Fallacy; The Troll's True Vulnerability

[patsparks]

Originally Posted by Stev0

I see no dwarf here.

Hello!!



Down here!!

[Stev0]

Originally Posted by patsparks

hello!!



Down here!!:d

>> throw axe

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by patsparks

Hello!!



Down here!!

Are you a dwarf? Really?

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by PriusRos

Are you a dwarf? Really?

Not quite, but he does have a good girth to height ratio.

Tom

[hill]

Originally Posted by Rokeby

JimboK and Daniel,

Thank you for your responses. They have merit and I'm taking them
as valid, constructive comments.

Tony,

It was your calm, well reasoned response to the "A question for all
Prius drivers" thread that got me seriously thinking about this matter.
You see, I was one of the jerks that took leave of their senses in
making posts there.



Don't I know! After a particularly boneheaded response of mine in
another thread a while back, you PMed me with the clear reminder
that I was out of hand. No threats were made and I thought I had gotten
the message. But despite my best intentions, I got sucked into a troll
baiting frenzy again.

Well, I've now gone on record with my best shot at a way to handle a
troll. From here on out, I've got a lot to lose if I backslide again. I do
not like to eat crow.

Ahhhh ... the gauntlent has been thrown down ... now ... let's see what I can claim to drive you over the edge!



I look at trols as lonely/angry people who never/don't get enough attention ... folks that never got enough pats on the head from their peirs/parents/guardians. Nope, I've never been able to win one over. But you never know. I do like Tony's suggeston ... ask 'em to list some authority.

.

.

[Chuck.]

A momentary tangent: couple of years ago I got over the top on a spammer here.

My first exposure to spam was ruder than most....an old IP provider was sold to what became a spam site and they sent their porn solicitations to my new IP provider with very insulting subject lines. This was around 2000 and I generally don't do more than PG-13 sites.

I just ridicule the compulsion of spammers - I picture a comic that some tractor beam in their mind "makes" them do it with urges that exceed drugs or sex. In my dreams, they would get ebombed until they took an honest job.

Back to the original topic

[Stev0]

Delta Flyer, you need to see the Spamusement website (it's cartoons made from literally interpreting spam email subject lines).

[daniel]

Originally Posted by hill

... ask 'em to list some authority.

I suspect their typical reply would be "Everybody knows that <whatever their claim is>. You don't need an authority to tell you that rain falls down, not up."

There are people who post out of genuine ignorance and want to learn. But trolls only want to insult.

[Chuck.]

Originally Posted by Stev0

Delta Flyer, you need to see the Spamusement website (it's cartoons made from literally interpreting spam email subject lines).

The funniest spam I actually got:

Want to see Britney Spears naked?

Like we don't already for free?

[bwilson4web]

Sometimes a troll performs a useful service by becoming the object of a 'teachable moment.' For example, the recent Lexus fatal accident that remains in the 2010 Prius forum has a few who persist in trying to claim there was a Toyota computer failure and must be in the 2010 Prius too.

So I'm using their repeated "Toyota computer failure" to discuss the scientific method ... how we use experiments, facts and data to test a hypothesis. I'm not challenging them directly but using this to 'safe' the thread and eventually suggest those claiming "Toyota computer failure" are being intellectually lazy by not 'going to the lab' and replicating the failure.

The more amusing trolls are those who claim to have a Prius and spout "Toyota computer failure" or similar nonsense. Instead of getting another car and eliminating the source of their fears, they keep the car ... for years. In those cases, we are dealing with a human form of the White Queen from Through the Looking Glass who once said, 'that in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" and counsels Alice to practice the same skills' (Wikipedia.)

Bob Wilson