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  • Why do newsgroup moderators go to so much trouble to rehabilitate problem users?

    From pschleck@pschleck@panix.com (Paul W. Schleck) to alt.fan.usenet,alt.culture.usenet,news.groups on Mon May 25 15:05:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: news.groups

    "A natural response to the examples of detailed correspondence
    provided to problem users that have a history of rejected submissions
    to moderated newsgroups (examples that were just posted to this
    subreddit), is why go to all of this trouble? Why not just ban them,
    or even pre-emptively ban them, and without detailed explanation? Most
    of the time, these users won't take feedback, even constructive
    feedback provided privately, and may choose to argue in public about
    it."

    https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicUsenet/comments/1tn9a2m/why_do_newsgroup_moderators_go_to_so_much_trouble/

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From vintageapplemac@vintageapplemac@gmail.com (scole) to alt.fan.usenet,alt.culture.usenet,news.groups on Mon May 25 18:55:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: news.groups

    In article <10v1of6$okq$1@reader1.panix.com>, pschleck@panix.com (Paul W. Schleck) wrote:

    "A natural response to the examples of detailed correspondence
    provided to problem users that have a history of rejected submissions
    to moderated newsgroups (examples that were just posted to this
    subreddit), is why go to all of this trouble? Why not just ban them,
    or even pre-emptively ban them, and without detailed explanation? Most
    of the time, these users won't take feedback, even constructive
    feedback provided privately, and may choose to argue in public about
    it."


    https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicUsenet/comments/1tn9a2m/why_do_newsgroup_moderators_go_to_so_much_trouble/

    Well, I think it's always been obvious to me, at least, that the game
    isn't to post to the moderated group, it's to get a post rejected from the moderated group and then draw the moderator into an endless flame war
    about it elsewhere; uk.net.news.moderation has a couple of decades of
    evidence supporting this theory.

    Trolls are gonna troll, that's a fact of life. The only answer is to block
    and move on.

    Do not feed the trolls, the truest piece of internet wisdom ever uttered,
    and I say that as someone who has enjoyed my fair share of trolling.
    Ignore us and we lose interest, and move on to the next mark and try to
    get a bite. That's the game, my friend. People are arseholes, that'll
    never change.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From pschleck@pschleck@panix.com (Paul W. Schleck) to alt.fan.usenet,alt.culture.usenet,news.groups on Mon May 25 21:09:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: news.groups

    In <vintageapplemac-2505261855100001@pmg3> vintageapplemac@gmail.com (scole) writes:

    [...]

    Do not feed the trolls, the truest piece of internet wisdom ever uttered,
    and I say that as someone who has enjoyed my fair share of trolling.
    Ignore us and we lose interest, and move on to the next mark and try to
    get a bite. That's the game, my friend. People are arseholes, that'll
    never change.


    But isn't a solution that requires the perfect cooperation of
    everyone, everywhere, now, and in the future, hopelessly brittle, and
    therefore impractical? Doesn't it just serve as a excuse to transfer
    blame to the victim? Has this strategy ever worked long-term on an
    unmoderated newsgroup in the modern era of general public-access
    Internet (post-Eternal September)? Furthermore, what stops ignored
    trolls from going on the offensive with stalking, harassment, threats,
    doxxing, etc.? Or even prevents the trolls from turning on each
    other, which we have also seen in the past? How useful is a newsgroup
    that is all trolls, because everyone with something useful to say is
    ignoring them, and not contributing?

    What do you think of the following advice?:


    (Disable JavaScript in your browser to read the linked article at theverge.com)

    The conventional wisdom about not feeding trolls makes online abuse worse - The Verge
    https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicUsenet/comments/uiaxyk/the_conventional_wisdom_about_not_feeding_trolls/


    "Do not feed the trolls" also seems to be arguments #4 and 6 in the
    following list:


    Common fallacious arguments against moderated newsgroups https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicUsenet/comments/udu379/common_fallacious_arguments_against_moderated/

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