04-16-2011, 12:24 PM
Maybe it is fair to say that there's been a shift in what posters feel they can get away with in terms of incivility. I agree with Rob that these troubled and anxious times are the breeding ground for an escalation of this type of behavior.
I undertand Rob's philosophy about ignoring baiting. That works great for a troll who cruises by. Unfortunately, the practice of ignoring the disruption doesn't work in all situations. Punaweb has been experiencing not so much trolling, but rather scapegoating. I'm not the only poster who has experienced it. In a sense, the whole Punaweb forum has been turned into a scapegoat.
Punaweb can either become more conscious of this pattern or push it under the surface, but ignoring it does not neutralize it. Ignoring garden-variety trolling does work, and has been proven to work, because the person loses interest without a reaction.
Scapegoating does not rely on getting a rise or reaction for its psychological payoff. The payoff with scapegoating is that that hostility and aggression can be displaced onto a third party -- ideally a person or group that doesn't fight back -- or doesn't get enough support from the others for the fight to be successful. Even if the person doesn't react, the payoff is unaffected. Resistance, preferably by the whole community, is the way to stop the pattern.
"Don't feed the trolls" is effective with one type of internet misbehavior, but ignoring the issue actually enables certain other types of harassment.
I undertand Rob's philosophy about ignoring baiting. That works great for a troll who cruises by. Unfortunately, the practice of ignoring the disruption doesn't work in all situations. Punaweb has been experiencing not so much trolling, but rather scapegoating. I'm not the only poster who has experienced it. In a sense, the whole Punaweb forum has been turned into a scapegoat.
Punaweb can either become more conscious of this pattern or push it under the surface, but ignoring it does not neutralize it. Ignoring garden-variety trolling does work, and has been proven to work, because the person loses interest without a reaction.
Scapegoating does not rely on getting a rise or reaction for its psychological payoff. The payoff with scapegoating is that that hostility and aggression can be displaced onto a third party -- ideally a person or group that doesn't fight back -- or doesn't get enough support from the others for the fight to be successful. Even if the person doesn't react, the payoff is unaffected. Resistance, preferably by the whole community, is the way to stop the pattern.
"Don't feed the trolls" is effective with one type of internet misbehavior, but ignoring the issue actually enables certain other types of harassment.