Trolls making captions--how to respond?

[StarvingStudent47]

Hi,

I was just wondering how the owners and mods of this site wanted people to respond to trolls in the picture archives. Is it best to ignore the comments, or address inaccuracies point-by-point?

There are a few trolls running through the Israel/Palestine gallery, writing comments like these (all of these are direct quotes):

"Israel a registered charity in the USA another dependent state looking for dollars, lets face it you need the money for your ethnic cleansing program you have got going over there. "

"Jews reallu sucks"

"Does America pay for your bullets Israel."

"Why does the IDF use US gear is it because its free or can Israel not produce anything apart from oranges . "

I'm sure I'm not the only one who twitches when I have to read filth like this. But just curious whether it's preferable to flame back, or ignore them.

[Seraphim]

Just ignore the idiots. Arguing on the net doesnt accomplish much.

[JohnJohn]

Just ignore the idiots. Arguing on the net doesnt accomplish much.

amen.

[yellowking]

Just ignore the idiots. Arguing on the net doesnt accomplish much.
Yes it does!!! :D

[Knave]

http://freespace.morat.net/hellbent/retard.jpg

:P

[Chops]

Sweet!

rgds

Chops

[Nachtschleicher]

Knave man, that's hella funny! Hella mean, but hella funny!

StarvingStudent47, when I see stupid comments like that, I feel sorry for the indvidual with such low intelligence and move on. If you even bother to reply, it's like you're asking for more. Like putting out honey to get rid of the bees... it isn't going to work.

But do whatever you want, no one's going to stop you.

EDIT: This reminds me of a quote I read on Sniper's Paradise:

"Never argue with an idiot, it brings you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience" rofl How true is that?

[hood]

Yeah I'll have a run through and clean it up. It takes a lot of effort and patience to clean up the racial slurs, excessive profanity, death threats, and other rediculousness in there, particularly as more pictures go in the various sections. Admittedly I've lost a lot of the drive to go through them all constantly. Takes too much time. Like this time, if you see stuff that's obviously stepping over the line, just post here or send me a PM and I'll have a look. Thanks.

[Knave]

Forgive my ignorance, but.... Are you the only one running this joint, Hood? I mean, patrolling the galleries currently online would be a chore for one person. Maybe increasing the staff would help..... *shrug*

[Bing]

we argue with woodland don't we?...i haven't yet...yet...lol :lol:

i guess we're retarded... :oops:

[OzMan]

Some of you may find me in some of the Israel/Palestine debates/deathmatches, and yes, I do argue online. I'll admit, yes, I am one of the "immature" ones who responds to some of the crap. I argue when I'm offline, too. It's just a release for me, a chance to vent the day's built up rage. And then sometimes when people come back and say, "Yeah, I agree with that guy," or "Good reply," or stuff like that, or if I can get some people to really realize what an idiot the guy I'm replying to is, then I do feel a little better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not encouraging it or looking down on the honorable ones, but that's just why I do it sometimes. Maybe there are some times when I shouldn't, or I should just keep my mouth shut, but sometimes I just can't help it. I mean I live in a country that works its ass off to help everyone else and slaps around the people we don't like, and then when some dumbass comes on and starts talking down on us because their coffee was too hot and they all think its a big conspiracy or some crap like that, sometimes I just snap and I let it out and feel better afterwards.

Sorry to get off on a big patriotic rant, but that's my reasons.

[Chops]

Hood

Why not lose the comments capability all together- lot less admin from your side and from what I've seen most of it is bull**** anyway?

Just a thought old mate

Rgds

Chops

[hood]

Well, for several reasons... firstly, there's a lot of good comments througout the galleries. The number of good ones heavily outweighs the occasional "you suck" troll comments. Another one is to help satisfy the fair use of the photos. Satirical use of a photo or using it as an editorial or commentary is one of the allowed methods for posting a photo on your site assuming it's for non-commercial purposes. The comments help satisfy that requirement, so it's not really an choice in this case.

[yellowking]

Well, I appreciate the work, Hood!! woot Thanks!

[StarvingStudent47]

Yeah, I definitely like having the caption option. In my experience, 49% of captions are useful information about what's going on in the picture, 49% are really funny jokes (or at least honest attempts at comedy), and 2% are trolls running loose. It would be a shame to lose the 98% of good captions because of the 2% of lousy ones.

[FallenAngel]

^ what he said.

And Hood, I also think that maybe increasing the staff with certain admin. powers would help (if that's possible.) Maybe assign one or two people per gallery

Not to toot my own horn, but I would volunteer for such a deep-cover spec. op because I come here every day. ;)

[Duke]

Maybe this is something I picked up at Bulldog, but I cant help but challenge an idiot. Its hard not to, especially when they espouse so much dribble.

[StarvingStudent47]

FallenAngel would make an awesome gallery moderator. He's shown is ability to put the smackdown on trolls countless times, especially in the Israel/Palestine gallery.

[FallenAngel]

Student would ALSO make a great mod for the simple reason that he's way too nice a guy to abuse the power :D woot

[OzMan]

Sounds like a split of command is afoot. And it seems like we've got some brass volunteering. Now all we have to do is just scout out some hardcore, balls-to-the-wall enlisted men, get our budget, and start the training cycle. We'll need a few months before the new unit goes active, though. Its a tough job, but someone needs to do it. And we're not gonna let any of those damn commies take this place over. We need to start targeting their leaders and just let 'em fall apart. I want names, e-mail addresses, and PIN numbers. We'll set up some subtle meetings, rough 'em up a little, then throw 'em back out.

Sorry, I just finished reading Rogue Warrior. But anyway, this is a cool site, and I think Hood is doing really well on his own. But the problem does remain. Hard to believe one guy does all this.

Much kudos and respect to Hood.