Are Blog Comments Full of Trolls?
I found this video with Scoble commenting about blogging and commenting interesting. Take a look and then I’ll let you know what I think.
It was great to hear Scoble talking without goofing off, laughing and at times difficult to follow. I thought that his comments were interesting and insightful. First up I do think that the comment referring to Trolls and arseholes as coming from Digg is probably a reference to the style of comment. Commenting on Digg is like slashing your wrists and jumping into a tank with Tiger Sharks. But then that is the demographic.
People don’t have a lot of respect for others. People wander the web under a guise of delusional anonymity and say whatever they want with little respect for the person, how they are saying it. I had this type of experience on my own blog recently. Some douche bag made a comment but did so disrespectfully and without reading the article that the comment was about. My reply was deserved in my opinion. Should I have just deleted the comment?
With greater market penetration of broadband we are seeing a bigger audience and with it you get a bigger cross section of people, personalities and intelligence. That means you have a greater chance of getting some idiot running amuck in your comments. Most of the time they won’t own what they say and do it anonymously in wonderful gutless style.
I am actually pleased that I have never experienced with this blog, this type of behavior. But I am wondering what we do when we do. Thought I would throw that out there for you guys to comment on. But do we censor and sanitize the comments. Or do we let them through and you guys can tackle them with us? But there are limits and I am not sure where that is, I’ll know it when it is reached though. Although I do want new comers to feel safe to post a comment on the blog as well and not be in fear of being chopped up for sushi.
Scoble says that in not getting rid of the jerks we (bloggers) have failed our audience. Not sure where I stand on that one. But I do think that the “jerk” can spoil a good thread by disrupting the conversation and tearing people down. In real life you would walk away right? Or the individual would be thrown out or ignored. So why should that be any different on a blog? Or do we cut to the chase and not let it happen in the first place?
I do however agree with Scoble about the fact that everyone is following the latest and greatest thing. I remember when Plurk first came out, or the iPhone or whatever latest and greatest thing there is. I don’t think that is going to change. Technology is exciting and rapidly changing, it is okay to follow it and get caught up in it, that’s fun. But it also means that we don’t have much time to really chew something over. We should just roll with it though and be a part of everything as it happens and enjoy it. There are forums for the chewing of the fat, blogs too. But Scoble is right in saying that things have changed, but it isn’t 2000 anymore either.
Chuck your comments in the usual spot, I’d be interested in what you have to say. Trolls… go back to Digg.
Via: Techcrunch
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I find it ironic that you made comments about spelling.
About 90% of the people who troll on blogs are kids who are just passing through. They have very short attention spans and they’re very lazy when it comes to commenting. If they get a reply, especially a hot-headed reply it makes them happy because they can make further comments to heat things up even more. If you ignore them they get bored pretty quickly and go away. If you delete them, then half the time they will make a second post complaining about how they were deleted and probably throw something in about “censorship” and “freedom of speech” or somesuch nonsense. If you see the phrase “freedom of speech” thrown around, that will usually point to an American troll. For some reason Americans figure that their right to free speech extends globally, especially when they’re trolling on the Interwebs.
I think the problem with blogs these days is that there are so bloody many of them that 95% of the truly interesting stuff gets lost in the noise. Most people will follow the “A-list” bloggers figuring that they’re the most important people and therefore they should be listened to. Calacanis didn’t write it or comment on it, so it’s not important! Me, I don’t see any difference between an “A-list” blogger and the “average Joe” blogger except that the A-listers often have a bunch of cash behind them in advertising or sponsorship. Being popular doesn’t make someone’s opinions right.
And sometimes I want to see troll activity, because this tells me that the blog is getting penetration and people are noticing it… A blog with no readers is kinda boring. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
I think that you did the right thing leaving the comment on your blog and not deleting it.
You provided Shaun Wright (ironic surname, you could have milked that a bit) with some constructive feedback. Hopefully he will think twice before posting negative comments without being fully aware of the facts.
If I ever leave comments I usually try to make them constructive, but it does pay to have a thick skin while putting yourself out there due the number of arseholes around.
I’m with you on your point about Digg - have a look at this:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Digg_We_Have_a_Problem_PIC
The problem is bigger than Digg. One of the reasons many people still do not take the internet seriously is the lack of good behaviour.
Comments are content. When comments go bad, should they remain? If non-comment content was bad, would it remain?
What value do childish insults, racist attacks and threats of violence add to anything?
Sites with comments I never read because of their poor content: YouTube, Digg, Yahoo Live anything.
Is it better to let all of these people say whatever they want, even if they bury legitimate content for others?
If the internet is the most enabling tool of the 21st century, what does it say about our society that we use it and allow others to use it in this manner?
Should the loud and ugly voices of a few have the right to drown out important ideas and content?
I think this fits with the Trolls thread.
http://stupidfilter.org/main/index.php
The StupidFilter Project:
Because the internet needs prophylactics for memetically transmitted diseases.
From the site: “Isn’t filtering stupidity elitist?
Yes. Yes, it is. That’s sort of the whole point.”
I’m afraid this is a driveby comment. I would ask you why you need a blog in the first place to present your voice to the world? The only topic I’ve seen that suits a blog, in my opinion, is politics. Everything else I’ve seen on blogs is someone talking about their life ( why make your diary public, do you not expect that someone, somewhere will find you a subject of ridicule? ) or just random topics that could be at least equally well handled in the traditional methods of publishing a website and offering a mailing list service.
Reviewing the topics on this blog, I challenge you to explain how a blog format adds value to the information you offer, other than lowering the intelligence barrier to participate. That is what web 2.0 technology does, isn’t it? I would posit that if you want to prevent idiots availing themselves of your services, perhaps avoiding a medium that positively encourages stupidity might be wise, no?
Pop me an email if you reply, please. Ty.