OK, DUers. Time to take out the trash.

[jgraz]

We've been spending way too much time and energy dealing with trolls and intractable haters. Obama's speech this morning should have brought us together, but there are still people determined to distract us with their desperate cries for attention.

You may not know this, but there's a little button that will greatly cut down on the pain and frustration you experience on this site. It looks like this:

My suggestion is that when you see someone who is obviously an irredeemable shit-stirrer, just hit that magic button AND TELL THE OFFENDER YOU'VE DONE IT. Once the trolls realize their audience has left them, they will hopefully dry up and blow away.

[tekisui]

1. The trolls/disruptors have a loophole right now.

Until we have a Nominee, they can pose as a "supporter" of a candidate. You may notice many of them never offer any support of any Dem. They solely trash one or the other.

Once we have a Nominee, they will not benefit from the cover of opposing Dem candidates, and will disappear, or at least be forced to be much more clever.

[yurbud]

6. it's more accurate to call them shills. If someone mindlessly repeats talking points

over and over and fails to engage on any meaning way or even acknowledge the content of what others have said, you are probably dealing with a paid shill or even a discussion board bot.

[knixphan]

29. and they seem to be multiplyin'

[WolverineDG]

21. Why don't the admins make GD;P a "donor" only post area?

C'mon Skinner, make Grovelbot happy.

dg

[tekisui]

25. I dig it.

I imagine the reason that doesn't happen is because the inflammatory comments draw people in, and increase the click traffic, the value of the advertisers, etc.

I am for GD: P being donor only.

[musicblind]

64. OR maybe he could make a sperate donor only GD: P

like have a public one and then a private one. The donors could discuss in whichever they choose?

[here_is_to_hope]

71. Totally works for me...n/t

[Kittycat]

96. What a cool idea :) Or make it pay to post.

says me with the pretty yellow star.

[WolverineDG]

100. Ten cents please

Error: The text of this post will go live once payment clears Paypal.

;)

dg

[Forkboy]

2. That's like a general strike...it only works if everyone buys into it.

And we learned from Kerry that ignoring them won't work. I plan on responding to every one I see and calling them on it, standing up to them, and smacking them upside their hollow heads.

But that's just my own plan...yours may differ. :)

[IndependentDem]

13. i like your approach! go kick some ass!!

:spank:

[jgraz]

19. For some of these trolls, that's exactly what they want

Believe it or not, there are some people who thrive on that kind of attention. There are also people who are just here to sow conflict between otherwise sensible DUers. Every time you respond you help them out.

[Forkboy]

33. Eh...to each their own, I guess.

Like I said, unless everyone buys into your plan it wont work..and not everyone is going to buy into your plan. So someone has to stand up to them, whether they thrive on it or not. :shrug:

[apocalypsehow]

79. Excellent post, I agree 100%. That's my plan, too.

:thumbsup:

[mcctatas]

3. With all of the passion from both camps...

sometimes it's hard to tell if it is just an overzealous Clinton/Obama supporter or a troll...(although post count and lack of profile are kinda good indicators)...I just can't ignore people...I think I need help :crazy:

[Breeze54]

16. Just do this....

Move your mouse over the little yellow envelope where you would click to send a PM
and then look at the bottom of your browser and you will see their member ID #.
Mine is 158134 (I think) ;) I joined on Nov 17th 2004.

[mcctatas]

28. I never knew that...

thanks!
I'm 16844..(just had to find out)

[dsc]

4. you might wish to read the rules before you do this

It is directly against the rules to tell people you have put them on ignore.

[jgraz]

9. You are directly wrong.

Do not say that you are hitting the alert link to report another member. You are permitted to tell someone that you are adding them to your ignore list, provided that you actually do so.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. For clarification:

"Do not say that you are hitting the alert link to report another member. You are permitted to tell someone that you are adding them to your ignore list, provided that you actually do so."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

Note that does not mean you can boast about your ignore list later on.

[jgraz]

78. Alerted.

:P

Sincere question: why is telling someone you're ignoring them OK but telling them you've alerted a post not OK? I don't understand the reasoning there.

[muriel_volestrangler]

88. The rules predate my time as a mod

so you'd need to ask an administrator for the real explanation, but my guess is that a single "I'm going to ignore you from now on" does have the useful purpose of telling the other person why an argument has suddenly stopped; saying "I've alerted" would end up happening many times, and would be used by many people as a way to try to win arguments by implying the other person breaks DU rules, and so doesn't belong here. If someone has alerted, then an action from the mods will show if they agree a rule was broken; but if one wasn't, then the 'innocent party' shouldn't have a public record of a false accuasation hanging around.

[jgraz]

91. OK, that makes sense. Thanks.

[boppers]

15. It's against the rules to lie about it, but telling them is okay.

"Do not say that you are hitting the alert link to report another member. You are permitted to tell someone that you are adding them to your ignore list, provided that you actually do so." See: http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

[NightWatcher]

5. just let them fall off the page with 0 replies

[Kittycat]

97. Until they kick their own thread, which I noticed one such trolly doing a bit ago.

[shadowknows69]

7. I'm at about 15 and climbing

[bridgit]

8. I don't use the ignore feature...

[Balbus]

18. What? Aren't you afraid of different opinions?

:scared:

[Breeze54]

26. It isn't "just about ignoring opinions" at all.

There are some that are pretty nasty and I put them on iggy. I never used to do that at all,
but recently I just got tired and fed up trudging through the flamers. It isn't permanent
and I do clear it out at times but sometimes I just don't care to hear the nastiness.

[jgraz]

34. My thoughts exactly.

Most of these people will be gone as soon as Obama becomes the "official" presumptive nominee. Why should we expend effort entertaining them up to that point?

[MethuenProgressive]

94. I only ignore the haters who say they won't vote for our nominee.

The "I won't ever vote for Hillary" and "I won't ever vote for Obama" posters get an instant ignore.

[Bread and Circus]

11. Yep, and the other thing is to NOT respond to hateful/un-productive threads or posts

[hell-bent]

41. Do you also use this idea on

the hateful, un-productive posts about Hillary?

[rug]

12. I've done it.

[apocalypsehow]

80. Who's that in your avatar?

n/t.

[Tesha]

90. That's Karl Marx. (NT)

[BOSSHOG]

14. Use the ignore button and preach unity - Yeah Baby!!

Awesome strategy. Yeah shit-stirrers, unite and use that ignore button. More hope and unity to ya!!

[Skip Intro]

20. I feel the irony is lost on most of them. Applause to your post.

[jgraz]

23. There's a difference between irony and stupidity

There are people on this site who are uninterested in unity or reasonable discussion. They have proven themselves to be intractable disruptors on their way to a granite cookie. Why should we feed their egos by responding to their crap?

[BOSSHOG]

48. Irony. You seem to be describing Obama supporters on DU

I couldnt have said it better.

[jgraz]

55. Actually, there isn't much you could say better

You aren't exactly known for your soaring rhetoric.

[BOSSHOG]

60. That's not nice

How are we supposed to UNITE? I HOPE you'll have a change of heart. Although I'm not quite sure of your accuracy. I belive my written rhetoric had made plenty "sore" in DU-GDP. Ya know, the cultists who don't like to be called cultists.

[jgraz]

62. I'm really not signed on to Obama's program 100%

If you had been bright enough to read my sig, you might have put 2 and 2 together.

But then, you HillSups have never been good at math.

[BOSSHOG]

67. Wow

You are a master. I continue to HOPE that MY CANDIDATE General Clark can emerge from a brokered convention. Love the kindness of you 80 percenters. Your attempts at unity speak volumes.

[Skip Intro]

69. We all choose which threads we click and to which posts we respnd. Your OP reads like a call

to throw Hillary supporters overboard. A reccouring theme on this board.

Personally, I skip a lot of "trollish" threads, and they aren't Hillary supporters.

But I don't understand the ignore feature. If you're going to create some echo chamber where only what you want to see and hear is all there is, why not just gaze in the mirror at your superior self and have the conversation of your life?

Not to be able to see the disturbing irony of pumping a man you worship for his call to unity, and using that as a rallying cry to cast aside those who differ boggles the mind. The words and actions don't match. And that's been the problem with Obama and many of his supporters from the start.

[jgraz]

84. I submit that you may be over-sensitized from the insanity that is GDP

I made no call to throw anyone's supporters anywhere. I think we've got some real problems with people trying to start flamewars just to watch them burn. Someone who jumps on the board 5 minutes after Obama's speech ends and calls him a fraud qualifies as a troll in my book.

And speaking of trolls, I don't accuse you of worshipping Hillary, so maybe you should cut the not-so-sly cult references. To me, Obama is the best candidate of the two who are left, and that's it. His style is not my style, and I'm not particularly enthralled with the idea of reaching across the aisle to Rethugs or their DLC collaborators.

The guy made a great speech today and we should all take the opportunity to learn from what he had to say. I promise you, if Hillary ever finds it in herself to give a similar speech on an issue near to her heart, I'll jump all over anyone who posts shit about it.

[cboy4]

27. ....

:spray:


I don't get belonging to a message board and then blocking out the messages.

Isn't that like an oxymoron or something?

[BOSSHOG]

49. You da Man CBoy

[BlueStater]

17. No thanks

I'm sick of all this "ignore button/list" shit. I'm not going to hide someone's messages just because they commit the sin of (gasp!) disagreeing with me or saying something I don't like.

I also don't understand telling other people you're putting them on ignore like it matters. Are we honestly supposed to give a shit?

[BOSSHOG]

24. Absolutely

You must be offended. You won't get an invite to join the cult either and you won't be able to sit at the Obama table in the lunchroom.

[knixphan]

31. soon, that Obama-table is going to be called the USA

[BOSSHOG]

51. Mussolini couldn't have said it better

[jgraz]

53. Well, he would have said it in Italian.

[jgraz]

30. You can't tell the difference between good-faith disagreement and pure destructive bile?

Some of my best friends on this site are people I've had raging disagreements with. What I'm talking about are the people who seem to be here only to draw attention to themselves and their inflammatory comments.

Believe me, those people thrive on our responses and they definitely care if people put them on ignore.

[burythehatchet]

95. Not when they are the ones spewing said bile

[emilyg]

38. I wish I could rec. your post.

[MaryCeleste]

75. Damn, an adult in the crowd

Ignore button/list is for the undisciplined who can not manage to ignore mentally.



For the record my choice is out of the race and my primary over. I will support who ever wins. I am not even making a prediction

[Bluebear]

22. "You are ignoring the author of this thread"

Oops! :)

[backscatter712]

32. *plonk*

;-)

Yeah, the ignore button is definitely a good sanity-preserving tool.

I tried taking the high road and not using it, but quite frankly, this place is just too rabid for that.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

35. I just hafta say it ...

:spray: This is a hysterical coming from YOU! :rofl: :rofl:

[jgraz]

37. That's because you can't tell the difference between disagreement and shit-stirring

There's a reason we now have a 3-post limit on this group, and it isn't because of posters like me.

[hell-bent]

36. Wait! Is this the Obama Nation website?

WTF! Does everyone have to follow in lock step to everything Obama says or does? It sounds at bit fascist to me. No dissension,,just agreement and adulation of his Majesty? What kind of Democratic website would that be? He has not clinched the nomination yet the last time I looked.

[jgraz]

40. This is a discussion forum

Disruptors who aren't interested in discussion don't really have a place here.

[hell-bent]

42. Ok, I get it now.

As long as the discussion is favorable to Obama then it's ok; however, un-favorable articles, pics, and comments about the opposing candidate is welcome and encouraged,right? You guys are unbelievable! It's like a gigantic groupie fest.....

[jgraz]

46. No, you obviously don't get it

and you don't show any indication that you ever will. :crazy:

[Tribetime]

39. swiftboating other dems caused me to start that sun eve.

[KaptBunnyPants]

43. I started doing that a few weeks ago when I officially became sick of this primary.

Listening to Hillary's diehards slime the inevitable Democratic candidate constantly got me sick to the point where I put probably 75 people on ignore. They have lost, but they demand to fight on. Even though our greater enemy is strengthened by her actions, some of her supporters would rather help McCain beat Obama than accept the primary loss. I don't understand it. Some Dean supporters were the same way, and never forgave Kerry or Edwards for beating him. I was a Dean supporter, but I was first and for most a Democrat. I wanted Bush out, and good government. For the people, right?

[BringBigDogBack]

44. K&R

[Auntie Bush]

45. Thanks for the suggestion

I just used it on you.

[jgraz]

47. That was part of the plan. Thanks for playing.

[Forkboy]

50. LOL....this place kills me.

:rofl:

[metalluk]

52. I've never put anyone on my ignore list until now

but you've convinced me that you should be my first.

[jgraz]

57. Aw, I'll miss you ... who are you again?

[bigtree]

54. I think the speech was calculated to get folks to 'rally around' Obama's campaign

but, you go on . . .

[TK421]

58. noted n/t

[jgraz]

61. It was a great speech and a singular "teaching moment".

It's too bad you can't see that.

[TK421]

56. jgraz I have a sincere question for you....

how old are you? I am beginning to believe that the Obama vote has a great deal to do with age, and not with race or sex....I see many younger people in my area alone who are vehemently for Obama, and wonder if it is a trend or....well, I don't know what, but the younger crowd definitely seems to go for him. I would like to know what your interpretation of that would be?

[jgraz]

59. Check my sig. I'm not "going for" Obama

I switched to him after Edwards because I thought he was a better strategic choice for down ticket races. Truth be told, Obama was my second-to-last choice for the nomination, just slightly ahead of Hillary.

I've since grown to sincerely support him and think that he might turn out to be a great president. It took a while, but I'm actually pulling *for* him, rather than just working against the political train wreck that is Hillary Clinton.

[TK421]

63. Ahhh...I'm a bit drunk at the moment ( which is not a surprise to some here )

and yes, I did notice your avatar...but could you perhaps elaborate on the whole political train wreck thing? There was probably another post dedicated to this, but perhaps I missed that one ( between my hectic work hours, I find myself rather restricted to my posting time at DU, do forgive me ).

edited to add: I supported Edwards wholeheartedly up until he dropped out, and I think he could still be a contender....especially now

[jgraz]

66. Hillary is a train wreck for the Democrats. Even worse than her husband was.

She will cost us seats in Congress if she gets the nomination, she will destroy the 50-state strategy in favor the discredited DLC top-down campaigning, and she will polarize the party the way Bush polarized the country.

The only way she can win at this point is through her disgusting scorched-earth, "kitchen sink" strategy of destruction. A Clinton nomination will tear the Democrats apart, and Hillary is far too smart not to know that. She just doesn't seem to care.

[The River]

72. Sincere? Maybe, Irrelevant? Absolutely

Age has little to do with the posters pro-Obama stance.
The question of jgraz's age is irrelevant.
I'm an "old" Boomer who will be voting in his 10th Presidential election
and I will be voting for Obama.
I have followed jgraz's posts here and always thought this
person was exactly the kind of Democrat I'd want watching my back.
From supporting DK to JE to BO, jgraz has always been backing the more progressive
Democrats and telling the DLC types where to take their same old, same old.

The future belongs to the young among us.
We "boomers" have had our turn
and pretty much blew it.

"Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing"
B. Dylan

[TK421]

73. Yeahhhh......I was only asking because I was curious...

did you, in fact read my ENTIRE post? I felt age had a role to play concerning some people I have met...

The Bob Dylan quote is appreciated..but just, doesn't quite fit into what I was asking :shrug:

[jgraz]

83. Gee, thanks.

:blush:

Just remember what the late Joe Williams used to say: "We all have to grow old, but that don't mean you have to grow up." :toast:

[musicblind]

65. Personally, the Obama speech moved me to tears

but we should not ignore people who disagree with us. I have never ignored anyone here. Ignoring people is dangerous. One should never allow themselves to be ignorant.

[jgraz]

68. I'm cool with people disagreeing with me...

What I'm talking about is worthless, content-free flamebait that does nothing to move the dialogue forward. There are too many good posters on this site for me to waste my time chasing morons.

[elixir]

70. It's official: ObamaUnderground. The "democratics" have been removed by JGraz.

Ignore Button = Coward's Friend

[jgraz]

74. Missing the point is kind of a hobby for you, isn't it?

:eyes:

[Forkboy]

76. Full time career.

[jgraz]

77. You gotta love "Ignore Button = Coward's Friend"

As if ANYTHING we do on this anonymous internet forum involves the slightest subatomic particle of risk or bravery. :rofl:


"No Ignore List. That's how I roll." -- elixer. :crazy:

[JVS]

81. Ignore Button = Troll's Foe

[MaryCeleste]

82. Its use is a sign of weakness IMO

I can ignore idiots permanently, or even a regular poster who is having a bad day.
I am adult enough to read things that I really disagree with and not have a breakdown
I realize that opposing opinions, even my malicious fools may need responding to lest they confuse others.

My ignore function is not a button, its discipline

[jgraz]

86. Do you have a spam filter on your email?

Or do you use "discipline" to wade through offers of Viagra and Nigerian check scams?

There are people on this board who are simply spammers, and it's not a sign of "weakness" to ignore them. To say that ANYTHING on this board is a sign of "weakness" implies that there are ways to post on an anonymous internet forum that are somehow a sign of strength.

[MaryCeleste]

87. Different case, the key is consent

While I have found several people here who are clearly trolls for their cause, I am yet to find any true spammers. At least one of those trolls has clearly been here for a long time and is tolerated. However blindly ignoring them at all times leaves them free to push their nonsense.

The strength/discipline is the being able to filter mentally and make decisions, and not just react. It has nothing to do with posting on an anonymous form. I fell the same way about those on Usenet who publicly PLONK.

As for the difference between noxious posters and spam, spam by definition is intrusion on your property without permission. Being a member at DU is voluntary, some would say a privilege. To me part of the social contract is to look at opposing points of view.

I find the Obamaniacs and Hilbot fights frightening (though they have their moments). Have to wonder how long the ignore lists have grown from them

[MethuenProgressive]

99. Nope. It's the "alert" button.

Instead of responding to trolls and their kin just hit alert. Mods can't read every post, and need to be alerted to anti-social behavior. Ignore if you must, but you're not helping DU!

[FlyingSquirrel]

85. Don't bother telling 'em. It just lets them know they got to someone.

If enough have ignored them, they won't get a response and they'll leave on their own. And if ignore's not your style, alert instead.

[Perry Logan]

89. I'd feel more optimistic if every damn Hillary-bashing thread didn't make it to the "Greatest" page.

[jgraz]

92. Every bashing thread on either candidate goes to the GP

Post the flamiest flamebait about either candidate, it will get 7 or 8 recs before it's locked.

[MethuenProgressive]

93. The Hillary bashers will leave DU sooner or later.

Real Obama supporters support him for who he is, not because they hate Sen. Clinton.
They'll stay no matter who is nominated.
The fake Obama "supporters" who post nothing but hate will leave if he's nominated because they never really were here for him. They'll go back to their real homes on the web.
The haters will also leave if she wins the nomination, because they'll be kicked out.
So it's all good.

I can't wait until we get a nominee, because then we get DU back too.

[Arugula Latte]

98. "we get DU back"

Well ... I've been wondering about this. DU is DU because we've all been united for years against the horrors that have been inflicted upon this country under the scourge of the Bush administration. With so little time left for those criminals, it will be a new ballgame here at DU. It will be interesting to see how DU functions if a Democrat wins the White House. Will there just be non-stop infighting between those who want to support the Dem. president no matter what and those who want the Dem. pres. to act more liberal and progressive?, etc. I can imagine a lot of strange scenarios. But, without Bush, DU will never be the same place.