I almost laughed out loud when I saw today's April Platform Challenge: create a blog. Since you're already here, we might as well get started.
I've been working on this blog off and on now for several years. The difficult part has been to peruse this with some regularity. I would say that I have been irregular about the updates, but I really don’t want to invite laxative humor. Well, it is funny!
The idea behind these exercises appears to be to make us more accessible to our followers. Huh. I’ve of the mindset that says people either are genuine or they are not. Whether meeting them virtually or IRL, people can’t get away from who they are. Oh sure, they can fake it for a little while, but eventually their inner nature will come out. So, if you’re looking for genuine, here’s an opinion of mine.
From my experience, the anonymity of the Internet will bring out the troll out faster and allow the troll to take things further than if you were to meet in person. It’s the whole accountability thing; if people don’t think their behavior can be tied back to them, they’ll let their virtual selves rain down fire and brimstone on the unsuspecting (maybe even on the suspecting, sometimes).
Counter wise, the nice guys (gender neutral, please, I’m from Alabama and I’m faking the Jersey accent) will be nice regardless and because their behavior is so pleasant, it becomes practically ignored. If anonymity fuels crassness, it surely strangles kindness. That being the case, it brings me to my next question:
Exactly what are we training the future generations of net users to behave as? (Hint: It rhymes with “bass” and has no class.) Can we stop it? Only if we stop feeding the trolls.
Is that easy to do? It should be. It should be a simple thing to ignore the cantankerous. But, it isn’t. I believe that a lot of us, myself included, want to build a consensus; if for no other reason than to show the knot heads in Washington that it can be done. We want to use logic and we want to persuade. And, that is why we fail.
To my knowledge, the troll is more interested in stirring the pot by being rude, abrasive and contrary. You cannot argue with them. You can bicker, but you cannot win by engaging. The only '”win” is to walk away.
