Re: On the Subject of Plonking

Patrick Johnson wrote:
Ron:
What Lou and Pat are doing with their public plonks is like you
telling all of your friends that if any of them scoop up some of
his crap somewhere else and bring it into your house and dump it
in your living room, then they won't be invited any more either.

Larry (I think):
But it's not their living room.
It's a public park where they like to hang
out
and the actions they object to are legal, if repulsive to most.

Legality has nothing to do with it. Free speech has nothing to do
with it. Lou or I can't stop anybody from saying whatever they like
on usenet. Nobody can.

But we can individually and voluntarily stop listening to those we
consider trolls, and we can try to get others to do the same so we
don't have to hear them second hand. If you don't go along with it,
then we individually and voluntarily give up the privelege of seeing
your posts too. Our loss. You're still free to interact with
whomever else you choose - you can even respond to us, although we
might not see it.
Making this public (in a limited way) does several things: (1) it
lets non-trolls know that we will choose to not see their posts if
they bring the trolls with them, which gives them the choice to be
seen by us or not, (2) it educates newcomers about who the trolls are
and one way they can be dealt with, (3) it lets everybody know that
there's a 'filtered RSB' available to them IF they're willing to help
self-police it, and (4) it lets the trolls know that there is a way
for some of us to enforce posting standards for ourselves (but obviously
not for
everybody).
Seeing that several otherwise intelligent posters seem to think this
is about free speech or legality supports my opinion that education
on the topic is needed here.

Pat Johnson
Chicago

The people you are inviting into your room form the public. It is
your right to stop inviting certain people into your room if they
are rude and make themselves unwelcome, and you can tell people what
you consider rude. Again, it is just an analogy.


This is not censorship, this is not about disagreeing with someone
in a discussion, and it is not about being a coward. It is about
someone crapping in your living room and you deciding not to put up
with it any more.

No, it's them wanting to stake out their own little corner of the
park and establish their own rules there.


Because it is your living room (or wherever your computer is
sitting), you can make your own rules for what is acceptable and
what is not. When you turn on your TV, you are not required to
listen to every channel that is available, you can pick the ones you
want to watch and select others to skip over.


Which is fine with me, by the way. I always prefer to hang out with
people whose
intellect comes packaged with a sense of humor.


IMO, this has nothing to do with intellect or sense of humor. I
expect if there had ever even been a hint of a sniff of a trace of a
rumor of intellect or humor, we would not be having this discussion.

$.02 -Ron Shepard <--IMO, of course

Well said Pat.

I would have liked to have been able to see Smorg and Willee's posts but
they can't help but talk to the trolls. After a couple days off I have over
300 good posts to read. Looks like (mostly) the same old RSB from here.

Mark0 <-- hopes Comerford gets his 'meeting' wishes


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