Trolls and Flames
April 26, 2002
Jordan's having some trouble with moderating his site. Enough to make me glad no one comments on mine (and that he doesn't link it, if that's intentional, thanks Jordan, and I sincerely sympathize with you). I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure that every single page I used to post on regularly and don't at all anymore has fallen from my list of "regular read" sites because of incessant flame wars. I get sick of being flamed all the time. I have this unusual habit of not having a web persona. I actually take my real self onto the web, which is quite rewarding in a lot of ways, but which makes getting flamed all the more frustrating, as it's usually in response to something I say that's actually sincere.
One of the most frustrating times I've dealt with internet trolls and flamethrowers was on a religion board about a year ago. Really meaningful discussions about religion, particularly with people who disagree with me on major points, is really interesting to me, as well as being theologically formative. On this board, I was trying to have a very respectful discussion with some of the people on the board, distinguishing myself from a person on there who was attempting to do Christian apologetics but was doing it in a terribly insolent (and not very well-educated) manner.
It's pointless to recollect the increasing flames that eventually drove me off the board. What I find intriguing is that not only did I eventually leave the board, in that and every circumstance, I have found on the net that in these discussions, people always ignore the respectful people in the discussion to enter the flame war. I'm not sure whether this is because people find cutting people down more emotionally satisfying than connecting with them or actually discussing things, whether it's simply easier to refute than discuss, or... what. I guess the point is that while the internet seems like it should be a beautiful place for discussion, allowing anonymity for the circumstances that might require it and a medium for free discussion, it has almost never, thus far, lived up to my expectations. I cannot find a forum where people primarily want to learn from people who are different and let me learn from them.
This is of somewhat greater importance now, since the religious background of the people I now see is more homogeneous than probably at any time in my life before (although I'm meeting more international students than ever before, which is some consolation).
I guess I should bring this post back to the concrete. It frustrates me that I no longer post on Jordan's page because of some stupid comments that some guy I don't even know decided to make to me for no reason. After all, Jordan is my friend, and although I commented on his page infrequently, it was probably the most regular form of communication with him I had. And I feel like that kind of thing happens to me every time I get interested in an internet forum. It's terribly frustrating.