March 6, 2006

6:02 PM

It started off as an innocent thread about D&D. It degenerated into a trainwreck of trolling and vituperation. But then, at the last, it was rescued by a truly outstanding comment. This is both what I hate and what I love most about metafilter.
posted by dersins to MetaFilter-related at 6:02 PM (28 comments total)

I guess it loses something without context.
posted by mischief at 6:06 PM on March 6, 2006

He does it here as well. That's talent.

Yay Richard Daly!
posted by exlotuseater at 6:07 PM on March 6, 2006

It was a good post, yup.
posted by solid-one-love at 6:20 PM on March 6, 2006

Well, that is a great comment. How refreshing to see someone less fanatic respond to solid-one-love's usenet-style aggressive argumentation. You can call it trolling if you want, but I for one feel a little pointedness and ad hominem just makes the discussion a bit more lively, although threatening to stalk someone is perhaps a bit too lively.
posted by insomnus at 6:27 PM on March 6, 2006

Kudos to Daly!
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 6:38 PM on March 6, 2006

(And, yeah, Insomnus "Usenet-style aggressive argumentation" is exactly right, and I have trouble breaking out of the Usenet mode; I spent entirely too much time on Usenet for more than ten years. I'm a recovering Internet asshole, not a recovered one.)
posted by solid-one-love at 6:43 PM on March 6, 2006

Well try harder.
posted by mediareport at 7:43 PM on March 6, 2006

Wow, My First Meta!

Perhaps exlotuseater meant to link to this thread?

I'm working on a method of adressing trolls. Everything is preliminary at this point, but I'll open a dojo if I continue to be sucessfull. Unfortunately, my current methods seem to be quite a bit of work, and therefore may not catch on with others.
posted by Richard Daly at 7:51 PM on March 6, 2006

Oh. My. God.

Richard, that was a work of sublime beauty.

Thank you.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:59 PM on March 6, 2006

eh, s-o-l's comment wasn't so bad, even though it wasn't particularly well constructed or thoughtful. I mean, if someone says "this comment is trolling" and then says something as tame as "rpgs are bad because they don't fit my predetermined and baseless requirements for gaming" and follows it by saying "sorry for trolling. by the way, that was just a troll." then who on earth can really take it seriously enough to be upset by it?

oh right, the people on earth with the least developed sense of humor on the planet: die-hard roleplayers.

I mean, maybe he wasn't joking, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to take what he says seriously.

but yeah, Richard Daly rocked my socks, there, regardless. personal favorite?

S-O-L seems to think that stories are Hard, and should be the work of rarified professional artists.

ell oh fuckin' ell.
posted by shmegegge at 8:11 PM on March 6, 2006

"then who on earth can really take it seriously enough to be upset by it?"

Looks sheepish. Tries to use a really bad day as an excuse. Tries to tell joke to prove sense of humor. Fails. Pratfalls. Dies.
posted by kyrademon at 8:18 PM on March 6, 2006

Yeah, I was having a bad day, too, Kyra, and falling back on "let's start some shit". I apologize for being an ass to you.
posted by solid-one-love at 8:20 PM on March 6, 2006

Fair enough. Apology accepted. And also? I apologize, too. I came out swinging in my first response to you, and that didn't exactly leave things open for reasoned discussion, either. You were entirely right that I took a general comment personally, and turned the whole thing personal as a result. Sorry.

My latest comment is an attempt to put things back on a civil footing. I still disagree with you and, honestly, I'm still not entirely sure where you're coming from, but I was genuinely trying to keep off the personal stuff in the latest one. I did say I found your reactions odd, but that was still in response to the tone of your earlier comments, and I'm willing to let that die and forget about it.

Hope we both have better days tomorrow.
posted by kyrademon at 8:35 PM on March 6, 2006

Group hug!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:02 PM on March 6, 2006

<pouting>what, no flameout?<pouting/>
posted by blue_beetle at 10:37 PM on March 6, 2006

What the fuck is up with all these goddamned fucking happy endings? Someone please close this thread on this sour fucking note, goddammit.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:00 PM on March 6, 2006

*swans up and smooches Civil_Disobedient right on the lips*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:04 PM on March 6, 2006

[sorry Richard; yes that was the correct one- could've sworn I copied and pasted right to that comment... sorry]
posted by exlotuseater at 11:14 PM on March 6, 2006

Oh, man. I can't believe I missed both that episode and that thread.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:30 AM on March 7, 2006

“although threatening to stalk someone is perhaps a bit too lively.” - posted by insomnus

If it was serious, it would be. He was baiting, I gave him back the distortion.
If you think I was anywhere near being serious, you probably haven’t read much of what I’ve posted.

S-O-L’s latest posts are perfectly reasonable arguments and defenses of his position (which based on my experiance I happen to agree with - with the caviat that I’m not knowlegable enough to blanket that statement out to other forms of RPGs or what have you) and I have no beef with them.

Apparently several people were having bad days, etc. That’s no excuse to pick fights. I dislike that kind of bullying and it creates general noise which is irritating. I probably should have taken Richard Daly’s advice and ignored it, so apologies all around.

“Someone please close this thread on this sour fucking note, goddammit.” - posted by Civil_Disobedient

Er....that Smedleyman is a real bastard.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:59 AM on March 7, 2006

robocop is bleeding writes "Oh, man. I can't believe I missed both that episode and that thread."

You and me both. Everyone seems to be acting so adult and shit, it's hard to parse.
posted by OmieWise at 6:02 AM on March 7, 2006

Shorter Richard Daly: What everyone else said, dumbass
posted by fleacircus at 6:31 AM on March 7, 2006

I apologize for being kind of a dick to old people in that thread.

I take back the mean stuff I said to you ynoxas. Please forgive me.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:35 AM on March 7, 2006

I apologize for being kind of a dick to old people in that thread.

Get off of my lawn! Damn kids.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:48 AM on March 7, 2006

What is this strange place, and where can I find MetaTalk??

Um, seriously, kudos to all for backing down so gracefully. Well done.
posted by languagehat at 7:39 AM on March 7, 2006

I'd like to join to Daly-fest. In fact, I paid my five bucks just to thank him for the CSA thread comment. I mean, I'd been planning to join anyway, but that was pretty damn cool
posted by Squid Voltaire at 11:46 AM on March 7, 2006

I'm confused. Is this all some kind of roleplaying thing, where one minute people are rolling on the floor throwing childish tantrums and trying to rip each others' throats out, and the next minute they're all friends again?
posted by fuzz at 4:39 PM on March 7, 2006

Yes.
posted by insomnus at 4:58 PM on March 7, 2006