Those of us who get fairly involved in this site sometimes take time to troll hunt. This can involve watching hidden comments, and also making choices about the resultant pile-ons. Some of us even defend the piled on. Some of us get HR'd in return.
I am not writing here to complain or really to discuss any of that. I want to discuss briefly a habit some people have of referring to perceived trolls as "it."
In short, I find this creepy. I know not everyone on this site is a liberal, but lots of us see ourselves as liberals, and when I engage people in dialogue whom I consider relatively conservative, and let them know that; these people tend to defend their positions as truly liberal (if perhaps not as liberal as I see myself).
That's all good. I learn from these people. I do think there's a wide range of people on this site, politically speaking. And I do think that we're more or less a reasonably liberal bunch, and I love and respect the community for that.
But then there's the land of hidden comments, and the pile-ons. Sometimes I think they are fair, sometimes I think they are not - I do think they are a waste of HR's, for those who are serious about the site. I am well aware, too, that sometimes people write the most egregious, mean-spirited, vicious stuff here you'd ever not want to read. Such comments (and diaries) are the rarities, but it does happen.
So what does one do when confronted with such a turd in the punchbowl? Sometimes I try to talk to them, if they do not seem to be truly trolling. I see trolling as defined in its original meaning as a verb; baiting, like one trolls for fish while fishing. Some people are just angry. Some people just don't agree.
But some people are mean. It's easy to want to punch them in the face, especially if they're really good at being mean. It's much better, I think, to HR their comments, and practice good, sharp, succinct explanations to lay on them as to why they are out of line.
And sometimes it's even right to get organized to run them off the site, though I have a few problems with that - mostly, what's up with the site admins who haven't kicked this person off? Is there something we're missing here? Like tolerance?
I've helped to slap around a few trolls in my limited time here (1 year anniversary coming up in September). Sometimes it's the right thing to do.
But I've never referred to anyone as "it." One of the memes of this site is that we do not call people fascist, or Nazis, without extreme provocation. Equally, I think we should not behave like them, and referring to other site users as "it" is disturbingly fascist. I've gotten called out here on this one before, but I'll stick to my guns here: this is dehumanizing. Some people who post here are just looking for trouble, some are extremely ignorant, some are terribly punitive, there's a certain amount of all of that going around. But it makes me really unhappy to be a member of a community that, even in a small way, countenances going around calling other posters, no matter how ephemeral, "it."
eor.