I'm not sure what is going on here, but the subject line says it all for me. I see a lot more ugly, nasty sniping going on here and a lot of handles that last about as long as a mayfly. This neighborhood is changing fast, and mostly in the direction of more broken windows and more trash in the street.

It seemed to me that there were a few civility problems when I arrived here, but things have accelerated like a downhill tobaggan ride since I saw all that stuff about the Yourdon forum closing on EZ Board and welcoming the refugees here.

What gives?

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), May 10, 2001

Answers

What gives?

"...forum closing on EZ Board and welcoming the refugees here..."

-- (there's@your.answer), May 10, 2001.

What's wrong, Your anthill can't take a little kicking?

-- moron spotter (ur@mor.on), May 10, 2001.

Moron, I got to figure you are right about one thing: the problem starts at the end of your toe.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), May 10, 2001.

MSOB--

Agree, but I don't think all the junk-posters are refugees from Yourdon's. They strike me more as GenY refugees from AOL.

This is the price we pay for an open forum. The only remedy is for the "real" people to post more often. Else the bad money will drive out the good and "they" will then move on to vandalize the next target of opportunity.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), May 10, 2001.

MSOB-

As you pointed out, there has recently been an influx of "refugees" from recently closed forums. For whatever reason, a select few of these refugees hold some kind of vendetta against a number of regulars on this forum. Consequently, these select few are on a mission to toss cheap shots at 'em at every opportunity. It's quite obvious these few are using multiple anonymous names. It's also nothing new to open forums such as this. Assholes like this have been around since the very first forum was placed online.

The problem as I see it, doesn't lie in what they have to say. Most everyone here realizes their comments carry about as much weight as that mayfly you spoke of. The problem as I see it lies in the fact that too many of the regulars here respond to their nonsense. It might be fun to post a quip or two, but to continue carrying on a conversation of any kind with these anons is to play right into their game. The only reason they stick around is to get a reaction from the regulars here.

It just seems so simple to me. Connect the dots... respond to 'em and they'll stay, ignore 'em and they'll eventually lose interest and go away. I've seen it happen on another forum and I know how well it works. The only difference between that forum and this one is everyone there agreed and cooperated.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), May 10, 2001.

"...The only difference between that forum and this one is everyone there agreed and cooperated..."

Sure, because all you had was a bunch of control-freak repugs (sysops and posters). This is a FREEDOM based board, something you repugs don't know about. Why not take your whiny little complaint to a Bush ass lickin board? Better yet, why not just kill yourself? You fuckin repugs are all the same...

-- Tony Baloney (Fuck you@repugs.com), May 10, 2001.

"...ignore 'em and they'll eventually lose interest and go away."

Seems like good advice to me. I'll try. But you know how hard it is to ignore a jackass braying in your face... and they know it, too.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), May 10, 2001.

"...they'll eventually lose interest and go away..."

They've always been here & will continue so. It' springtime & their sap is rising.

-- flora (***@__._), May 10, 2001.

But you know how hard it is to ignore a jackass braying in your face

LOL, MSOB. I can understand. Speaking from experience however, I can tell you it truly gets easier and easier the more you do it. The forum I spoke of on which everyone agreed to ignore the assholes was a sports forum. Trust me, if you can learn to easily ignore loudmouth Packer fans you can easily ignore the trash that sneaks around here.

Ya know, the best part of it all on that forum was that EVERYONE knew and understood the agreed upon ignore policy. It was hilarious to watch some loudmouth puke stumble in and get 100% ignored. Often they'd repeat their posts (apparently thinking their original somehow didn't go through?). Usually they'd post a couple more times and then disappear forever. Like I said, it worked great and everyone loved it.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), May 10, 2001.

Maybe sombody should tell that butt face Miserable SOB the best way to get them going is to start a thread recognizing us!!!

and wouldn't that be uglied down instead of uglied up?

-- fd df (bhhjig@bij.bi), May 10, 2001.

You are correct sir. The closure of Yourdon's forum has caused an influx of ugly posters here. How do we get rid of them? I agree that we should ignore them but it so hard when you have them making accusations and calling us names.

-- I am miserable too (misery@misery.com), May 10, 2001.

I once started an intelligent conversation on this board. It was ridiculed and scoffed at by all the holier-than-thou conservative anatagonists who like to pretend they are so civilized.

-- (hypocrisy is the norm @ in the new. dubya society), May 10, 2001.

"How do we get rid of them?"

I'm with CD on this. We can't really get rid of them, but maybe we can rid our minds of them by closing them out as much as possible. Closing your mind is an ugly solution but it seems like an ugly problem, so it all evens out. It would be easier if the handles didn't change so much, but why would I expect a jerkoff to make it any easier for me? Answer: I don't.

I guess the reason I started this thread was that I only just put two and two together. Kind of hard to solve a problem until you see it. It's not like there is any obvious good way around it. Like those graffitti vandals who come spray places at night. You either live with it or you're in some kind of a war with them and they'll never run out of ammunition. You just wish they'd leave you alone or start acting housebroken and they won't do either just because you wish for it.

Now that I know the score a bit better, I'll just learn to shrug it off better.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), May 10, 2001.

I'm not suggesting this as an idea to drive the trolls off this forum, but it sure as hell was funny to watch. There was a poster on TB2000 named Cynthia, and another named River Soma. Cynthia rarely posted to the forum, but she hung out in Bok's chat room. One day Cynthia, River, and I were chatting in that room [It must have been more than a year ago, because I haven't visited chat rooms in about that long] when a guy came in that wanted to do the porno thing in an attempt to shock us. These two women quickly began discussing menstruation. Lol. They made it sound so gross [by design] that I sat back in my chair and laughed the entire time, just watching the conversation scroll on my screen. The poster who thought that HE was going to disrupt and shock said, "You women are disgusting!". He then left. I couldn't help but applaud the performance once the guy left. It was truly priceless.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 10, 2001.

"How do we get rid of them?"

i think it's too late...they won, the good guys seem to be leaving...

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), May 11, 2001.

Who are the good guys? Why would good leave and not fight the evil? What makes the evil ones evil? WHY?! Why would the good guys give up? Ever since the coup, things just don't make since anymore. I was shocked to learn that Ashcroft was attorney general! I was shocked to learn that FEMA is going to be fighting terrorists! I was shocked to find out that the FBI forgot to give evidence for the OK bombing! What happened? Is this the United States of America???

-- I am so miserable (misery@misery.com), May 11, 2001.

Oh yeah, I was shocked that Tito actually made it back to earth!! Yikes!

-- more (misery@misery.com), May 11, 2001.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), May 11, 2001.

As a frequent poster at the old Yourdon TB2K forum, I have to say I would be extremely surprised if the closing of that forum had anything to do with an influx of trolls on this board. By the nature of the TB2K board (a regulated board), the members had to be civil and well-mannered, and with a few exceptions, everyone there was. I don't know about the lurkers, perhaps they found out about this board when the TB2K board was shutting down. Several times Unk's was mentioned as an alternative site. Perhaps some of them arrived here, discovered the uncensored, open nature of the board, and given its anonymous nature, decided to go hog-wild. So there's your correlation.

Of course, now there's a new TB2K site, and many of the old regulars have regrouped there. Don't know about the lurkers.

-- visiting (undisclosed@private.com), May 11, 2001.

Marple,

Oh, so it's the old 'this forum is SO bad & overun with {hehe} vandals that you'd best get to the protected forum' routine again. What a shocker. {Ain't it gettin old for you, too?}.

-- flora (***@__._), May 11, 2001.

So who’s leaving? A few self-proclaimed élitists and one idiot drunk. How bad can that be? This IS the Wild, Wild West, is it not? Pussy’s and snivelers…..get back on the porch!

-- Lay Down (on@the.couch), May 11, 2001.