Trolling?

I noticed his behaviour and I thought about reporting it, then decided against it. However, I don't know whether the Mods can take action on the basis of a PM. In this case, they probably should, because the guy is a self-confessed troll...

Why would someone bother to join a forum about something he doesn't like? If we all did that, we spend our entire lives on forums. He needs to get a life.

chopper wrote: Why would someone bother to join a forum about something he doesn't like?

Now this is the other extreme I fear...is he not entitled to a negative impression over a musical genre...as long as he doesn't become very agressive about that,he is part of this forum...

Ghost Rider wrote: If you go and have a look at that thread again, you'll find the explanation. It seems that he is a she whose boyfriend (who apparently dumped her) is a forum member. This is her way to get back at him. She thought she was the only female here, but I quickly disabused her of such a notion.

Oh....then that explains everything...


(1. a boyfriend in love with prog
2. a girlfriend...as usual...detesting the prog
3. a conflict of which is more important
4. a dump in favor of justified pleasant thing in life
5. MAD REVENGE!! )
6. )

ivansfr0st wrote: Hm.  Anti-Prog revenge! Mellotron vengeance!   We should film a progressive drama someday.    -- Ivan

DEAR OPRAH...MY BOYFRIEND DUMPED ME OVER PROG!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

I can't really find any instances where this member broke any forum rules or guidelines.

    I'm not really offended, just concerned. If you look at the thread, I guessed what her problem was before she admitted it. I just don't think it is good for her to encourage this kind of unhealthy behavior.

I also have a good talk show idea. How about Jerry Springer, "Prog fans, and the women who love them."

There is a reason why they're called "private messages."  Fishing for a response, to which he took the time to respond,  and then sharing it thusly without his permission is bad netiquette unless he said you could.  The fact that he's made his views pretty  clear publicly does not excuse sharing his PM that merely reiterates his feelings, unless, of course, you asked if you could share it (but you have not indicated that you asked first).

I haven't read the PM policy at this site, but sharing "private messages" in any form and making them public in a forum is generally considered abusive except in exceptional circumstances, or if one has the party's permission to do so (which may be true in this case).  I have never told anyone what other's have PMed me about unless they made it clear they wanted me to share it (and that includes places where I've been a moderator).

Even in the mod forums at the other sites I frequent this is not done (it would be if illegal activity was being discussed though this has never cropped up).

What is the policy here on sharing private messages?  I've always felt there should be an element of trust there (sometimes one must breach the PM's privacy of course, but not in this case as I see it).

Anyway, I don't know that he's been abusive, though his motivations are odd.  I find it hard to imagine any real rock fan being so totally dismissive of progressive rock since prog covers such wide territory.  I imagine his tastes must be very narrow if he really dislikes all prog -- I imagine he's not very familiar with much of it (and probably not a classic rock fan since a lot of prog is popular amongst classic rock fans).


Edited by Logan - June 19 2006 at 12:49

You're right, actually it is abusive since the intent is not just to discuss what SHE (apologies for the gender misclassification) dislikes about prog (healthy debate is good but...), but to denigrate prog fans... Not only is this misguided, but this is abusive.

Still, obviously we prog fans are in the majority, so there is nothing really threatening about it.  It's all rather pathetic, and I do wonder why the chip on the shoulder.

If someone came in saying sci-fi sucks at a site I frequent, I wouldn't value that person's opinion... If they publicly stated that sci-fi fans suck (and it wasn't in jest) I would offer a warning.

And apologies for what I wrote before if sharing PMs at this site is considered acceptable under such circumstances.  Every board has its own way of dealing with things and its the responsibility of the poster to adapt when necessary, or face the consequences -- such as being extinguished.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Off-topic comments are generally abusive. Sometimes they work and lead to a constructive discussion ... sometimes they totally destroy a thread (see the Opeth thread with my devastating Jon Bon Jovi/genius theory). I guess that we could outlaw off topic posts - some forums do that, and it's quite effective. But it takes away much of the fun ...

True indeed! I remember a discussion board I used to frequent a couple of years ago (it was not about music, though). At the beginning it was all very friendly and relaxed, then they gradually introduced a very strict form of moderation. Nowadays it resembles a concentration camp. I wonder what kind of fun people can have there!

BTW, I've seen very few threads go OT on this forum. On another board that I used to frequent, what the people did was to change the object of the post, when the thread had gone OT. I don't know, though, whether it would work here.