The internet and Trolls

Forgive me but I've been watching various tensions between members here recently.   

My pedigree?  Under a variety of guises I've been on IMF, IMC, IU, FB and now here.  Also I trained, but didn't eventually specialise, in psychiatry.

I remember being horrified by the violence and the invective that flew around on previous fora.  I couldn't understand how or why adults could behave in such an unseemly manner.  People were banned or unfriended!  The cult of personality and power was king!

What I like about this forum is its sense of common purpose.  Most of the members here are refugees from the fora mentioned above, are Italophiles and don't wish to return to the bad ol' days.

So why do problems occur?  I think the answer lies with the written word.  The written word is stark.  There's no facial expression or intonation.  It's written.  I could say 'I hate you'.  Face to face, if I grimace, you'll know I do.  However if I smile and laugh you'll know I don't!

So what do I suggest?:
1) Be very careful when you post so there's no ambiguity
2) Be gentle when you disagree with someone's view
3) Don't take offense if and when someone disagrees with your view 
4) Follow Admin's advice.  PM the person who is upsetting you and, if that fails, PM her.  
5) Don't forget that this forum is a precious asset that needs to be nurtured.

Enjoy as I do! 

Thanks Ghiro. I agree we do not need any fighting on here. Light hearted banter is okay, as it does make people smile, I hope   
It is developing to be a very good and informative site, as can be seen in a number of the discussions, so I do hope that it continues that way. We all have differences of opinion, but as you say, lets keep everything friendly and light hearted.

Hear Hear Giro. Well put, but also remember not to be cowed into changing what you want to say because 'someone' may take offense at it. Offense is subjective and what offends one may not offend another; member it is everyone's right to free speech and self expression, but one should draw the line at personal characterisation  and defamation.
As Bill or Ted once said 'be excellent to each other' I think you get what I'm on about.

Well said Ghiro,  And above all, irony does not translate into the written word without a paragraph setting it up.  One of my first newspaper interviews was my wakeup call - I responded as I do in conversation and was absolutely gutted to see my verbatim replies lose all their irony/wit/whatever in print.    Never again.

Thnak you Ghiro. Well said!

Okay - probably time for me to apologise! My pedigree (and my relationship with other long term posters on 'historic' forums) does get in the way sometimes, and I see red.

I'll go away now, and, sorry Penny and the rest of you for doing an Aliena!

Apology accepted. Don't go away. We just all have to leave the past in the past or else we'll repeat it.

The Original Relaxed wrote:Okay - probably time for me to apologise! My pedigree (and my relationship with other long term posters on 'historic' forums) does get in the way sometimes, and I see red.I'll go away now, and, sorry Penny and the rest of you for doing an Aliena!

Oh very lax of you to go off in the 1st place and the only apology you should be making. I don't think you were the cause of this specific post in any way whatsoever. Aliena, what a pussy... 

Lax.  I know and respect you from way back, when forum life was almost in its infancy.  My post was not directed at you or, indeed, any one individual.  It was an observation on why things can unintentionally go wrong and how to avoid it.

Please don't go.

Buon Giorno,

Just thought I'd add my tuppence worth. I was a member of the Italymag forum from almost day one - I think I was about the 4th person to register on it way back in 2004 - I used it quite a lot in the beginning but noticed that it started to go downhill pretty quickly in terms of clique formation and fights starting. I can understand that to a degree when the subject is politics, but mostly I just wanted to talk about the road trips I enjoyed, or the adventures I had in my garden, and very occasionally to find information on other points of interest to me so I stopped using the forum for all but the most necessary of information I couldn't find anywhere else. 

I was also registered on other forums which went the same way as italymag with infighting so I'm very wary of them now and tend to visit only occasionally.

I hope this forum doesn't go the same way as others have as they can be fantastic sources of information.   

Don't worry FV Pixie, fighting and personal attacks are banned on this site, and excommunication is the penalty.
We all get along fine and we're totally Loved Up.....      

Flip wrote:Don't worry FV Pixie, fighting and personal attacks are banned on this site, and excommunication is the penalty.We all get along fine and we're totally Loved Up.....      

Quite amusing Flip...  

ghiro wrote:Forgive me but I've been watching various tensions between members here recently.   My pedigree?  Under a variety of guises I've been on IMF, IMC, IU, FB and now here.  Also I trained, but didn't eventually specialise, in psychiatry.I remember being horrified by the violence and the invective that flew around on previous fora.  I couldn't understand how or why adults could behave in such an unseemly manner.  People were banned or unfriended!  The cult of personality and power was king! What I like about this forum is its sense of common purpose.  Most of the members here are refugees from the fora mentioned above, are Italophiles and don't wish to return to the bad ol' days.So why do problems occur?  I think the answer lies with the written word.  The written word is stark.  There's no facial expression or intonation.  It's written.  I could say 'I hate you'.  Face to face, if I grimace, you'll know I do.  However if I smile and laugh you'll know I don't!

So what do I suggest?:
1) Be very careful when you post so there's no ambiguity
2) Be gentle when you disagree with someone's view
3) Don't take offense if and when someone disagrees with your view 
4) Follow Admin's advice.  PM the person who is upsetting you and, if that fails, PM her.  
5) Don't forget that this forum is a precious asset that needs to be nurtured.

Enjoy as I do! 

You didn't describe a troll.

But you're right written word is hard to decipher what you mean.

I get in trouble all the time on forums for being a bit harsh. I do not mean to be.

I am a nice person if you knew me.

TABS search (Google?) "internet troll" and you will find many answers.... I'm sure you are a nice person.... We all are, are we not?     

stevegwmonkseaton wrote:TABS search (Google?) "internet troll" and you will find many answers.... I'm sure you are a nice person.... We all are, are we not?     

No, I mean a "real" internet troll (what originally it was).

They were not meant to insight hate, they were meant to make each side of an argument hate each other but not just randomly insulting anyone like they do today.

Well, everyone can be nice. And my faith, religion as it were, is humanity. I believe that humanity will do good and I always trust people, probably too much, in life.

However, if you look hard enough people love to get away with things, there will always be greed, corruption and hatred. Sadly.

I still believe though.

I love a good debate...it makes life interesting    sadly just no time.  
Good to agree to disagree... and as in ‘real’ life, I’d rather be happy than right