At about 3pm I checked out a diary today that was just filled with name calling, mean spiritedness. I was astonished, I thought things had calmed down, he he he, well what the heck do I know.
SO I read most of the diary, skipping liberally. I got to the tip jar and saw quite a few HR ratings. But before applying my bagel with a vigorous twist... I thought I would take a walk over to the FAQ....
Ah yes, I remember giving this a quick look see, a diary by Hunter, titled The Tao of Troll Rating
To Troll Rate something has exactly one meaning. When you Troll Rate something, as a trusted user, you are stating that the comment should be made invisible to all site users. You're saying that the comment is so bad -- so disruptive or damaging to the community -- that it isn't worth even a debate, but should be deleted from the discussion as being simply inflammatory, simply off-topic, or simply a lie.
Here's two more tips:
Troll Rating multiple posts by the same poster -- that is, preemptive multiple troll-rating strikes -- is not the intended use. Rate individual posts individually, don't just go down a thread knocking off troll ratings to a particular poster because of one or two comments that pissed you off. It is entirely possible for a valued site contributor to have, on one particular issue, an opinion that drives you absolutely nuts. Well, they're entitled, as long as the conversation stays remotely civil.
Retaliatory troll-ratings -- troll rating someone simply because they troll rated you -- is forbidden. Period. Do it with frequency and you stand the chance of getting your rating ability taken away.
That's it. That's the intended use. If you use troll ratings in any other way but to explicitly hide certain comments from the conversation so that they will not detract from the more substantive threads of the conversation, you're using it wrong.
As I looked over the FAQ I found this section: Appropriate use of Hide ratings. Yeah, thats gonna be germane.
Any and all insults are HRable. Although users are never required to uprate any comment, it is considered a violation of site policy to uprate a comment with an insult in it.
Lots of name calling and insults in that Krugman diary, so I run back to the tip jar and toss a bagel. I don't toss many Bagels, but when I do, I get it right. Looking further I found a citation one of Meteor BLades comments from about a year ago. Basically saying that if you use Obamabot or Firbagger as an insult you are now eligible for a Bagel.
Its clear that Krugman diary and some of the comments were fair game for the Bagel, but the good news is I got some great recipes.