Self-policing of the forums: troll counters?

[-aggie-]

I think a lot of people want to see the trollish posts go away. It is slowly destroying this forum. The question is how do you go about effectively doing it.

I think most of us know who the regular trolls are. What baffles me is why the mods don't ban them.

 

[MacNut]

A reputation system is not the answer, look at that other thread and you will see I am strongly against it. Something does have to be done though as this forum is being destroyed from the inside out.

 

[JNB]

Reporting a post is something that should be reserved for posts that violate the rules of the forum-- racist posts, spam, etc. It's essentially calling the cops. The posts I'm trying to deal with aren't breaking any rules specifically, they're simply setting a tone that I find destructive. Firestarter nailed the type I'm talking about.

Actually, the post reporting feature can and should be used for any post or thread you find problematic; the mods have reinforced this to the community several times.

You're not "calling the cops", as it were, you're drawing attention to a post that may or may not be a violation, and leave it to a mod (or mods) to determine what, if any, action should be taken. A general unpleasant tone, trending towards argumentativeness, borderline trolling, all can be handled by bringing it to the mod's attention. Even if there isn't a specific violation requiring action, it still alerts them to a thread or emerging pattern that they will keep a closer eye on.

You're also not "putting a hit" on someone by reporting, and you're not creating extra work, you're actually saving time and effort by bringing attention that may not otherwise be brought. The mods can't read every post in every thread.

In fact, that's the whole point of the feature; since you & I and the rest of the general membership aren't mods and can't make that call (thank heavens!), we're simply highlighting something for them to make that determination quickly and efficiently, and nip problems earlier rather than having a conflagration to deal with later.

 

[Analog Kid]

What you find destructive, other people don't. You seem to be wanting to effect forum-wide change for those particular posts that you find to be out of line, trollish, or whatever you want to call it assuming that everyone else holds the same point of view.

No. If you read what I'm saying, I'm specifically trying to avoid imposing my personal view. I don't want my personal view to dictate forum content, and I don't even want my personal view to limit the content I see (which is why I don't like the "ignore" option). I also don't assume that everyone else holds the same view-- I'm looking for a way for the community to express what view they hold, not to assume it.

I can't see how type of mechanism and/or the reputation system would work too well. In the end it turns things into a popularity contest. Some folks would get many negative marks because they may not be liked regardless of the quality of their posting and others who may post more negative stuff will get positive posts because they may be liked more.

I guess I'm going on the theory that since we're all disembodied posters, we don't actually have much else to go on than the quality of their posts so that's all that our popularity can be based on. We can't vote on who's cute or who's older brother buys the beer. What else is there?

Plus you'll get more Me too threads in the hopes that they'll get positive marks.

Yeah, despite the fact that I prefer to reward good behavior rather than punish bad this is exactly the reason I think a negative voting system is the right one. I also don't think it should count clicks, or posts that have been clicked, but should be a one to one count of how many users have voted negative on this particular poster.

If I didn't like you, and I clicked the troll button on every one of your posts in this forum, but was the only one doing so, then you'd have one "troll counter". Assuming most people understood that, and put their troll threshold at 50 or so, it would not affect your visibility at all.

Of course, I could simply be overrestimating people...

Actually, the post reporting feature can and should be used for any post or thread you find problematic; the mods have reinforced this to the community several times.

...

In fact, that's the whole point of the feature; since you & I and the rest of the general membership aren't mods and can't make that call (thank heavens!), we're simply highlighting something for them to make that determination quickly and efficiently, and nip problems earlier rather than having a conflagration to deal with later.

Interesting to know. I guess that makes it more of an option. I'd still like to find something more organic that comes from the community itself rather than the adult supervision.

 

[Sun Baked]

I'm pretty sure that you'd get a Time-Out if you flat out call someone a troll on MacRumors.

As for these types of systems, they won't work. What happens when someone has an unpopular opinion? Does everyone who doesn't agree click his/her "troll" button?

Not for calling a person a troll, even if they aren't one.

Since calling a person out on a post isn't always a bad thing unless it is in the political section, which makes it the first stage of the end of a thread.

But call a moron a moron, and you will get a time-out.

 

[OllyW]

Not for calling a person a troll, even if they aren't one.

I wouldn't bank on that.