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Back in the day, calling someone a troll was the most effective and damning way to demonize people online. But it seems that things have changed. Now, trolling is just a skill it appears that the best way to gather community opinion against a targeted posted is to call that person a "liar."
I'm not here to discuss the rightness or wrongness of any of the accusations.
I'm really just observing that this technique has gained traction, heavily abetted by a side-dish of dogpiling. WTF is up with this? I mean, a lie is a lie. I get that. But WTF is up with generating pages and pages of he-said/he-said posts over one simple post? It's tedious and small-minded. And certainly not up to the posting standards I've come to expect from the intelligentsia here.
Don't get me wrong; I acknowledge that it's a clever method and that it works. Once the poster has been demonized with this reputation (true or not; that's not the issue), suddenly there's a green light to question the veracity of single post from the "liar." It's quick, easy, and awesomely convenient. Just like "troll" used to be.
There's definitely a bullying aspect to this that is unsavory. And the alpha males seem to have decided that there's no such thing as an honest mistake. Then it goes to what I will call "deduced lies" -- drawing unintended conclusions from the "liar's" post.
Even better, when the accused defends himself/herself, things escalate. Suddenly the liar is "stalking" the accusers. It's all part of the demonization process.
I know everyone's very worked up right now, what with a fresh site for inter-forum sniping, the transformation of our former watchers into ordinary netizens, etc. This place is hopping like it hasn't in years. And that's a good thing.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not coming to anyone's defense. Liars suck. I dislike people who misrepresent things.
In my view, when poor research, honest mistakes, mild misrepresentastions, ESL and, yes, actual lies are all twisted together into a dogpile-ready reputation smear, it can itself become, ironically, a misrepresentation.
It's a trend I find disturbing and somewhat childish. But that's not the main thing. Hey, it's only the Interwebs and people are here by choice. I tend to be more forgiving than others, so I make no indictments here.
Mostly, I'm tired of reading through all the crap.
[/rant]
I'm not here to discuss the rightness or wrongness of any of the accusations.
I'm really just observing that this technique has gained traction, heavily abetted by a side-dish of dogpiling. WTF is up with this? I mean, a lie is a lie. I get that. But WTF is up with generating pages and pages of he-said/he-said posts over one simple post? It's tedious and small-minded. And certainly not up to the posting standards I've come to expect from the intelligentsia here.
Don't get me wrong; I acknowledge that it's a clever method and that it works. Once the poster has been demonized with this reputation (true or not; that's not the issue), suddenly there's a green light to question the veracity of single post from the "liar." It's quick, easy, and awesomely convenient. Just like "troll" used to be.
There's definitely a bullying aspect to this that is unsavory. And the alpha males seem to have decided that there's no such thing as an honest mistake. Then it goes to what I will call "deduced lies" -- drawing unintended conclusions from the "liar's" post.
Even better, when the accused defends himself/herself, things escalate. Suddenly the liar is "stalking" the accusers. It's all part of the demonization process.
I know everyone's very worked up right now, what with a fresh site for inter-forum sniping, the transformation of our former watchers into ordinary netizens, etc. This place is hopping like it hasn't in years. And that's a good thing.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not coming to anyone's defense. Liars suck. I dislike people who misrepresent things.
In my view, when poor research, honest mistakes, mild misrepresentastions, ESL and, yes, actual lies are all twisted together into a dogpile-ready reputation smear, it can itself become, ironically, a misrepresentation.
It's a trend I find disturbing and somewhat childish. But that's not the main thing. Hey, it's only the Interwebs and people are here by choice. I tend to be more forgiving than others, so I make no indictments here.
Mostly, I'm tired of reading through all the crap.
[/rant]
.
Whatever.
ACK!
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