Janszoon

That seems reasonable to me. What happens when not everybody ignores them though? Should mods start deleting the trolling posts or the responses or both? Or should the conversation be left to take its natural course, even if it leads to more of the kind of drama everybody hates?

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Arya Stark

I feel like this thread is just past the point of being helpful anymore. He's mad he's being called a troll but instead of trying to add to the help, he's blaming everyone else.

I think in cases where people are resorting to name-calling, there should be moderation. But in this case, the conversation honestly seems harmless. Do you think? It's your call tho.

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Janszoon

I actually just meant the question in general sense. I'm curious what people think is the best way to deal with trolling.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

sopsych

I dislike false accusations of trolling. I didn't come here to be abused. This is supposed to be a site for good music discussion, but because it isn't someone other than me created this thread. Don't blame me for this site's problems.

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If you have ideas or feedback for the site, visit The Musicbanter Improvement Thread.

rostasi

As of today, I've been here a year.

I think the supreme difficulty for new members is that they may think
that they're expected to immediately begin divulging all kinds of stuff
about themselves before they're even acknowledged as simply a music-lover.
I've watched in the last year as new members (ones that aren't promoting themselves)
have become vilified and/or ignored. Some leave...some "join in the conversation" and
are "accepted," but "joining" usually means that you're expected
to go on a lot about things that have little or nothing to do with music.
I have no interest in talking about what goes in or out of various orifices,
what I do for a living, if or what I watch on TV, who I think is great and
grand on the forum, etc. If I did have these interests, they would maybe
come up later - maybe far later - after I've established a musical connection
with the folks here. I'm wondering how many others are only lurking
(or leaving altogether) because they see what happens to those who dive
right into the music talk and get very little or no response to dozens of
music posts while possibly getting all kinds of attention if they'd only,
for example, start flashing their Greta Garbos for the member picture gallery.

There's a second thing that I'm concerned about:

My first post here was a fun exchange with The Batlord.
I loved it because it was a fun, creative swap of sheer silliness
that was a play on a song title. "Great," I thought, "a fun place
about music with people who aren't so serious about themselves!"
Little did I know then that this was an exception. The level of absolute
SERIOUSNESS - I mean down and dirty, name-calling, overt
"I'm god-like and you should follow me" (and sometimes the undeserved fawning
"you should follow him in his greatness") "I don't like this, so get rid of it for everyone"
"it's the Mods fault" "get off my lawn"-level animosity is absolutely extraordinary.
It's almost as if a number of you jumped from puberty to walking with a frame.
It speaks volumes that even in this very thread about how to make this board
more inviting, a guy's perfectly worded first post (before you discovered his
previous name) was shot down because he had "nothing invested in this place."
That person could've been lurking for days. I'm sure if the "join date" was even
months earlier, he would've received the same response. If I were a lurker here for
any amount of time and saw that, you can bet I'd keep my trap shut and just move on.

I can't speak of all of the forums online, but for nearly 20 years and posts
numbering in the 5 figures, I've been on music forums where there's an
easiness, kindness and general goodwill towards members new and old -
where they don't have the feeling that they have to write a dissertation
on musicians and/or albums in order to not be "lazy" (an accusatory word
used here by people who apparently don't like asking questions...or simply observing -
thereby placing the onus on others). After a year here, if I were making a suggestion,
it would be to keep it simple without being simple-minded by not having
divisions of divisions of divisions and try to resist having so many rules
that have to be adhered to before people get a fair shake. Also, have music as
the focus, but don't get so uptight about how people have to present their ideas.
It's all workable and potentially delectable if you just politely ask.
As was wisely said here recently,

"If you want to have a discussion, have a discussion," that's all.

Rod

misspoptart

I feel exactly the same way about MB, Rod. It's hard to get excited about discussing music here, when few really seem to care when you do it.

djchameleon

this probably isn't a good time for this little off topic comment but I asked you for some gypsy music recs a couple of times and you've ignored me

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

misspoptart

Yes, it's completely a terrible time. I'm reporting you for bad behavior! And didn't you see this thread?

butthead aka 216

i more replying to rosti or whoever they are but my point is that this is a music community. and often in any community whether its online or real life, some level of personal info is shared and that's part of what makes something a community. and of course its everyones choice what they are willin to share


i just think in general here there are just different perspectives and thats fine. like i said i come here to bull**** about stuff and check out some music. im always in the plug the last few weeks. its like a group of friends with musical undertones. but i realize ppl come here for diff things so im not hatin on anyone

best suggestions for what the consensus wants

-dont have new posts show lounge stuff
-keep promoting using plug cause its cool and fun and easy to do
-ban herm forever lmao

Arya Stark

I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean you're expected to talk all about your life and not music? And you only feel accepted if you participate in various lounge topics?

I do mean to find out, because it's important how new members feel. And as new members, what you guys say should be listened to in this thread. Especially since your welcoming is such a big topic.

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MB Journal.
Azucar y Especia. My blog.