Tuesday 17 April 2012

I've been Trolled

Faggots and Peas...mmmmmm
My Blog has apparently hit the big-time because I've recently had a spate of Trolling in the comments pages. All the comments have been randomly scattered across several older posts and were redirected into the comments spam folder by Blogger's spam filter. Apparently I'm some sort of herby meatball made from pork offal and bread crumbs. How rude....

Well in the great tradition of the internet I won't feed the Troll, I'll just delete the childish and puerile rubbish he/she/it wrote. The ancient wisdom of the internet is profoundly true ..."anonymity plus the Internet equals an a**hole".

I won't be changing my comments policy (is no Captcha's or mediation) just yet. Clearly the spam filter is doing what it is supposed to do and I tend to check my comments field on a daily basis anyway. But in case you stumble upon a troll in the comments that has slipped past the filters please don't feed it by responding. I'll almost certainly delete the offending comment within a few hours and we can all get on with our grown up and respectful conversation.

21 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. They aren't worth the effort of thinking about so most of the time I don't. Fortunately I haven't had a lot of comments like this so its not exactly a chore to sweep the decks clean now and again.

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    2. Bugger...Sorry I didn't mean to delete this...hit the wrong button in my eagerness to write back and now I can't un-delete!

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    3. Don't lie!!!

      You just wanted to delet my awesomely funny post!!! :P

      No problem matey, it happens to the best of us... shhhh... keep this to yourself but I accidently deleted a post the other day too! ;)

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  2. Well with 1 shy of 400 followers and over 400k hits.. it was sure to happen sometime eh? Nice photo though.. perfect for just before lunch!

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  3. As you say, "anonymity plus the Internet equals an a**hole". Saddo´s like them would have been pre-web days writing letters to the times. I got a few odd comments a while back..racist c**p aimed at the USA..I deleted and locked the posts to further comments.
    Faggots and peas...you´ve made me hungry :-D
    Cheers
    paul

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  4. I had them for the first time in ages the other week. Just asked Cath to get more so thanks for that.

    I get lots of spam on my ASL blog but lack the direct jerk injection.

    Ian

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  5. Firstly - congratulations - I have just seen your 399 followers. I also have the comments check option turned on to check spammers. and regularly get one or two a month. So far no Trolling.

    I hope it all sorts its self out.

    Tony

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  6. Herby meatball or bundle of sticks?

    Sorry to hear about the trolling

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  7. I love faggots and peas. Had some on Saturday at the local beer festival. Somehow takes the sting out the term when some tw*t tries to use it as an insult.

    Regards,
    Matt

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  8. I guess some people (trolls) just don't have a lot going on in thier life and would rather try to tear something down than build it up.

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  9. Yep - Toughness and bravado abound in internet anonymity

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  10. Thanks for the support guys, and sorry to hear some of you have encountered this sort of crap as well. I guess it’s just an inevitable but sad part of running a site that allows contribution and comment from its readers, even those that are just passing through spouting bile for entertainment. Thankfully they represent a tiny tiny minority (0.1%) of the overwhelmingly positive, interesting and supportive comments left on this site.

    Personally I'm a fairly tolerant sort of guy. I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist because someone disagrees with me, lives a different lifestyle to me or believes in stuff I don’t. But I do like to think that I draw the line with certain things. I don't tolerate racism, homophobia, sexism or religious intolerance and those sorts of comments get zapped pretty quickly.

    As far as I can tell everyone that follows BLMA on a regular basis is cool with this policy and personally I don’t mind shedding a few followers if anyone doesn’t like it! Having said that all the comments I have been forced to delete over the years have been from outside 'anonymous' contributors (i.e. faceless cowards).

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  11. I have a spammer who sends me crap once a month. Reported to Blogger on numerous occasions - still going on though.

    Always happy to send positive feedback to you Lee - BLWA ia one of the best blogs around.

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  12. I think you are handling it appropriately. Blogs and Academia are the last bastion of Authoritarian rule. All trolls will be summarily deleted.

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  13. I think Trollers do it to make up for other inadequacies that they suffer from.

    Keep doing what you are doing and ignore the saddoes

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  14. Been trying to get the little woman to try faggots, amazingly she's never partaken and isn't too keen; the offal puts her off, apparently...as for black pudding - that's right out of the window...ho, hum...

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  15. I get spam on my blog too, but I also get it on two email accounts. Strangely, the email spam is almost exclusively from companies and individuals in the US, whereas the blog spam is 90%+ Russian and Greek. I've no idea what criteria the spam bots use, but clearing the spam folder is just 'housework'.

    In fairness, given the crap I ramble on about, I wonder if my blog isn't just self inflicted spam at times . . .


    :O)

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  16. Haven't been trolled yet, touch wood, some people are just stupid.

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  17. Sorry to hear about the trolling. You did clarify something for me though. I could never work out why calling some one a bundle of sticks was insulting. I wasn't aware of the meatball, we don't have them here, at least by that name.

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Thank you for leaving a comment. I always try to reply as soon as I can, so why not pop back later and continue the conversation. In the meantime, keep rolling high!