well.

I guess that what I'm having a problem with is so much troll-ish stuff starting more or less simultaneously, and maybe that it includes outright impersonation attempts right from square one. (If you haven't seen it yet, someone posted as an unregistered "minnasundberg" today.) I smell sockpuppetry ...

no one can impersonate job on here, he'd just have to make a post abt it.

Well, I sure hope so. The account settings page does have a field to change your displayed name, it doesn't say whether it'ld enforce uniqueness of same ...

[Edit to rectify abomination of a sentence structure]

[Aliax]

I guess that what I'm having a problem with is so much troll-ish stuff starting more or less simultaneously, and maybe that it includes outright impersonation attempts right from square one. (If you haven't seen it yet, someone posted as an unregistered "minnasundberg" today.) I smell sockpuppetry ...

Ugh, great =_= Hopefully they'll get bored soon.

Well, I sure hope so. The account settings page does have a field to change your displayed name, it doesn't say whether it'ld enforce uniqueness of same ...

That's easy enough to verify...

" The following errors occurred when trying to save your profile:

    The selected username/display name has already been taken."

Nope, no can do !

[Noodles]

Egh, trolls. I shouldn't have gotten involved with this person, but I am pretty bad at not turning into a little column of fiery rage when name-calling/other attack arguments ("I don't like you" as opposed to "I don't like your opinion," which is fine by me) show up. Live and learn. (Also, by their reply to my post, I'm pretty sure they qualify as a troll. Not a spammer, but in the "I like trying to make people on the internet sad just because I can" genre.)

[Sunflower]

Well, I'm afraid that the first wannabe trolls have come to SSSS' Disqus section to stay ...

http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=460#comment-2483580540
http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=460#comment-2483583264
http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=460#comment-2483783307

I'm catching up with a lot of Forum comments after a very busy week IRL.  Thanks for the alerts, JoB.

I actually didn't see anything bad at the first 2 links.  Could Minna have removed the problematic comments?

At the third link, I saw a commenter (with an actual Disqus profile -- he (?) keeps it private but apparently comments a fair amount, though not nearly as much as I do) criticizing the comic's slow pacing, in rather cranky tones.  As other people have said below, while I don't personally enjoy his cranky, rude tone, he doesn't strike me as a troll merely for not enjoying the comic. 

Were the first two comments JoB linked from the same person?  Or problematic in the same way?  Or were they something different/worse, like spam or abusive language? 

I'm just curious in case we need to keep watch for something similar popping up on the Forum.  Unlike the Disqus comments, where Minna is the sole administrator (subject to Disqus' and her Web host's ground rules), we can take matter into our own hands if we think someone's acting in a problematic way. 

..................

P.S.  I just realized after replying to JoB's original post that there was quite a lot of recent commentary in this thread, which I haven't read in depth yet.  If I skipped over some important development, I apologize and I'll update this post accordingly. 

[JoB]

I actually didn't see anything bad at the first 2 links.  Could Minna have removed the problematic comments?

No, they're unchanged as far as I can see. None of the comments individually scream "hello, I'll be your ruiner of moods for today". Part of what worries me is that we see multiple instances of borderline behavior beginning simultaneously +/- 1 day, purportedly all from different people ...

(#2 is an outright impersonation attempt, though. The comment being replied to was from me, the reply itself is someone else's. The (poor) impersonation of "minnasundberg" on the current page has been removed in the meantime.)

[Haiz]

I guess that that's referring to me as the thread starter? Please note that I wasn't referring to only that one instance, and I did call them "wannabe trolls" as well.

I guess that what I'm having a problem with is so much troll-ish stuff starting more or less simultaneously, and maybe that it includes outright impersonation attempts right from square one. (If you haven't seen it yet, someone posted as an unregistered "minnasundberg" today.) I smell sockpuppetry ...

fair enough, that's bad.

As a pro-active measure I did some noodling and found pretty much everything about him, his name, his high school, college, some professors, current residence, where he works, etc.  - thus if his behaviour worsens to the point where it is absolutely necessary , then, measures can be taken .

I really don't think this guy is worth all that. YES, he was rude, but you guys seem to have a lot of faith in Minna, let her handle anything that gets out of control.

[shoop]

...seriously guys I think Minna can handle herself. She's a grown lady and tough, too. And prof marvel, um???

He also requires some schooling in exactly what his "rights" are - actually he has none ;  ie: he paid nothing for this free web comic or the web comic site upkeep, and is only tolerated on the webcomic comments section by the grace of the author. She can end comments at whim and he has no right to say anything.

I mean........yes.........you don't get a free pass to say Anything You Want, that's why Minna asked a dude to remove his sexist comment that one time, but that's. this isn't. He's only been kind of rude, and Minna can just delete it if she wants?? Also, you talk about rights, I feel like -

Technically he has already violated the terms of Disqus with his (mild) uncalled-for namecalling

As a pro-active measure I did some noodling and found pretty much everything about him, his name, his high school, college, some professors, current residence, where he works, etc.  - thus if his behaviour worsens to the point where it is absolutely necessary , then, measures can be taken .

(the bold is my emphasis)

-IT'S WELL WITHIN HIS RIGHTS not to have someone look into his personal info?? measures??? what kind of measures??? this is going a LITTLE FAR for a guy who was KINDA MEAN in the comments. I'm not trying to belittle anyone's hurt feelings here but prof marvel I feel like this is a little out of hand.

[princeofdoom]

From what I've seen at least:
1. I do think he's a troll, but at the very least he was rude.
2. He's a minor troll who we don't need to worry about.
3. Being rude OR a troll does not warrant people snooping on you whether they plan to use the info or not.

[Sc0ut]

[...]gets very protective about stuff , people, and artists he likes. [...]
[...]I also do not tolerate rudeness [...]
[...]He also requires some schooling in exactly what his "rights" are - actually he has none[...]
[...]As a pro-active measure I did some noodling and found pretty much everything about him, his name, his high school, college, some professors, current residence, where he works, etc.  - thus if his behaviour worsens to the point where it is absolutely necessary , then, measures can be taken . [...]

Congratulations, you are now more unpleasant than any rude troll. I don't know (or care) if what you said about finding his personal info is true or not. The fact that you feel entitled to do this (or threaten with this) over mild rudeness makes you worse than him in my eyes. Righteousness like this is disgusting.

As for " He does not seem to realize there are quite few wonderful people out here whose feelings can be easily hurt, who have as much right to the Web as he does." - you just said he has no rights, so I suppose nobody does, right?

[Gwenno]

Troll or no, this thread is bringing out the worst in a lot of people.

There will be times when new commenters appear and we don't like what they're saying. This community is getting bigger, and these things will probably happen more often now. We may think that their opinions are unfair, that their tones are rude, and that they're out to pick a fight. These things could be due to a bias in our perception, a misunderstanding gone out of hand or they may well be true! Just remember that overwhelming an unfamiliar commenter may be unintentionally creating an environment which forces them to be defensive, makes them lash out, and produces rude 'troll like' behaviour from someone who feels under attack. Equally, we have gained good community members when we've treated these disagreeing commenters decently. Your own actions can be powerful, even when you don't intend on them to be.

You can't force everyone on the internet to live to your own standards, but you can live up to them yourself. Be the change you wish to see. It may be hard to do when you feel hurt not to reply in spite, but please hold back, both on the comments and on here. You'll be creating the world you hate, and become the monster you think you're fighting and worse. One of the many wonderful things about the internet is that you can take time to think before replying, a luxury that would be very appreciated in real life. Use this time to think about what you're saying, who it can hurt and what it can do.