Josh writes: There’s been a bit of closet trolling recently, a pretence if being polite but blatantly not, and generally trying to derail posts. Fortunately we have a helpful cartoon for that.
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Your post at August 18, 2014 at 12:06 pm is daft.
I provided evidence of a behaviour by citing it and linking to it.
You think that proves something?
#############
yes it proves you are a troll by your own definition.
My concept of troll ( on a moderated venue that has a relatively high degree of intellectual openness like WUWT) centers largely around any hostility toward the blog host or name-calling toward the blog host or slandering the blog host . That is it. If a commenter does that or even hints of doing that, that commenter should be isolated in the troll bin. Putting that discussion of troll aside now, all other kinds of uncivil comment behavior should be moderated no matter who does it, other uncivil behavior makes a commenter intellectually defaulted and not a troll; it makes the commenter less rational but not troll.
So, I think that means >>90% of the people who are called trolls by regular commenters here are not trolls.
John
spot the troll
I thought they came with spots.
urederra says:
August 18, 2014 at 5:59 am
I think the troll in the pic is rather cute.
*
You don’t get out enough. 🙂
“John Whitman says:
August 18, 2014 at 1:55 pm”
I’ve been called a troll several times by a prominent guest blogger and postees even though I was not in breach of site policy, nor did i de-rail a thread nor was I offensive. I think the definition of troll is well understood.
John
I agree, most of the people called trolls here tend to just have different opinions to the majority. That is not to say that a few deliberately or otherwise sometimes display troll like tendencies. However, If we want to test our sceptical views we need others to intelligently test them by commentators with a different viewpoint to us which doesn’t make them trolls
Tonyb
I think that “troll” is often used as a cop-out as you say, but much more often it is used as an ad hominem attack against someone rather than trying to defeat the argument at hand.
We all know trolls who try to derail every thread and return time after time with lame arguments that have been debunked with facts, but too often people only think they have “debunked” some argument. After all, just because you think you have defeated an argument does not mean you have. Many men “defeated” the idea the continents move — but they do move, now don’t they?
I will say that on this very thread I have seen a few act as if the fictional character Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” TV show is a role model rather than the social misfit that the character is. I was, sadly, not surprised to see a thread that was supposed to be light hearted fun degenerate. Such is life in this modern world.
Richard Courtney, please pay little attention to Moshpit. You often make very cogent posts. Moshpit’s ostentatious arrogance precedes him. Recall the BEST paper that found difficulty getting published in a decent journal. He and Zeke are Muller’s useful idiots, but apparently thought so little of Moshpit he wasn’t even an author. He’s a Mann-child.
“””””…..Jack says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:42 am
Think you have 1 tooth too many……”””””
Yes; and I think there is one too many gaps, as well !!
@richardscourtney
There you go. Thank you for the information.
In regards to the remainder of your narrative, you are simply behaving in a paranoid and abusive manner.
Neat. Show a cartoon and all the trolls come out.
I had a cousin who was arrested in Prince Rupert for dragging a couple of garbage bins behind his truck, down the main street.
When the RCMP asked him, what he thought he was doing?
He replied; Trolling for pigs.
Now by profession he was a long line fisherman, who trolled for Salmon.
So is this an attempt at diverting the thread, can I qualify as a troll?
We need to treasure the clever thread jackers and the deeply concerned ones, they are an endangered species.
The CAGW meme is fading away, soon the profiteers and corporate bandits will move on to their next scam, their official line will be ; We have always been at war with…. I mean we never believed that CO2 could cause catastrophic warming, you have us confused with.. our evil twins.
The cult of calamitous humanity is moving on.The old wolf is molting.
The science is slowly being done, exposing the claims of the activists as nonsense.
However the IPCC, and its masters still exploit the stupidity of crowds.
The science of understanding our planetary systems goes on, but the claims of scientific evidence of man made catastrophe were never anything but politics wrapped in a thin cloak of scienciness.
Just like the white lab coats “supporting” Obamacare.
So pointing out the political utility of outlandish claims of science, can be on topic.
Possibly the only reason some of the recent crud ever got published.
.
I have been labeled a troll by richardscourtney simply because I disagreed with him, and then I was sucked in by his brand of trolling trying to defend myself.
sure wish I had a redo of that day ;0)
@ur momisugly John August 18, 2014 at 4:38 pm
We Johns gotta stick together.
While you can’t redo that day, you can learn from it.
RSC can be, as his son pointed out earlier in this thread, a little aggressive, but I find that if you read through the “aggressive” stuff and then see what he is saying, much of the time he makes a lot of good sense. Who knows, maybe all the time, and I just am not able to see it, but then, none of us is perfect, so what the heck?
He probably doesn’t have you on his “list of trolls”, and, if you are fortunate, you are not on his list of “people to be ignored” where I probably am.
Although, now that I think about it, I am most likely on his “list of people who use too many commas”.
🙂
Oh, I forgot to add the word “troll” somewhere in my last post.
You know, just to insure that I appeared on topic.
Joe Born says:
August 18, 2014 at 6:25 am
Congratulations. You have managed to get your critique of the “B-E Theory” published at WUWT after all in this post. Or at least the gist of it.
As to trolling, some of the comments here have established that it is quite a flexible concept. I had generally understood it as deflecting or derailing the conversation and yet your post, which did just that, was interesting.
Moderation in the comments section here is quite light, giving trolls and others quite a bit of rope. On the whole it seems to allow the development and critique of more ideas than it would otherwise, and therefore probably leads to a net gain.
Trolling, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. As a beholder, I pronounce the Idiot to fully live up to his name, and to be a troll. Same with Mosher – incapable of adding much of use, dropping pithy little statements without any reference (and usually, bad grammar), and refusing ever to give a time stamp to the quotes he pulls so that one has to constantly (if one cares, and I no longer care) search through the entire message list to see what the hell he is talking about. Perhaps not a troll, but sort of a boorish waste of time (with regards to both Willis and RGB, who sometimes find something useful in Mosher). But then, I’m only a geologist, and not a highfalutin “climate scientist” who only diddles with numbers and models and never goes out to the field.
Trolling has long been a proud Australian tradition – except we call it Shit Stirring. Used effectively it can be a powerful weapon against ignorance – it can also be mis-used in the wrong hands.
JohnWho says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:58 pm
@ur momisugly John August 18, 2014 at 4:38 pm
“He probably doesn’t have you on his “list of trolls”, and, if you are fortunate, you are not on his list of “people to be ignored” where I probably am.”
I wonder if there is a way that I can put myself on his ignore list? ;0)
I rarely agree with Mosh but a troll he isn’t.
I don’t see any reason to care about the trolls they just make Warmers look stupid. They also tip their hand to the next stupid thread of BS they are about to spread to the media types and they rarely make much difference to what direction the discussion takes anyway.
The political arguments are central to the debate since this is where the true aim of the left is.
Its goal is control and power through fear, CAGW is the tool nothing more and this is why the science doesn’t really matter to them.
There are people here who use the troll accusation because they can’t handle critsism, this is not helpful to the cause.
A troll is a definition of a person who intentionally tries to infiltrate a blog by putting up silly arguments, to try and derail or be rude to other posters. Or naughty ugly people who have few brains and short legs. The mythical troll lived underground, and used to snatch pretty young women and enslave them. When they surface they get there cupupance anyway. Oh good news
the two solar farms are quitting in NSW.
[Comeuppance? Or just a “cupo’pence”? .mod]
JohnWho:
At August 18, 2014 at 4:58 pm you join in the daft form of trolling practiced by Mosher when you write of me
I have no such list and I don’t care about commas.
I do have a mental list of ‘useful idiots’ which you and Mosher are both on.
You are each illogical, irrational, and supportive of other trolls. This thread is only one of the many where you have each demonstrated these deliberate faults.
Richard
Bob Boder:
At August 18, 2014 at 7:11 pm you say
I agree that you use the troll accusation because you can’t handle criticism, and calling out trolls is not helpful to the AGW cause.
Richard
John:
I can help with your point in your post at August 18, 2014 at 6:12 pm.
You say
Try making a post that has some content.
At present you have yet to contribute anything to be ignored.
I hope that helps.
Richard
JohnWho says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Oh, I forgot to add the word “troll” somewhere in my last post.
You know, just to insure that I appeared on topic.
Dunno if I’m trolling or merely being pedantic but actually you did it to ensure that you appeared on topic.
Mind you, h/t to dp for “pedantroll”. I’ve never come across that one before. It’s absolutely brilliant.
I really enjoy the level of knowledge in this room and it blows me away reading the structure of the arguments as they are presented to refute or support a point. However, this trolling business is dominant on a lot of blogs and it really does become a bore after a while. Miserable people with shit for brains at best is how I would describe them. Cheers