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k Nation (Jim Kunstler)
GAIA Host Collective
We're working on it.
In the mean time, it would really help if you wouldn't bring old flamewars over into new threads. Why give the idiots more exposure than they already have?
Ah c'mon...I like the whole "moooo" ranking system...that's kinda fun!!
I second Mooooo ratings for the following reasons:
1) The Moooos provide feedback to the errant posters. If everyone Moooos you on a regular basis then maybe there is a hint there that you may be posting to the wrong blog to the wrong audience.
2) It gives all of us a sense of where the median opinion may be. I thought TOD was one kind of place but perhaps I am mistaken.
3) It saves the high electron usage/download times associated with extended flamewar rebuttals.
4) It may give the editors/site owners some useful feedback about the audience and this may then translate into a more effective posting/screening system.
Cheers!
Oh God, I knew this would happen. The Mooo! technique is the thermonuclear weapon of troll warfare. It should be used sparingly, if at all. It was with a heavy heart that I deployed it against dmathew1, who has infested many a messageboard and forum, derailing discussions with endless repetitions of his half-baked, apolocalyptic religious ravings. He is unusually persistent, unusually loopy and unusually tedious. The Moo! technique is therefore both appropriate and effective because it expresses the vast majority of readers' distain and non-interest in his posts, while giving him nothing substantial to reply to nor stroking his ego by taking him seriously.
To use this awesome power against lesser offenders would be horrific. I know many who post disagree with Freddy and Hothgor and find their persistance annoying, but they do actually discuss what this forum is about: namely oil and energy. As someone who comes here to learn and posts rarely, I find theirs a useful contribution as they do open up debates and provide a needed counterpoint to the majority opinion. Certainly, they could both do better and use less infective against those they disagree with, but even so a Mooo! would be overkill for the 99% of their posts.
So as the person who introduced the Mooo! system, I beg of you all - for the sake of the children! - only use it for the true nutjobs.
MCrab
So the homesteaders rule the roost? Anybody who disagrees with their point of view is declared a troll. Great - the most exciting part of the site will be the flame wars.
By the way, how many of the posters here are in the oil trading busiess? It seems to be in their interest to play up PO and higher prices, so I'm wondering, given that the amount of known reserves is in the four trillion barrel range, why so many posters keep spreading doom and gloom.
the Oil Drum's one great contribution to the Peak Oil movement is the persistence of its flame wars. The Oil Drum is populated by a bunch of people who must work at their computers and therefore have way too much time of their hands. So they waste it here where they can pretend like they are in control and doing something significant ... you know, saving the world from Peak Oil and religion and ethanol and legislation which might potentially harm the oil industry in some small manner.
You cannot blame people for behaving consistently with their own flawed character. The Oil Drum's is so narrowly focused that these people have no choice except to talk about the same thing every single day. The flame wars are just a sport for them.
Oil people aren't well known for their tolerance, open mindedness, philosophical acumen, religious knowledge, humanitarianism, morality, ethics or love for the environment. You can hardly blame oil people from behaving in a boorish manner because that is their very nature.
David Mathews
http://www.geocities.com/dmathew1
P.S. Where are those cows? Bring me some cows. I love these cows. These people would do the whole world a favor if they all became cows.
Sorry, somehow a later posting was misplaced.
The day TOD implements a popularity contest is the day that TOD joins the PO fringe setting. But if you want to be a radical site, be my guest. I certainly wont lose much sleep over it.
Moooooooo!
Un-Moooooo!
Moooooo!
OK, I've deleted some responses to Hothgor recently, I'll admit, as it just isn't worth anyone's time including my own - and after reading further down the thread, that includes this one.
Just noting that this an edit, as a delete function isn't available.
I'd like to have the ability to not see certain posters' comments. In fact, I don't want to see their comments or any replies to their comments. That would eliminate a lot of noise. I realize it would be a dangerous tool to use, I don't want to block out opinions that differ from mine only blatant trolls. I would also need to ability to review comments from people on my block list every now and then to decide if I wanted to unblock them.
Rating systems are ok I guess, but I've never been too pleased with their results on other sites such as Slashdot.
I wonder if there is software for wordprint analysis. Wordprints are a measure of how often a person uses prepositions, conjunctions, and articles (a, an, or the) in their writing. Counting the number of words a person uses in an average sentence is also part of wordprints. There are a couple of other factors involved also which I presently don't recall. It is extemely difficult if not impossible to change your wordprint. This means a troll who freqently changes their screen name and e-mail address could quickly be identified and subsequently blocked from filling up the comments threads with personal attacks and other drivel.
Tom Deplume wrote:
I seriously doubt this. Here's how to change it:
Go to the library find any writer you like and study his/her style. It isn't that hard to analyze sentence structure if you paid attention in grammar class.
In senior high, as a joke on an english teacher, I wrote an essay mimicking Dickens. Didn't overdo it, didn't attempt parody, just tried to be as Dickensian as possible. The teacher, bless his heart, gave me an A+.
You can also study the style of legal briefs, instant messaging chat sessions, scientific journals, wine labels etc.
EDIT: Actually, there is such a variety of styles here on TOD that you don't have to go to the library. Just pick another poster and begin your analysis.
Most of us, here, could do Freddy Hutter with no study at all!! :-)
See:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070113/bob9.asp
For the record, I see more name calling by the people TOD apparently 'wants' to keep around then the people that you want to get rid of.
You are certainly in the top five most abusive posters.
Alan