Reza - lets erase the whole comment thread - it's boring, it's wasting our time, and it just gives the trolls a sense of self-importance

Nick, on the contrary I think let them rot here so the troll sees no one gives a f**k about all this. But it is up to Mark, if you and mark really want to purge these comments; just let me know, I’m always enthusiastic for purging uncleanness of all kind (Zoroastrian polytics rocks!) ... Mark, what is your decision?

There's no need to apologise obv....

This kind of thing is just boring ultimately...

It's a sad fact about the internet that when things reach a certain level of success, they attract steaming resentonauts...

All that these reactive forces can do is get us to waste our energy on them. Banning his IP clearly isn't working; we'll just have to ruthlessly delete anything that even looks like trollism for a while. As Nick says, that is the only way to stop the site becoming a platform for inane whingers.

I've seen this happen at virtually every interesting net forum I've been involved in, from alt.movies.kubrick through to Dissensus. It's a sad fact about the internet and human populations.

In the first instance, I think it would be wise to close comments on that post, which is what I am about to do.

yes, i think merely closing the comment box for that post is a good idea.

I've closed it, and I could be persuaded to delete the lot. Not sure?

Mark,

Good ... I think let them leave to rot there; they will eventually sink in the hadean space of the archive. ;)

Mark, Reza - Still think we should delete them - if i felt they were "rotting" in pain, i might agree with you, but they've basically just come in to shit on the carpet so why leave their droppings polluting the site?
Seriously, I think if it was absolutely clear than any personalistic trolling would be ruthlessly eliminated it could:
a) have a deterrent effect
b) leave the site in better condition
we can all tell the difference between productive contributions and moronic smuggerism, so lets act on it. If the mails remain up they'll pathetically think they've left some kind of tag. (Also think [my] irate responses lower the tone of the blog).
Perhaps the most maddening thing about these losers is the utter self-satisfaction they radiate as they use the most elementary capabilities of the technology to make their adolescent 'points' about identity. It's an unbelievably noxious mix of smugged-out half-witted self-indulgence and petty con-man criminality.
Kill!

Deleting troll comments will not discourage trolls, it will only escalate things so there's more troll comments the need deleting.

There's really only one effective way to deal with trolls. As hackneyed as it sounds, the best course is to ignore them completely (unless it seems amusing to play with them).

When my daughter was little, our Big Discipline Gun was just that. We'd relegate her to social nonexistence for a few minutes, and would not respond in any way. This is devastating for all young children, and most trolls are essentially young childen.

The other issue is identity theft, but there's technological fixes for that issue. Personally, I like the ability to "spoof" as other people because it so often lends to fine satire (as opposed to trolling), and the spoofed can clear things up later. But that's just an aesthetic.

delete!

i think my comments in the box were made seriously, and inevitably touched upon some of what the troll was saying. it's easy enough to call anyone you disagree with a pathetic whinger (although this wasn't really trolling was it? obviously you lot lead sheltered lives), but why bother with comments boxes if you refuse to engage in argument at all? it's clear you have it all worked out, so bonne chance.
'we'll just have to ruthlessly delete anything that even looks like trollism for a while' is a brazen way of avoiding the issue: the unthought-out idealism of 'cold rationalism'. in place of argument and engagement you leave terms of abuse. the only way of justifying this is recourse to the closed system of thought that's been queried in the first place. anyone who disagrees *must* be a monkey.

Personlly, I think comments purge hardly works ... or worse, it works as a useful instrument in the hands of trolls.

It's too easy, anyway, to simply dismiss everyone who gets your back up or irritates you by calling them a 'troll' - in which case, Mark is surely a 'troll' to an awful lot of people. As far as I can work out (I'm really not familiar with all this internet-speak since I usually spend very little time in these internet dungeons) a 'troll' means something like 'gadfly' ... in which case I consider the epithet a compliment, and could scarcely be in better company (Socrates being only the most obvious example).

Gadfly,

>>> a 'troll' means something like 'gadfly'

Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no; however, i think the problem is simple: being reactionary toward the troll or gadfly is not so much a problem; the same for playing the role of 'gadfly' or whatever. i'm just trying to understand (being comfortable with) both of them. but anyway, let's skip this topic. ;)

Hi. Cool theme, but this is interesting too: