Trollers, FlameThrowers, Oh Me, Oh My

It’s tough to say what the real solution is to control attention-seekers and instigators online but Cory Doctorow provided some good examples in his article How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community." Our elders have been telling us kids this a long time, take away a bully’s audience and they won’t bully anymore. But along with all of the wonderful positives the Internet has brought us it has also brought along with it a platform for nasty people who have nothing better to do than stir the pot in nice well-meaning communities.

 Doctorow talked about the difficulty of finding a balance between controlling the trolls in an online community and ensuring that the conversations and discussions move forward and are lively and passionate. I found the mention of Teresa Nielsen Hayden’s online community Making Light because she is what Doctorow calls a “troll whisperer” which is someone who can weed out the poisonous contributors without creating large scale conflicts in the community. One of Nielson Hayden’s tactics is called “disemvowelling” which is where she takes a troller’s message and removes all of the vowels therefore the reader has to read the message very slowly thus removing some of the intended nastiness.

One of the most interesting things Doctorow spoke about was the fact that he himself had let “trollers” get the best of him and had let it actually affect his life. I found this passage one of the most impactful because it really is true that we as people tend to forget all of the nice things people say about us and only remember and focus on the negative things. The thousand times your mom told you you were pretty, ya that went in one ear and out the other, but the girl that told you that your forehead had wrinkles…ya you came back to school with bangs the next day, it’s just human nature. But I think it really does come down to not giving into what the online bullies and instigators ultimately want and that is conflict and attention. If you feed a spark it’s going to become a fire and as long as we remember to take a step back and breathe before our fingers start clacking those keys like crazy we would have fewer issues in online communities. You can’t argue with people who are disruptive and clouded because you attempting to put them in their place with a witty comeback is not going to stop them from posting, it is going to encourage them. By interacting with them you are feeding the monster, put the damn cookie down please.

The community that I am a part of is called MakeupAlley and the expectations for members and their code of conduct is extremely clear. When you first register you can choose to read the Terms of Use, which mentions conduct and what is expected if you choose to participate in their message boards. 

Also when you go to participate in one of the MakeupAlley Message Boards there is a strongly worded blurb at the top of the page reiterating the types of communication that are not tolerated. 

The message boards seem to be very positive with one member even posting about a recent family death thanking other members for their support. 

It says at the top of the page that the website can remove any member or post they deem unfit therefore I found it difficult to find any negativity within the community. But I’m sure there have been incidents. I would assume that in a makeup/beauty community the disturbers would probably have feminist opinions attacking the other members for their self-indulgence, superficiality and obsession with materialistic possessions. The community seems to be very close-knit therefore I feel that any type of attack would instantly be reported by member thus ensuring that the offender be deleted along with any nasty message posted. I was really pleased to see that this community makes online member conduct such an important issue and definitely has not skimped on the regulations necessary to build a positive online environment.