[Linda Cannon-Mott]

Enlighten me Lelsie, what is a troll? I noticed Khabita's post to Kat... I thought her question was legit?

Linda

 

[Khabita]

Trolls are people with small brains and large amounts of free time.

They like to come to forums and post silly stuff to try to get people to get all concerned about them, or to get defensive, or just to get them wound up. They are usually kids, or at least mentally they are.

Trolls give each other props (called LULZ) for being the first to post on a new forum, or to get the longest thread going, or just for winding up the most people about something.

Biggest problem, aside from the general nuisance factor, is that all too often, troll posts get picked up by bots and spread across the internet as "truth" -- so, for example, a fake posting about eyestrain that generates a lot of responses gets picked up and put into some other forum or site, and next thing you know there's a headline on CNET saying "Kindle users report serious eyestrain problems"

Oh, and trolls get big props for having that happen.

 

[Leslie]

Good description, Khabita.

Harvey's back as admin and now the forum has two mods, so we are in a good position to deal with problems quickly, should they crop up.

L

 

[Linda Cannon-Mott]

Thanks Khabita, still a relative newbie to the forum. I learned what an avatar and a troll are this week.  After your description I know I've seen some trolls on Amazon!

Linda

 

[5j3h4j8wG7C6GO]

Hey Linda,
Bricker = evil troll

 

[Cuechick]

I have pretty good troll-dar and think Kat's post was legit...

I did see a funny troll post on Amazon last night though:
http://www.amazon.com/What-does-this-thing-do/forum/FxBVKST06PWP9B/Tx1NQT57HXE4RN6/1/ref=cm_cd_ef_tft_tp?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000FI73MA

 

[Leslie]

Hi everyone,

I am going to step in as a mod here...Kat is a member, she is posting, and I don't think we should be talking about her quite the way it is coming through in this thread. Kat...sorry!

If folks want to discuss trolls in general, as a way of educating folks, that's fine. But let's be careful about singling out individuals.

We probably shouldn't be talking about Bricker, either, even though she's not a member here.

Thanks for understanding,

Leslie
Moderator

 

[Jen]

Wow, I guess I'm naive, none of that even occured to me.  I think it's a legit question, and I feel bad for her that her eyes are hurting because of it!  What a bummer! 

 

[fred3]

Wow, I guess I'm naive, none of that even occured to me. I think it's a legit question, and I feel bad for her that her eyes are hurting because of it! What a bummer!

Actually Jen (to stop an unproven rumor) she doesn't know it's the kindle reading that is causing the problem...yet. And hopefully it won't be the cause. Personally I don't see how it can be as it's less intrusive than using the computer she posted on, watching tv or being outside in blinding sunshine.

All she really knows is that the headaches, eye strain are happening while using the kindle. What else is going on at the same time may contribute to her problem. She even states being allergic to some types of airborne stuff and it may all be a coincidence.

Lets all hope it's an easy fix for her. I agree that she should see someone in the medical profession.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

My opinion only:

I think Kat is owed an apology from the person who called her a troll.  This board has moderators, unlike Amazon, so group policing is not necessary.  I believe we can let Leslie and Harvey (who both have way more stars than ANY of the rest of us) will take care of any inappropriate posts.  If one of us questions the "truthiness" of a poster, we should send a private message to one of the moderators to check it out.  It is not the place of any of us "NEWBIES" (or even the few Jr. Members) to question another newbie's sincerity.  The entire discussion has actually left me with more respect for Kat, and less for the name caller.

Again, just my opinion. . . .

Ann

 

[Khabita]

Still not convinced, but apologizing.

 

[Leslie]

Still not convinced, but apologizing.

Thanks. I appreciate that!

L

 

[Shizu]

I agree with Ann.

And just because majority of people's experience is diffrent, it doesn't make that person's experience illegit. There's always exception.

Shizu

 

[Kat]

Accepting your semi-apology, Khabita, and hoping we can move on 

Thanks to everyone for your kindness and understanding.  In time, I hope you will come to see that I am a decent person who can even be *gasp!* a lot of fun.

Kat

 

[Leslie]

Thanks, everyone.

If I can just use this moment to reinforce Ann's comments...one of the great things about this place is that we do have moderators and an Admin and a way to take care of problems. If there is a post you are concerned about, for whatever reason (foul language, personal attack, possibly a troll) it is best to just communicate that privately. You can send a me a PM or, at the bottom of every message is a button, "Report to moderator." In case you haven't noticed, I'm online here more or less all the time, and I will respond quickly to anything that is brought to my attention.

If folks aren't familiar with how to send PMs (personal messages) I posted a thread on that in the admin forum this morning.

And Kat, thanks for reconsidering and staying on. I'm pleased!

Gracias!

Leslie
Moderator

 

[Leslie]

I'm going to lock this thread, folks. I think the topic has been covered and we should let this lie. Linda, I split your last message into a new thread in order to encourage more discussion of what we like to read!

Again, if you have questions about messages that seem inappropriate, send me a PM or use the "report to moderator" button.

Leslie
Moderator