Why MODs get gray hair and ulcers

[SoCalDem]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3066007&mesg_id=3066007

Some MOD (or more than one of 'em) just spent about 30-45 minutes reading multiple alerts and then one-by-one, removing (and documenting why) every post in that thread that got removed..

You remember when Momma said "Don't pick it...you'll make it bleed"??

Trolls come here so they can post their nonsense, get a rise out of some of us, and then they are off to the races..More and more people weigh in, as if the troll's mind (do they even have them?) could be changed...or to point out the fallacy of their lame argument..

Then the troll goes back to whatever sewer from under which they crawled, and brag to all their "troll-buddies" about how they disrupted DU..

Imagine this.. Troll posts nonsense.. it gets ZERO responses, but many alerts.. MOD locks/deletes it... Troll gets discouraged and goes back to decapitating insects or refilling bullet casings..

So when people here panic and flood ADMIN Forum with please for a MOD to "save" a thread or they wonder why a thread get locked... THIS is why..

[ogradda]

1. o dear.

i can imagine what the ATA forum looks like.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Actually, I've noticed that when they zap a freeper

like that, who has a whole bunch of posts on a single thread, they usually just go in and remove every single one of his posts. I don't think that they necessarily read the alerts on each one and decide whether it breaks the rules. They just go in and delete them all, even if some of them didn't break the rules.

That's what I've noticed from observing those kinds of threads anyway.

[SoCalDem]

3. Having been a mod many times, I can tell you

that's exactly what happens..BUT.. the point I was making is the TIME it all takes, and how panicky people can get when MODs seem to be "slow".. We're not.. we're just busy cleaning up some other thread that got wacky..:) and the "mess" piles up much faster than we can clean it up..

The replies go up in rapid fire, and taking them down requires individual post by post cleanup.. There's no "easy" way to make all of a troll's nonsense disappear at once.. and then the peripheral posts sometimes have to be deleted as well..

Just an FYI for those who dodn;t know how it all worked...and why the MOD's actions are not "warp-speed".:)

[Moloch]

4. Thanks...

All the mods do the best we can.

Some of these trolls tonight have been beyond pathetic. They know their posts are going to be deleted, I wonder what is going on in their personal lives they must feel like they are exerting some kind of power by contaminating DU with their vile, RW crap.

:thumbsup:

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Well, you guys have my great admiration.

I just took a look at the thread. I have to admit that I find it entertaining, but I'm sorry that some poor mods had to spend so much time slaving away over it.

Frankly, I wish they would leave a few of the posts up. They can be pretty funny. Otherwise, you're left to try to reconstruct them from the responses. But I guess you have to follow policy.

[SoCalDem]

6. The problem with leaving disruptive posts up

People continue to respond to them..

I have often wished that when someone "gets it", that a tombstone would appear where their name used to be :).. That would give people a heads up and keep them from continuing to respond..

[blondeatlast]

8. That's a great idea, actually.

Or if the "reply" button could be disabled.

Or both.

[blondeatlast]

7. Someday you will meet your reward. In the meantime, thank

you so much for the VOLUNTARY efforts I haven't the guts for.

I've learned (finally) that there's a point where you just have to let them die a death of attrition.

There's a few that can't quite be exposed that I wish people wouldn't feed, but I at least try to avoid them.