A Message to TIGS from Teh Internets

Get that man a Fruit Basket, he deserves it.

Erm, ‘their comment,’ I switched from the general you because it seemed very finger-pointing and forgot to change that.

Chris Whitman: Guess what though? You don’t have to even read their comments. The old saying “don’t feed the trolls” still applies here.

Yes, you should act that way. I agree you shouldn’t be an asshole. But don’t expect people not to be.

At the same time, comments saying stuff like “i didn’t find this game fun” aren’t even being “assholes” in the first place. That’s a complete overreaction. I just think its silly to have your feelings hurt over something so small, something that isn’t even more than a sentence long.

“Yes, that’s true – nobody asked. So, don’t bother to comment.”

By that logic then, nobody should be able to comment on anything.

For everything else you’ve said, just who are you addressing really? Because if it’s towards me, you’re pretty much preaching to the choir. I agree with you. But at the same time, it doesn’t change the fact that there always will be trolls or people who don’t say nice things. Rather than getting so worked up about them, wouldn’t it be better just to ignore them or deal with them in a different way?

“Yeah, I haven’t seen any cases of outrageous response to “I didn’t find this game fun,” but if there have been I can’t say I endorse that. I think it would be overreacting to get mad about that sort of comment.”

That was in the Spewer comments section, in which I spent hours trying to tell people to stop overreacting.

I assumed the video which also was by Edmund was a response to that.

>> By that logic then, nobody should be able to comment on anything.

No, no, they should, but then they should follow certain rules and respect other people’s boundaries. You know, if author says he doesn’t like your comment and ask you to be nicer in future or be more constructive, then you respect that. If you don’t understand then you ask for further information and so on. That’s healthy communication. You know what I’m talking about?

>> But at the same time, it doesn’t change the fact that there always will be trolls or people who don’t say nice things. Rather than getting so worked up about them, wouldn’t it be better just to ignore them or deal with them in a different way?

Yes, I agree with that in that it’s the ideal solution, but I also think it’s rather impossible. What’s harder: to eliminate trolls completely or to learn to ignore negative comments like those posted on Cactus’s new game article? It’s hard to tell and I think the best solution would be to just assertively respond to trolls.

If you think you can learn how to be less sensitive to negative comments I encourage you to write a how-to.

“Yes, I agree with that in that it’s the ideal solution, but I also think it’s rather impossible. What’s harder: to eliminate trolls completely or to learn to ignore negative comments like those posted on Cactus’s new game article? It’s hard to tell and I think the best solution would be to just assertively respond to trolls.”

But that’s exactly what they want. They post comments like that to get an “assertive” response out of people. By responding to them, you’re pretty much allowing them to do what they sought out to do.

“And I think there’s more blame to be attributed to the people who say such things than to the people who can’t ignore such things, even though both parties aren’t acting optimally.”

But at the same time, this is the internet, where people can say whatever they want anonymously without even feeling anything about it (whether its responsibility or even empathy). Due to the anonymous nature of the internet, it’s pretty much expected anywhere you go on the internet for there to be trolls. I know it sucks, but you gotta learn how to ignore it because that’s the best way to deal with it. You can’t get rid of it, but you can let it not get to you and even ignore it.

>> But that’s exactly what they want. They post comments like that to get an “assertive” response out of people. By responding to them, you’re pretty much allowing them to do what they sought out to do.

They want *aggresive* responses, not assertive responses. Consistent assertiveness kills trolls. Ignorance on the other hand is a hit-or-miss because ignorance has no negative impact on trolls and *expert* trolls can keep trolling until they don’t provoke reaction.

“They want aggresive responses, not assertive responses. Consistent assertiveness kills trolls. Ignorance on the other hand is a hit-or-miss because ignorance has no negative impact on trolls and expert trolls can keep trolling until they don’t provoke reaction.”

It doesn’t kill trolls. If it did, there would be no problem here and the whole Jonathan Blow thing would be under 100 comments long. In fact, assertiveness is just as bad. Any sort of feedback in which you keep feeding a troll does exactly what they want, which is the disrupt and derail the whole flow of conversation.

“… it’s horrendously naive to think that people are just going to all of a sudden act nice to one another and always consider other people’s feelings because you ask them nicely.”

It isn’t like I expect everyone on the internet to read what I wrote and swear to be a nice person from now on, but a big factor in people’s behavior is often that nastiness is just not stigmatized on the internet.

If you act to someone with outright hostility in person, typically you pay for it not just from that person, but from everyone else, who wonders why you are acting like a dick. We don’t have that feedback on the internet, and because we don’t have it, I think a lot of people may simply not realize how their comments actually sound to someone else.

I don’t know, failing to respond to someone who’s having a complete fit can cause extinction, but it can also validate someone’s feeling that they are ‘winning the internet,’ so if anything I think the best response is just to target the behavior directly and tell someone to try to keep it reasonable.

I’m sure some people are just jerks, but chances are there are some people who are just not cognizant of the fact that this is a community of people who work on things, and that those people are going to be upset (and rightfully so), if you just repeatedly insult things they’ve worked hard on. Since there’s nothing you can do about the former category, you might as well address the latter.

*principle

Well, Judgespear is correct in that the best way control someone’s behavior when they are looking for attention is simply not to respond. That’s basic psychology.

However, I’m with Paul on this one: although it isn’t the most efficient or effective response, I think it’s only polite to treat people like people.

Wow, this is still going on?

Paul, I disagree with you.

“…And I think there’s more blame to be attributed to the people who say such things than to the people who can’t ignore such things, even though both parties aren’t acting optimally.

It requires more effort to respond than to ignore a comment or person on the Internet. I hate reading forums and seeing posts from regular forum-goers to newer members, like “Use the search function!” Wasted energy.

And as it’s been said, while most of these types comments aren’t constructive, but how many times do developers listen to feedback and make changes? It’s a two-way street.

“I think the “high” road is to politely respond to people personally attacking you, treat them as people even when they don’t treat you as one, and if possible make friends with them. I find that works better and is a longer-term solution than just not responding.”

Sure. But again, on the internet you can’t really make friends with an anonymous comment left behind by someone who probably has no intention of doing anything other than annoying the crap out of you.

But even still, yes. I agree you should be polite though and treat people nicely.

But you still have understand that there will be trolls and people who want to cause trouble due to the internet works and due to the fact that people have the ability to be a jerk under complete anonymity.

Anyway, at this rate I’m pretty much repeating myself. But I think you get what I’m trying to say.

“Oh, you’d be surprised how many friends you can make with people who attack you – I definitely think it’s possible. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. I think a big reason some people act like that is that other people treat them like that. They don’t really know how to act in any other way because all their friends may act that way to them. So being polite to someone like that and considering their words instead of arguing with them and dismissing what they say is often a new experience to them.”

Yeah, but I think you’re getting a bit off topic here.

We’re talking about people who post stuff like “this game is not fun at all” and then the way people react to such comments.

Just a little short comment like that. That doesn’t really leave much room for “making friends” or whatever you’re saying right now. Maybe if you were talking about in the forums with someone who keeps flaming other people, but in the comments section I don’t see how that applies.

I think most people are aware of that. I am.

I can go on and describe differences between troll and negatively charged dude. But I’ll ask in advance if that’s really necessary?

I can go on and explain what’s assertiveness and why the Jon Blow article isn’t proving that assertiveness is not effective. But is that necessary?

I can go on and mention some of the drawbacks of just ignoring things. But is that necessary?

I think that your point was: learn to ignore. Which I don’t discourage. If you think people can learn to ignore comments such as ones posted on Cactus’s new game article, well, be helpful and find a way to share that knowledge with us.

Now if you’re saying it’s not something people can do, then I disagree with you. Because so far, this whole thing was started due to reacting to a certain few negative comments and nonsensical one liners that otherwise would have just faded into obscurity if people didn’t react to them in the way they did.

Hmm.. not sure I understand you.

@judgespear:

Yes, they made a mistake. They transferred emotions from previous article over to the Spewer article.

How to avoid making such mistake in future? React immediately.

That’s some good corn. Buttery too.

I loled.

Everytime I’m feeling down about the internets, I shall watch this video and it will cheer me up. Thanks Edmund!

perhaps 5 comments max per topic per person?

Edmund is my hero.

Yikes! That video wasn’t funny, but it was certainly hysterical.

Okay, now take a deep breath… and relax. Feel the internet trolls just melting away.