Letters to the Editor
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@ Allie_ ...and others
How Dare You!
You encourage Censorship against "trolls." How dare you call them trolls?! How dare you Censor them?!
Don't you know that upstanding men like brightstar65 and merely mortal male and Rob Anderson and TomReedToon are the only path to the truth for the rest of us ignorant slobs, feminists, etc. They have a right to make total asses of themselves if that's what it takes to help the rest of us idiots see the truth. They're like prophets, don't you see? And your attempt to shut them out of the conversation won't allow them to continue to martyr themselves on our behalf.
In fact, we don't simply have the "right" to choose to listen to them or not; indeed, if i understand them correctly, we have an OBLIGATION to read every last word they write. If Salon shuts down these noble men's capacity to spew forth with their sacred words, Salon won't merely be quashing their inalienable right to spew but will be denying us the opportunity to meet OUR obligations to them!
I can't stand by and watch YOU try to destroy this most holy temple in which the rituals of ad hominem are performed with such selfless zeal!
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Ok.... actually, i think you're right. Maybe Salon could start by putting a cap on the number of posts a person can submit in a day or a week or something. Most of the more sensible posters don't post three or four times every day. But these trolls, as you call them, seem to thrive on posting once, getting someone to take the bait, coming back later to check their trap, and then blugeoning the more reasonable respondent with most venomous and detestable kinds of expression. Surely there is a way to moderate this better?
(And it is kinda fun, by the way, when some posters turn the table on them... and poke fun at them in a way that is inviting to the rest of the community, i.e., in a way that supports a community rooted in the unfettered interchange of genuine dialog)
Then again, maybe not. Maybe it simply isn't worth Salon's efforts to monitor these exchanges. It's not as if it is likely that Salon will loose me as a reader just because i've mostly stopped reading the posts to articles that i know will contain this kind of garbage.
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So here's my last thought about this. What i find completely mystifying about the trolls is not simply the sense of righteousness but the apparent persecution complex. They really seem to me to think we're all out to "get them" when we respond to them, but isn't the truth of the matter that we just want them to leave us alone? I mean, who's doing the persecuting anyway?