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Why Tolerate this Newsgroup?
I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup.
It seems to be full of trolls and other types of folks that get their jollies by antagonizing other members of the group. There are some very knowledgeable members of this group and I have learned much from being a member of this group. Year after year the problems in this newsgroup worsen. That is just the nature of Usenet and it will only get worse with time. Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or some other location where folks will have to post using their real names and real email addresses? It seems that this solution would eliminate all of the trolls and other annoyances and we could have astronomy discussions without all of the flame wars. It seems that if a new home could be found, the group could be vacated rather quickly. Regards, -mij |
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Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good =
folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or = some=20 other location where folks will have to post using their real names and = real=20 email addresses? I really don't care for reading web-based forums. Also part of the fun = of usenet=20 is _because_ anyone can post. The signal to noise ratio varies but it's = usually pretty easy to spot the trolls and jerks. -Florian |
#4
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On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:19:38 -0700, Mij Adyaw wrote:
I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup. It seems to be full of trolls and other types of folks that get their jollies by antagonizing other members of the group. My name is posted as is my email address and the same can be said for a significant number of regular posters here. This place is not perfect, but it is a comfortable to me. Nothing ties me or anyone else to this group. We are all free to come and go. . .and few question out loud the validity of the gathering. My conviction and dedication to its existence, and that of many others, is reinforced everytime it is summoned on our computers. -- Martin R. Howell "Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy" http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com |
#5
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I like the real names and real e-mail address part, and have said so over
time. It SHOULD be a requirement, with NO exceptions. If you're not real and directly accountable and traceable, you are banned. But I DO like SAA where it is. I just wish more folks would exercise common sense in dealing with the trolls and ego trippers. Ignore them, or killfile them, but DON'T respond to them, because EVERY time you do, YOU are encouraging them to do more of the same. I've certainly been guilty of this myself. But what I find interesting, is when you point out that someone is a troll that should be avoided, there are ALWAYS folks who will defend them on SOME pretext (Oh, he owns a telescope AND an observatory, so even though he is a total jerk, and off topic, or on an anti American/anti Democrat/anti Republican/anti anything you can think of rant, I still find him intellectually stimulating, so even though he almost NEVER abides by the SAA charter, I still think we should make an exception in his/her/it's case). And as long as this goes on, there will never be any real control exercised over these folks, and SAA will continue to be a garbage dump... -- Jan Owen To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address... Latitude: 33.662 Longitude: -112.3272 "Mij Adyaw" wrote in message news:eWebe.82300$A31.9856@fed1read03... I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup. It seems to be full of trolls and other types of folks that get their jollies by antagonizing other members of the group. There are some very knowledgeable members of this group and I have learned much from being a member of this group. Year after year the problems in this newsgroup worsen. That is just the nature of Usenet and it will only get worse with time. Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or some other location where folks will have to post using their real names and real email addresses? It seems that this solution would eliminate all of the trolls and other annoyances and we could have astronomy discussions without all of the flame wars. It seems that if a new home could be found, the group could be vacated rather quickly. Regards, -mij |
#6
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On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:19:38 -0700, "Mij Adyaw"
wrote: I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup. Because it is full of interesting people, interesting posts, and useful information. The percentage of trolls and off-topic _threads_ is small, so why worry about them? _________________________________________________ Chris L Peterson Cloudbait Observatory http://www.cloudbait.com |
#7
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Because, along with the inane, there are nuggets of geniune, worthy
advice. No one is being forced to stay. I, myself, use my real name and e-mail. Francis Mij Adyaw wrote: I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup. It seems to be full of trolls and other types of folks that get their jollies by antagonizing other members of the group. There are some very knowledgeable members of this group and I have learned much from being a member of this group. Year after year the problems in this newsgroup worsen. That is just the nature of Usenet and it will only get worse with time. Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or some other location where folks will have to post using their real names and real email addresses? It seems that this solution would eliminate all of the trolls and other annoyances and we could have astronomy discussions without all of the flame wars. It seems that if a new home could be found, the group could be vacated rather quickly. Regards, -mij |
#8
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Hi Jan,
Thanks for the detailed reply. If the folks in this newsgroup could just stick to the topic of amateur astronomy, this newsgroup would be a great place. I advocate posting using a real email address, however I personally would never use a real email address because of all of the software bots that crawl Usenet collecting email addressed to sell to spammers. Many years ago, I posted to this newsgroup using a real email address and within several months my email address was ruined with spam. I was receiving over 100 spam emails per day. I guess that it would be possible for me to use the yahoo email "ddress guard" feature in order to generate special temporary email addresses that I can delete at anytime if they become spam buckets. I am aware of the trick of adding extra characters to the end of my email address, however some of the software bots that crawl usenet sell different variants of your email address and therefore your email address is not really safe. You are correct that folks seem to defend the trolls and that is exactly what perpetuates the problem. For example, there always been an ongoing flame war between the liberals and the conservatives that gets rekindled several times a month. The problem is that regular contributing members of this group get involved in these off-topic discussions and sometimes perpetuate them until they become flame-wars. In a moderated newsgroup, off-topic posts will cause them to get banned from the newsgroup by a moderator and therefore they will not be tempted to reply and perpetuate off-topic posts. Why do some folks feel that it is necessary to challenge the political alliance of other members of this group? If everyone could just stick to the topic of amateur astronomy, this would be an excellent forum Regards, -mij "Jan Owen" wrote in message news:R7fbe.31274$lv1.16178@fed1read06... I like the real names and real e-mail address part, and have said so over time. It SHOULD be a requirement, with NO exceptions. If you're not real and directly accountable and traceable, you are banned. But I DO like SAA where it is. I just wish more folks would exercise common sense in dealing with the trolls and ego trippers. Ignore them, or killfile them, but DON'T respond to them, because EVERY time you do, YOU are encouraging them to do more of the same. I've certainly been guilty of this myself. But what I find interesting, is when you point out that someone is a troll that should be avoided, there are ALWAYS folks who will defend them on SOME pretext (Oh, he owns a telescope AND an observatory, so even though he is a total jerk, and off topic, or on an anti American/anti Democrat/anti Republican/anti anything you can think of rant, I still find him intellectually stimulating, so even though he almost NEVER abides by the SAA charter, I still think we should make an exception in his/her/it's case). And as long as this goes on, there will never be any real control exercised over these folks, and SAA will continue to be a garbage dump... -- Jan Owen To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address... Latitude: 33.662 Longitude: -112.3272 "Mij Adyaw" wrote in message news:eWebe.82300$A31.9856@fed1read03... I would like to respectfully ask why so many of you tolerate this newsgroup. It seems to be full of trolls and other types of folks that get their jollies by antagonizing other members of the group. There are some very knowledgeable members of this group and I have learned much from being a member of this group. Year after year the problems in this newsgroup worsen. That is just the nature of Usenet and it will only get worse with time. Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or some other location where folks will have to post using their real names and real email addresses? It seems that this solution would eliminate all of the trolls and other annoyances and we could have astronomy discussions without all of the flame wars. It seems that if a new home could be found, the group could be vacated rather quickly. Regards, -mij |
#9
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While that may well be true for thee and me, newbies often have NO clue as
to what's on the up and up, and what's a troll, and may be totally misled on their single exposure to this medium. The problem, as I see it, is that NO one wants to be responsible for anything anymore. They mostly just want to feed their sick egos. They think they have the right to post anything they want, if it will stroke their ego by getting responses. But the new folks, who honestly need help can never tell when they are getting it, or are being taken advantage of by a troll, or a SEE ME type, hiding behind an alias, and a fake e-mail address. This lack of accountability is what is destroying SAA. Simple as that. Well, certainly the dumbing down of America has helped, but the primary problem is in the former... -- Jan Owen To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address... Latitude: 33.662 Longitude: -112.3272 "Florian" wrote in message ... Have you ever considered moving this forum (essentially all of the good folks in this forum) to another location such as groups on Astromart or some other location where folks will have to post using their real names and real email addresses? I really don't care for reading web-based forums. Also part of the fun of usenet is _because_ anyone can post. The signal to noise ratio varies but it's usually pretty easy to spot the trolls and jerks. -Florian |
#10
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On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:08:38 -0700, "Mij Adyaw"
wrote: I advocate posting using a real email address, however I personally would never use a real email address because of all of the software bots that crawl Usenet collecting email addressed to sell to spammers. Many years ago, I posted to this newsgroup using a real email address and within several months my email address was ruined with spam. I was receiving over 100 spam emails per day... I've been posting here since 1997 or so, and every post has contained my real email address (the same one all that time). I have a few other addresses I use for things that I think might attract spam. I don't see any more garbage coming to my main address than to the others. Spam filters are good enough to strip away the bulk of the junk and leave a manageable (albeit still somewhat annoying) amount. These days, there are so many ways of harvesting addresses that it hardly seems worthwhile to worry about it. If you actually use your address, it is only a matter of time before it is harvested (perhaps from something as simple as a clueless friend who sends out some stupid email joke to everyone in his address book- including you- and doesn't know what the BCC field is for). I have many Internet friends I have met through this group. Personally, I don't choose to make it difficult for future ones by using a fake or obfuscated address. _________________________________________________ Chris L Peterson Cloudbait Observatory http://www.cloudbait.com |
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