Troll Report: Active With Increasing Chance Of Stupid
Posted on January 31, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 247 Comments
At about 3:30 this morning, Zeus the cat (pictured above) came up on the bed and batted my nose to be let out; his punishment for waking me up at 3:30 in the morning is to be thrown out of the house, so I guess everybody won with that. Nevertheless, having now been woken up, my brain was going to be up for a couple of hours at least. So I thought, hey, as long as I’m up, I should check to see if one of the gibbering follow monkeys of that Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit who has an adorable mancrush on me has smeared a turd all over one of my comment threads. And sure enough, one had. So that was par for the course. But at least a couple of you had responded to said gibbering follow monkey, which is something I would like to avoid in the future. So, for immediate future reference:
Folks, as you may know, out there on the Internets there is a Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit who at the moment has an adorable mancrush on me. This means that he can hardly go a day or two without saying something about me on his Web site, usually something which reflects his own deep and abiding personal insecurities. And of course, this is his prerogative; if it makes him feel better about himself and pumps up his social status with his clutch of equally insecure racist sexist homophobic dipshit admirers, then by all means he can spout as much garbage about me as he likes. It does no harm to me (as noted before, no one outside his little huddle of bigots gives much mind to anything he has to say about anything, much less anything he has to say about me) and I suppose it keeps him from playing in traffic. So, fine.
That said, it does appear to frustrate the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit and his gibbering follow monkeys that unless they show up at my doorstep and start flinging their poo, I don’t give them much thought; I mean, this isn’t the first time socially-anxious dudes have tried to raise their own profile by trying to pick a fight with me on the Internet, you know? So recently, about once a day, one of those gibbering follow monkeys comes over to the site, poo in hand, and starts flinging it about. The pathology of it is pretty standard elementary-school taunting dynamic, which is to call me a name they think is clever (top of the hit parade at the moment is “McRapey,” because the main Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit apparently believed this was real, and once it was explained to him what satire was, had to rather embarrassingly suggest he was doing satire too so there, which, again: adorable), followed by generally unimaginative insults regarding my work/position/status, followed by rah-rah plumping for their beloved leader. Wash, rinse, repeat, at least until the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit in question finds someone else that he believes will give him even more status in the eyes of his gibbering monkey followers by comparing himself to.
Until that glorious day, these gibbering follow monkeys will show up to fling their poo, and I will Mallet their comments. What I would like for you to do, if you see a comment that is obviously the flung spoor of such a creature, is to not respond to it; as with any troll, what these dudes are looking for is for you to react to them. Ignore them, please, which will frustrate them. I will be along presently to take out the trash. Please note that this is in general a good practice for any troll, whether he is a gibbering monkey follower of the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit or not.
And yes, it’s sad that presumably grown humans are acting like they’re twelve and in the throes of their first pubescent wash of testosterone. But some people apparently never get over being twelve, or being horribly concerned what other people think about them, or thinking that the best way to increase their own status is to try to shit all over other people. Be glad you’re not one of those people. Pity those who are. Pity those who appear to be happy to gather that sort of person to them.
And yes, I’m aware that a typical troll response to this post will be HA HA WE’RE GETTING TO HIM LET’S ATTACK SOME MORE. Trolls don’t think especially well. And the post isn’t for them, it’s for everyone who isn’t a troll.
It should be needless to say that the Mallet is in its warming chamber. Please keep to the site’s comment policy.
Also, as a general rule, I’ve been recently avoiding having the primary racist sexist homophobic dipshit’s name in the comment threads, mostly because at this point I just prefer not to have it about, and also because I find “racist sexist homophobic dipshit” is more than adequate at this point in terms of reference. However, to avoid silliness, you may call him by name if you like. I still prefer not have links to his site, however. It’s a hygiene thing.
(Also, weird, this comment at least initially is not coming up in moderator green)
Well, then! I’ll just say I’m enjoying “Human Front” but the release schedule is probably designed to drive me nuts. Your plan succeeded, in that respect!
Maybe your comment has switched from a CDF comment body to a civilian comment body.
Ell:
Yes, and apparently globally at that; it’s disappeared from other comments of mine in other threads. I’ll have to look into it.
As a site moderator myself (for a much smaller site), all I have to say is death to the trolls, may they forever be hammered.
Oh, and Zeus up there looks like someone from a public safety announcement advert on TV. “Hello. It’s time to talk about inferior catnip. Did you know …”
Yes, I’ve seen so many Trolls lingering around the GR threads that I’m just starting to block them on first contact most of the time. What is it about the internet that gives people permission to behave so abominably? *sigh* Anyway, glad to see you’re on the job!
The funniest part was that as soon as you said, “Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit” in the other post, I knew exactly who you were talking about, even though I hadn’t even seen his name since you were nice enough to give him a Big Idea slot.
I must confess to a slight – very slight – curiosity about Mr RSHD’s identity, so since I had a bit of spare time on my hand, I did a bit of Google magic. So I think I have found out who he is – and it’s someone I have never heard of. And my quickie perusal of Mr. RSHD’s blog did not make me inclined to return.
BTW, John, I think you have a too great estimation of Mr. RSHD’s maturity. I’d peg him as a three-year old in a screaming tantrum myself.
And BTW, kudos to you and your welcoming, fun and interesting corner of the Internet. And keep that mallet warmed and well-polished!
More PSAs from Zeus:
‘Do you have a human who’s slow in responding to your very important needs? Whose eyes are always closed just when you’ve got a yen for a smakeral of Grilled Salmon Feast in Gravy? Here’s how to encourage them to be more attentive…’
You know what’s really awesome? Really good italian pastry. Ping me next time you’re in NY and I’ll take you out to my favorite spot and talk about anything other than … that thing I’m not talking about that inspired this post.
Yeah, since we can say his name now, for the uninitiated RSHD is Vox Day. He’s deteriorated- he was always a reactionary clown but I never considered him an egregious asshole. That assessment has been reevaluated in light of recent behavior. I don’t know what his problem is, but he’s definitely not a good representative for the right.
Josh Jasper:
Deal. And of course, that’s my point here as well: it’s not like I think about this dude at all, left to my own devices.
John: Excellent post, and a wise way to deal with the RSHD. I’ve actually been worried that my own words elsewhere criticizing the RSHD might also be feeding his trollish behavior. It’s a hard situation–RSHD is flinging poo all over SFWA through his candidacy for office, and I care deeply about SFWA. I realize his candidacy is merely an attention-seeking ploy, so I keep telling myself to ignore him. But then I think, What if he wins b/c people aren’t aware of his RSHD behavior? But then, every time he opens his maw RSHD BS flows forth, so people already know what he is. Which means I can ignore him. But …
Aargh. This is why trolls drive me crazy. But your response is perfect and a good model for dealing with all the RSHDs out there.
In the interests of confession, I have to admit my first response to reading this post was to start singing “insecure racist sexist homophobic dipshit” to the tune of “Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious” for about four or five choruses. Yes, I’m twelve as well. In my defence, I’m sure I’m having a lot more fun than they are. *grin*
@John Scalzi, random thought, but I might consider just vaporizing RSHD’s followers, instead of including a [deleted] notation. Don’t get me wrong, I like the moderation style here because it’s hilarious, but in this special case, I think some of these guys might get off on even a notation. But obviously it’s your blog.
When RSHD read about your waffle exploits was he more worried about
A) illegal recipes making it over the border to absorb our precious breakfast fluids or
B) John not regaining his girlish figure or
C) John’s wife having the implicit power to reject his dinnerly commands*?
*I mean, come on, you cannot expect RSHD to maintain a crush on any man lower than a sigma/2 blue level. (Note: level may not actually exist.)
Jason Sanford:
I’ll note that in keeping with my general practice of not discussing SFWA matters in any great detail on this, my personal blog, I would prefer not to go into the current presidential campaign, other than that of course I encourage SFWA members to go to the online forum area where candidates are currently fielding questions to acquaint themselves with the candidates and their positions, and to speak to each other about their choices for election this time around.
MRAL:
Being vaporized would give them the same sort of thrill, I imagine. You can’t win with a troll, so you don’t try. You just scrape their shit off the walls.
Right, if bribing you with food is an option I know most of the good restaurants in Canberra next time you’re down under…
As a drive-by reader in the Greater Blogosphere: I thought RSHD was the dedicated troll of that P. Z. Myers chap? I’m intrigued and revolted by this multitasking.
Let’s not insult the twelve- and three-year-olds of the world, though. Almost all of us have, at some point, typed a seemingly innocuous phrase into Google with safe search off and seen What Cannot Be Unseen. Do you knit? There are people who consider being encased in a full-body hand-knitted… I’m not sure what they call it, really, but it’s apparently an indispensable facet of their love lives. I discovered last week that “sweat angels” are fetishized. Let’s derail this train of thought right here: People find many bizarre things erotic.
I think RSHD’s action bespeak more than a simple platonic mancrush; he’s obviously driven by implacable compulsions sprung from the admixed seafoam of the anima and blood of the id. In short, the sheer intensity of his focus suggests that this so-called trolling is the result of deeply-imprinted sexual impulses.
TL;DR: Or maybe he’s just a garden-variety idiot and I shouldn’t comment before I’ve had my third cup of caffeinated beverage. Also? SWFA members, don’t you dare let him get elected.
After reading several of your posts on RSHD I finally did some digging and all I can say is I’ve learned my lesson. Next time you don’t provide someone’s identity I will not go looking for it. I will just accept the fact that I’m better off not knowing. After reading just a few of his thoughts I realized there isn’t enough bleach in the world to ever make me feel clean again.
Well curiosity did not kill this cat but definitely made me feel unclean. Dear Gods the RSHD nomiker is almost too kind to describe that type of lunacy. Note to self: Never do that again.
Why, why, WHY was I dumb enough to search out who this person unnamed was and stupidly fall into reading the comments on his post misidentifying John’s satirical post?
Why did I do that at 11pm? I’m going to be fighting mad for hours now.. Well back to the desk then…
I sometimes dream about a honeypot system for Trolls:
If it detects two separate Trolls on a system, it tries to lure them into a Thread that is only visible to the trolls. So they can bash away at each other without molesting others.
To prevent them from noticing, random comments from other users are inserted into the thread.
At some occasion the system simulates a futile attempts of the admin to get things under control.
Given that you were up so early and that you’ve been showered with breakfasty goodness, I hope you managed to take the time to make breakfast for everyone. BTW, if you make it to Holland make sure to try out stroopwafels…
Why, why, WHY was I dumb enough to search out who this person unnamed was and stupidly fall into reading the comments on his post misidentifying John’s satirical post?
I dunno, but if you figure it out, let me know. It might explain why I was dumb enough to do the same thing.
That is not a well person. Nor is he very smart.
Might I offer free samples of bleeprin and bleepka for those who have taken the rash step of exploring the world of the RSHD?
(Bleeprin: mixture of brain bleach, to remove those horrifying images, and aspirin, to remove the resulting headache
Bleepka: mixture of bleeprin and vodka, approximately 50:50 proportions, for the things that bleeprin just doesn’t touch.)
As with all the best drugs, the first hit is free. The second… well, we’ll talk price later.
@Martin Seeger: a website I comment on (which I shall not name for a reason which will soon become apparent) has what the moderator calls the “glass closet.” Trolls in the GC can see their own posts, but no one else can see them. Eventually, they get frustrated and baffled by the fact that no one is responding to them, and they wither and die from attention deprivation (rather than just coming back under another name). Don’t know if WP offers such a feature, but it’d be worth looking into.
@megpie71: Thank you for *that* earworm. It’s now 12:15am over here and I have to try to sleep without giggling to myself as my brain hums that one over and over…
Sofie: No problems! *grin*
(This is me on three pieces of Toblerone. Possibly I need to set out flares and warning triangles.)
I know it is really tacky to try to sell things in a comment thread, but I thought I should mention I do have a “TTK Converter” for sale (Troll to Kitten for those of you who are not early adopters.) The design is still really rudimentary, and some have, in a painfully cruel way, compared it to a Refrigerator Box with paint, glitter and pieces of pipe sticking out, but if you put the troll in the box my patent pending technology will convert the troll into a fuzzy wuzzy wittle kitten. Did I mention that it is solar powered?
Buy now for the low price of $249.99 plus s/h and I will throw in a steam-mop so you can clean up the mess the troll left behind.
(Please note, my results may not be typical for any and all users)
The problem with trolls in general and the RHSD in particular is that Poe’s law strikes deep and often. Worse, the less unintelligent species of troll is aware of this and uses it as protective camouflage – “Hey, I was just being sarcastic? Didn’t you get it?”
Sadly, this has the end result of turning everyone else into Savak clones.
J.D., That is done on a newpaper forum I frequent. It is hilarious “seeing ghosts”.
Went over to the RHSD website out of morbid curiosity. Managed to escape before the logic bombs caused permanent damage.
Barely.
Ditto what attenuasis said: I was surprised to learn that this guy was mancrushing on you, because I thought he spent all his time carrying a torch for P.Z. Myers at Pharyngula. Wow.
I like a man who knows the correct meaning of the word “presently.”
But John: SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET IS WRONG.
Oh, all right.
RHSD and all his little friends out there somehow bring to mind Michael Conrad on Hill Street Blues, starting all our days by reminding us, “Hey…don’t feed the trolls.”
Oh wonderful, another horrible MRA with a major insecurity complex. And just when I had stopped rolling my eyes at the last one to grace your blog.
Posts like this are why I love you oh so much,, Mr. Scalzi — in a totally platonic way, of course. Kudos.
Finally figured out what site you were referring to. Visited it. Now I need to scrub my skull out. It’s like a mental 2-girls-one-cup. UGH. I can see why they deserve the kitten setting.
John, I wish my 6-year-old daughter was a little older so I could have her read (and understand) this post, as she’s currently dealing with emotional bullying from the other 6-year-old girls in her class. We’ve tried to explain the concept of not feeding the bullies but so far she’s not quite getting it. Maybe in a few years I’ll show her this with hopes it gets across.
@J.D. Rhoades: I LOVE it. I wish I knew what site that is.
But the real question is whether or not there have been more kittenings! I love those!
I was actually curious as to why you were up so early to mallet the troll so thank you for the answer!
“What I would like for you to do, if you see a comment that is obviously the flung spoor of such a creature, is to not respond to it”
Any objection for the first regular thread-reader putting a standard placeholder link back to this post as the next comment, if you’re likely to be offline when the poo comes in, so as to wave newer would-be responders off? (Something like “Move along, let leadposter erase that” could work as a standard link-text, I suppose…)
tylertork: Our host probably learned the correct use of “presently” the same way I did, long ago: from Mr. Heinlein’s books.
The threads are somehow missing something without the green. You still have all your other moderating powers and gidgets right? Security paranoia and such.
Brian H:
Yes, everything else is the same. I have a question ticket into the VIP support staff about it. We’ll see what’s up with it.
John, I think your approach makes a lot of sense and I applaud it. Leaving their comments just means the poo sits there and sthinks.
So it’s Theo, is it? Didn’t realize he’d gone that bonkers.
I must say, perhaps unsurprisingly, I really like the photo of that cat.
Bill
What has the Sweet and Fortified Wine Association (SFWA) done to deserve RSHD’s attention? Is sweet wine not manly enough for him?
I’m hoping getting crushed in the election will allow reality to impinge on his worldview, but of course that will be the result of a plot by our esteemed host and the feminazi establishment.
I’ve heard about a comments moderation feature where you can mark a commenter as “ignored,” so that the comments are only visible to the person posting them, and for everyone else they’re invisible. Thus, to the troll, it looks like they’re just being ignored, but in fact it’s because their comments are removed from the thread. Of course, it’s impossible to implement such a thing perfectly, but it should be considerably easier for this blog, since it requires a login to post, than for others, which have to rely on cookies, I guess. I don’t know if WordPress has a plugin that does this. I bring it up because I’ve noticed that some people have strong objections to it – presumably because of how deceptive it is – but I think it’s a great idea.
Well, it all does provide for entertainment for us on the sidelines. I thought you were doing a great job ignoring it all until this post which does validate his existences and the impact. Flame wars and “celeb” bum fights are one of the things that make the internets so important to society!
Richard Witty:
If his existence is validated by this particular post, we should all reflect on what sad and wan existence it is. Beyond that, this, post, once written, obviates the need to have to write anything else about this person (or his follow monkeys) again. So there’s that.
“Don’t feed the trolls” seems like such an easy thing but unfortunately it competes with “someone is wrong on the Internet” & “my friend is being attacked and I must defend”. Most of the time I’m pretty good at not feeding trolls on someone’s blog but every now and then they don’t seem trolls on the 1st comment and I’ve accidentally fed them. Future action is to revert to “don’t feed the trolls” which is easier when you know someone like you will handle the situation appropriately. I’m very thankful I have not fed the troll by tracking down RSHD and adding to his blog hits while also saving me from seeing things I can never fully erase from my mind.
I love how you moderate your forum and smartly ask us not to be your white knight defender.
Cute cats can be evil owners… I know I’m slave to one myself. May your day be better and you get a good nights sleep.
John @ January 31, 2013 at 11:19 am
If only that were true! My assumption, based on now 20 years of dealing with trolls, is that someone like them will return & someone else will feel the need to respond & there you will be again. I do wish you well & hope you are right, just don’t expect much.
I had avoided asking this because of your wall for SFWA but its been bugging me. Is the fact that RSHD is a member a part of his problem? Have you had to deal with RSHD IRL as a member? SOrry if that crosses your boundary but I have never been important enough to attract an admirer of this nature & wondered about it.
I think part of the reason we want to feed trolls comes from a natural inclination to see a problem and want to DO SOMETHING about it. It might cut down on troll feeding if a “report” button or link could be included, so commenters can feel like we did something. I know you keep a close eye on all these threads anyway, so it wouldn’t really be necessary, but even a dummy button might be an easy way to help avoid troll-catering.
Got it. Don’t feed the trolls.
This may be the single most important guiding philosophy of the 21st century.
I find just crushing them deader than Hell on any site I have any control over works for me, actually – particularly Far Right Christianist Teabagger ones.
They can go shit all over foxnews.com if they like. That’s what Free Speech is all about for them, after all – the right to prove that they’re a bigger asshole than anybody else.
A trick I used to use (and should really start using again) for dealing with trolls and mansplainers is something I call “bashing the ignore switch”. Once I have determined that there is nothing worth reading by a given individual, I simply skip any posts by that person. Don’t read, don’t respond, don’t even acknowledge their existence. It’s nice to have plug-ins and message board settings that allow you to do that visibly, but in the absence of those, a simple “see that name –> skip the wall o’ text that goes under it” will do the job.
Frankly:
As noted before, I prefer not to discuss SFWA business in any particular depth here, and in any event any personal constituency service or interaction I provide members I assume is confidential unless they choose otherwise.
Mike:
People can always e-mail me, and sometimes do.
My response to learning that your troll is a WorldNutDaily contributor is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike shock.
It is always important to distinguish between “I am successfully upsetting X” and “I have become a running joke to X”.
I think people forget that at some point, the impact of insults is wiped out by the hilarity of how many of them there are.
I did find RHSD’s website, and found it educational to say the least. That he and his followers actually were saying ‘odder’ things than some old school newsgroup trolls I used to know is saying something.
A lot of it seems to be driven by fear and I really wonder what it’s like to go through life that scared of everything?
I’m all for ignoring trolls. Ignorance is bliss. Hence, everyone wins.
I once, many years ago, visited RSHD’s website to check on something he wrote. Never again.
Mr. Scalzi, I’d like to know, since you have strong opinions on the homophobic subject, how you would categorize someone who believes that homosexuality is morally wrong, but does not hate or even dislike those engaged in homosexuality. I fall into the category of those who “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”
I don’t consider myself “homophobic” since that term implies fear or hate. I have neither.
Marovinvian:
Off topic for this particular thread, so I’d prefer not to have the discussion here; it’ll derail the thread. I did discuss a similar equation about a decade ago.
Kevin: WND is where I personally first discovered Teddy the RSHD. I was in a masochistic phase where I would read columns by Larry Elder and Denis Prager and FSM-help-me Ann Coulter, just for the lulz. At the time (early-mid aughts), he at least seemed articulate, if pervasively, aggressively wrong. He’s become quite unhinged since then, given to obsessive behavior and self-satisfaction over his own limited celebrity.
[Deleted because I don’t want this conversation on this thread. No worries, however, Daveon. I understand this was a crosspost — JS]
Sorry John. Cross Posted.
Beej, I am going to have to disagree with you here. Not Feeding the Trolls works well on a forum like this one, where our moderator is able and willing to use the Mallet of Loving Correction. Ignoring the bullies will not work at school because your daughter doesn’t control the classroom. Her teachers do, or should. Ignoring the bullies (as I learned from experience) merely encourages the bullies to be inventive in finding ways to get a reaction.
You need to step in as your daughter’s advocate. Raise a (polite) stink at her school. Pull some research together on proven ways to deal with bullying at school, so that you can offer solutions to the teachers, not just complaints. Follow up with them and your daughter to make sure change happens, and stays.
Research solutions for your daughter as well; she needs better tools to deal with these kids, too.
Scalzi, It is ADORABLE that you think you both won in the 3am Zues fling out. Really.
It is is becoming increasingly harder for me to control my curiosity to look up Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit and read his screed. I think giving him any traffic would be giving him far too much status and satisfaction.
But I would guess many people are checking in on him just for the show, which is yet another reason why the internet is such a fertile playing ground for stupidity.
Beej – Seconding Kore. Ignoring the bullies was the advice my parents gave me, which I took to heart. It did me untold damage in many ways, as I learned to suppress completely human reactions to henious things, and did nothing to slow the bullies down in the least. Indeed they got ever more inventive and extreme.
I don’t recommend learning to keep a completely straight face while being whipped with a plastic covered jump rope as a good life lesson. All it does is cause them to push you down the stairs the next time, on the theory that maybe breaking a bone will make you cry.
RSHD and his band of howler monkey have been around for what feels like forever by now. I wear the insulting name one of the monkeys called me many years ago as my Pharyngula sub-name with pride.
I guess satisfying curiosity is one thing, but isn’t seeking out RSHD and his site pretty much letting him win? I have no clue who you refer to when you type RSHD, and I don’t care.
Just delete the post, don’t feed the troll, I get it. And yet there’s a part of me that yearns for something more poetic, humiliating and satisfying. Like a WP plugin that replaces the text of a post with a random entry from a collection of “Cute Stuff Three Year Old’s Say”. Troll’s can handle deletion – it just makes them try harder – but having their comments wholesale replaced with toddler gibberish might be the ultimate insult (“How dare you change my post!)”.
John, thanks for this post–I don’t need it anymore, but once upon a time I’d have found it both reassuring and instructive, and I think that there are probably still people out there who do/will. I came late to the internet–well, late for the SF and Fantasy community, anyway–and when I first started following a blog I had no idea what a “troll” was, let alone what “Don’t feed the troll” meant. My only context for “troll” as an insult was an old joke (“Troll = someone who lives in Lower Michigan”) and that obviously wasn’t relevant. I honestly didn’t know how I should respond to trollish posts, or even how to identify them as trollish. That that first blog I happened upon was well-moderated helped a great deal; having the moderator occasionally stop and explain things for the sake of innocent newcomers helped even more. So, though I know you aren’t worried about “validating the trolls by paying attention to them,” thanks again. Just FYI.
Lanceweber:
Thus, the Kitten Setting.
I succumbed to the temptation and figured out where the site was. Lord almighty, what a dark evil place it is! After a few minutes I decided I don’t need to read that crap. Life’s too short to waste the bandwidth.
Wow. So many things. I keep forming arguments in my head, but there’s just no point. I just…wow. So many contradictions. I couldn’t stop reading his blog. I guess that’s why America watches Honey Boo Boo. Maybe I understand America a little more now.
When John posted here about the nastily-blogging “mancrush” person a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know whom he meant, and I didn’t care—since my only interest in internet trolls is strictly in avoiding needless exposure to their toxic spew. Since then, though, I have inadvertently learned who that individual is, and I have seen some of his online writings.
Among other things, I was stunned to find out that although I’d never heard of this person until last week, he blogged about =me= months ago. The discussion which followed speculated ickily on my “sexual value,” my reproductive status, my sex life, yada yada. As per Kevin Riley’s comment above, my initial reaction was that there wasn’t enough bleach in the world to make me feel clean again after reading that ignorant sewage being heaped all over my name.
However, after recovering from the surprised revulsion of seeing myself lewdly insulted by name, over and over, on the blog of a total stranger, I realized that the post and discussion were really about John Scalzi (tough break, John) rather than me. I just got hit by some flying shrapnel because I happened to have posted a comment on John’s blog that upset the blogger and his friends. And since the blogger in question is obsessed with John, wackiness ensued.
I noticed then that this guy blogs about John a LOT–vicious, enraged, incoherent, raving nonsense that drips with irrational hysteria and vitriol… and in which much of the noisily shrieking subtext is that this person wants John to like and admire him, and he’s enraged that John does not. My impression is that this is nothing to do with John, a middle-aged family man in Ohio who taped bacon to his cat [facepalm], but rather to do with seething envy and resentment of a bestselling, award-winning writer and high-profile blogger who gets a fair bit of national media attention these days.
Why is this person focused on =this particular= bestselling writer, popular blogger, etc., when there are quite a few to choose from? I don’t know… maybe it IS because John taped bacon to his cat. That is, after all, something that none of the other possible mancrush targets have ever done.
I have no idea who John is referring to. I don’t read the blog daily. I’m guessing I can go back to an older blog to figure out what this is about? I’m also guessing this is something I should look into when I’m not at work. I’m a bit suspicious that this guys blog is not work safe.
You might want to quote him on the back of your next Whatever Blog Book. Could give people a good laugh.
Google ‘dwarf fortress’. its a free game and a much better way to spend nights when you can’t sleep.
John: That is exactly what I’m thinking of! May I encourage a brief period of exuberant experimentation? Pretty please??
Sorry I missed that post, and now I must come clean and regretfully inform you that even your news feed is subject to mass deletion when I come back from the mountains and have to do backlog triage. Rest assured my cats read every single one of your posts, often climbing onto the keyboard and sitting in front of the monitor while I refresh your site. (My dog, however, prefers Stross.)
Well, I looked (I know) and one of his recent posts is about why women shouldn’t vote. So he’s got a built in excuse when he loses his bid for SFWA prez. Ugh.
Now I feel like an ass for being the only one to name RSHD. Sorry, Scalzi.
I read through 4 posts on that site. That person sounds unstable to say the least.
Ignoring the bullies was the advice my parents gave me
Teachers and parents gave me that advice, too. I followed it until the bullies started getting physical. At that point, I started giving the bullies applied physics lessons in why a book massing five kilos wins over a fist weighing less than one. After a few weeks of instruction, the bullies stopped picking on me.
The best part is that it gave me yet another excuse to read big, thick books.
I looked up the guy on WikiP. That was quite enough information for me, plus what I’ve read on Whatever.
Hey look, I’m green again!
MRAL:
No worries.
@ Jason Sanford: “RSHD is flinging poo all over SFWA through his candidacy for office, and I care deeply about SFWA.”
He’s running for SFWA office? Does he even qualify for membership in SFWA? I looked under both his names recently, Theodore Beale and Vox Day and I didn’t see any published works that would qualify him for active m’ship in SFWA. He’s publishing with a small press that says on its website that it doesn’t pay advances, doesn’t distribute to bookstores, and considers 300 a big print run; that’s not a qualifying market for SFWA. His previous or other publisher also isn’t a qualifying market.
(Sorry if this violates the “no SFWA business here” protocol. I’m just puzzled by how he can qualify for m’ship -to- run for office in SFWA.)
Either way, his low status in the publishing world might explain some of his anger at Scalzi, since he seems to be someone very concerned with status and being perceived as important. Then again… no, it really DOESN’T explain it. Beale/Day may be jealous of Scalzi’s success, but our host has never belittled small press or small writers that I can recall, and he gives “Big Idea” slots to many small press books–including one by Beale/Day. You’d think Beale/Day would see Mr. Scalzi as a friend to small press writers like himself and someone whose support he’d appreciate, rather than resenting him so much.
Guys, seriously: I don’t want a SFWA election discussion in this thread. I’m going to start Malleting comments on that theme.
Regarding bullies. As someone who both bullied and was bullied as a kid, probably the most effective thing to do is to give them a reaction, but not the one they’re looking for. I did pretty well in middle school and early high school by being confused and oblivious at people that were trying to insult me. Like, there was one time someone was trying to insult my shoes by asking if I’d gotten them at Kmart, and my response was that my mother had gotten them in Taiwan (which was true actually… they were cheap shoes from Taiwan :p). Or take insults as compliments instead, that throws them off their script for how to respond next.
Oh, I also meant to say–I am 100% on board with John’s “do not engage” request.
All my observation and experience is that trolls thrive on attention. It makes no difference whether it’s positive or negative, as long as it’s ATTENTION.
So arguing with a troll, or pointing out how silly and ignorant he is, or correcting his privately-invented “facts,” or saying you think he’s a grotesque creep has pretty much the exact same effect on him as if you said to him, “I find you handsome, witty, and well endowed, and I really hope you keep coming back here. I’ll be keeping an eye out for you. Don’t disappoint me, big boy.” (Or switch the gender pronouns and fill in the appropriate compliments.)
One is MUCH better off just ignoring trolls and leaving them to the obscurity they so richly deserve.
I think that this is a TWO bucket of pop-corn show.
(Sorry, Mr. Scalzi. Your were request was clear and will be respected forthwith.)
Anyhow, I think “insecurities” is on the nose. I see that one of the themes on RSHD’s blog is that he goes insane anytime a reader leaves a negative review on one of his books on Amazon. And he doesn’t stop at a childish tantrum that “someone” didn’t like his book and had the gall to say so, he posts their NAMES on his site, I see, and the reader’s hometowns if he can find it–apparently hoping his blog readers will… what? Harrass them? Stalk them? Spit on their names? For the unforgivable sin of writing on Amazon that they DIDN’T LIKE HIS BOOK?
Behavior like that… it goes WAY beyond insecure. Insecure would be whining to people in his private life about getting negative reviews. But trying to bully readers by name on his blog for it? That’s insecurity taken to a pathological level.
@GHN- 3 year olds aren’t generally racist, sexist, homophobic dipshits yet. People actually turn their kids into that. Sad.
I think you’re right not to engage for a couple of reasons. I had some brief communication with him on Twitter, and while his views are utterly abhorrent to me, he’s obviously articulate and intelligent. But it’s never going to be a conversation. Ultimately, you’re going to be arguing minute points of scripture with someone who’s spent a long time writing their own bizarre bible, and that’s a waste of time.
With regard to his specific focus on you, I can’t help thinking of his other blog, about “game”. The way he’s approaching you seems like a non-sexual equivalent of “negging”. I mean, if he genuinely didn’t care about the opinion of what he sees as the “herd”, he would simply ignore it altogether and get on with his life. The fact he keeps on prodding it – increasingly desperately, and rather obviously for attention – seems a bit telling.
The constant use of “Poo” and “Monkey” in the article reminded me of this wonderful Card Game I own. In the Game you and your friends are caged Monkeys in a zoo. The Zoo Keeper made a mistake with your food and well everyone is having one of those nights (Kinda the way my stomach feels every time I hear something from RSHD). Being that you are Monkeys and you do not know any better everyone starts flinging this rapidly produced ammunition at each other. The Goal of the game is to be the last monkey to get a set amount of Fecal matter on one’s person. The name of this card game if any of you are interested is Poo: The card game.
Tangent: If you are a parent and your child is subjected to bullying, please please please engage your school officials. I was absolutely floored at how seriously our school responded when we discussed my daughter’s bullying situation with them. I went in to the meeting ready to fight a “shrug it off” mentality. Instead, the principal, counselor and teachers were all there with a plan that included isolating the participants, establishing safe zones, proactive monitoring from staff, weekly feedback to us – all laid out in a set of documented guidelines, processes, etc.
I had to sit in the car for awhile afterwards, it took a long time to get all those dust motes out of my eyes.
MRAL, I’m glad you outed him by name, because it saved me the effort of looking (and incidentally confirmed that my suspicions were right). Now I can go on ignoring him and refusing to look at anything on his site, without that niggling bit of curiosity disturbing my peace.
John,
‘fess up. You tossed Zeus out and then thought… “there’s some Biscoff spread left…” didn’t you? So you put it between two churro waffles and deepfried the assemblage. DIDN’T YOU??
Well, thank goodness for small favors. I just spent about two minutes glancing through the Troll’s screed over on his site and he stated in no uncertain terms that he was neither a Republican or a conservative. The last thing I need is some mental fuckwit making things even harder for decent conservatives.
It’s nice to see John being green again. Though it did make me notice the John Scalzi watermark in the background. I thought it was a smudge on my screen until I looked closely and said “That looks like a face, but just not any face…”
@everyone who commented on the bullying: Thanks. You’ve opened my eyes to other approaches.
See? The Internet doesn’t have to be a dirty, poo-splattered place! Thanks, John, for creating an oasis amongst the feces. :)
“Guys, seriously: I don’t want a [**** ********] discussion in this thread. I’m going to start Malleting comments on that theme.”
But the surprise of learning of the connection between that and the actual subject of this thread is just so great!
@Beej, if you’re looking for a place to start for ideas on how to respond to bullying in young kids, I found Barbara Coloroso’s book “The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: From Preschool to HighSchool–How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle” to be helpful when we had to deal with bullying in my daughter’s preschool class. The school completely stepped up and handled it, but it was good to have some background and ideas of how to reinforce and help at home, too. My daughter literally had no idea how to handle someone being mean like the bully was, both in terms of reactions and in terms of how to process how it made her feel. The book isn’t perfect, but it really helped us figure out what to tell her.
I guess my burning question has to be, was it a malleting or a kittening, because it it was a kittening I really need to seek it out to read teh cyoot.
[Oh look, a gibbering follow monkey! — JS]
Peyton, I think it was a malleting. Yeah, I looked for the same reason you’re thinking of looking for.
I’m guessing, btw, that it wasn’t nearly as windy up there last night as it was down here. Otherwise, you’d be Zeus-less now. My FULL garbage bin got blown all over the place, and the window was creating such suction that I could barely get my door open to see what the hell was making that racket in the side yard.
[Second trolling attempt! How adorable you are, Spectator — JS]
Oh, we got lots of wind — gusts up to 35mph.
So now I’m picturing Zeus flying through the air like Superman.
@Laura Resnick: No, no. Like STREAKY. Ya gotta keep your supercritters straight!
I ran into a troll for the first time in 1982 on CompuServe. I failed to learn a lesson from that and ended up hosting a BBS for 10 years, including joining FidoNet. Trolling has not changed the slightest on all those years. Ignoring them is by far the most satisfactory way of dealing with them.
@ Bill Sides: I first ran into an online troll as a newcomer to the internet in the 1990s. I was pretty creeped out, but I was assured by someone who knew this individual in real life that the online posturing, theatening, and aggressive verbiage (which, as is so often the case with trolls, included racist spew) had no substance behind it; in real life, I was told, this guy was an obsequious coward. I was skeptical, given =how= aggressive this person was online. But then I happened to bump into him at a public event… and when I introduced myself, he seemed so terrified that I honestly thought he might wet his pants. He went pale, shook, started sweating, seemed to have difficulty speaking once he realized who I was. He promptly fled, and I never saw him again, in person or online.
And, nope, trolling hasn’t changed the slightest in all those years. In a much more recent instance, a friend of mine who’d been harassed online for a while by an internet troll met the guy during a public appearance. The guy was civil and very brief, and asked for an autograph, then he disappeared. Later on, he posted a bunch of posturing claims about how he had “confronted” and “challenged” and “debated” with my friend, blah blah blah.
That’s what internet trolls are like in person. That is undoubtedly what John’s trolls are like in person.
Google and McRapey taught me everything which I needed to know.
And created a list of books which I will never need to read. Oh well. Poor little author.
[Gibbering follow monkey hits at two of the three categories of trolling stupidity mentioned above, is Malleted for lack of originality. I suspect the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit has just written about me again, which explains the rise in thread Malletings — JS]
When I look at that photo fo Zeus I keep thinking he’s looking at you and saying, “We need to talk about your churro habit and what it’s doing to this family.”
If the douchebag only has one site, it’s the same shit as when I stopped over there earlier. That dude is kinda disturbed about the opposite sex, I’ve gotta tell you. I’m thinking he may have some performance issues.
John: Apologies for bringing up a topic you don’t want discussed on your blog. Wasn’t an intentional flouting of the rules–I simply forgot.
Laura: I suspect most trolls live in their own worlds into which the disinfecting light of reality never shines. I’m reminded of the famous serial killer convention issue from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. The Sandman eventually punishes the killers by taking away the dream in which they are the unsung heroes of their world. B/c as with trolls, the truth of how little they mean in the real world is something all people like this desperately want to avoid.
Billy Quiets:
If for no other reason than that’s a mental image I don’t need, let’s not go there, please.
Jason Sanford:
No worries.
Mannnn, I keep hoping for kittens, but all I see are regular malletings. Not that regular malletings are bad, but I was loving the kittenslations. *disappointed*
Remember, we save kittening for the most pernicious trolls. These ones are mostly standard issue so far.
I also had to aquaint myself with Mr. RSHD – I’m just built that way. I was supremely amused at his claim to be “genius +” in Mensa terms. The insecurity of a man who feels a need to tell his fans he’s a genius – well it makes me feel better about my own “little” quirks.
Plus, if his rantings are the result of hyper intelligence then I’ll settle for being averagely bright.
What’s wrong with a man crush? -You- aren’t a homophobe, are you?
this site is so pretentious it’s painful:
Nothing wrong with a mancrush in general. I’d prefer it the person mancrushing on me wasn’t such a racist sexist homophobic dipshit, however. I have standards.
I have a mancrush on you John. Don’t worry it’ll be our secret. This conversation is private, right?
I won’t tell a soul. I SWEAR.
Todd Stull has a mancrush! Todd Stull has a mancrush!
(Wait… Was that supposed to be a secret?)
@ John & Todd
Get a chatroom already :D
@ Billy Quiets
Don’t worry. Most lefties know better than that, even though a lot of righties don’t give us credit for it :)
Unfortunately, anyone in the public eye for long enough will attract attention from unbalanced people. Hopefully it’ll run down like an old clock, and soon.
Okay, wow, holy shit. First, thank you Laura Resnick and others for somewhat explaining what is taking place here. I have been following this blog for 3-4 months and this issue (trolling) has come up several times but I have yet to read anything in the posts or comments that I would consider controversial or provocative. I could not, at least from my limited exposure, figure out what was said or done that made these trolls so absolutely MENTAL? So it turns that it was nothing. It is hate for the sake of hate. Yeesh. JS likes food and books and posts pictures of his cat. That’s the source of all this calorie burning? It’s as though they are immune to the great clock that is winding us down from the day we are born. Sad, sad, sad. And such a bloody waste of time. Is being the source of this type of vitriol ever something a person can become okay with? I’ve lived a hard life and I think I’d find this sort of specific and direct anger, from strangers, shocking.
WRT troll honeypots – the idea of having the trolls comments only be visible to the troll has always been attractive to me: the idea of the troll wondering why no one is replying to their posts in (hopefully) increasingly strident terms is quite pleasing.
It does require storing the text in your comment system, though, which is a rather sad thing to have to do.
If I were a man, I’d have a mancrush on you, too, John. But, things being as they are, admiration and daily blog-checking will have to suffice. Oh, and book purchases; you know I only buy them to show you how I feel, right?
Of course!
Thanks Gulliver. I dropped in earlier and read John’s Troll post thinking, “Don’t be a Tea Party guy. Don’t be a Tea Party guy.”
Luckily, he’s just some insecure wacko.
Possibly relevant infographic: The Psychology of an Internet Troll.
You’ll find trolls anywhere, and here there are very few. I’ve been to forums and blogs that can’t go ten comments without the thread turning into an inventive-text-shouting competition. I’ll (unoriginally) second, or third, or fourth the notion that you are being rather unfair to twelve year olds in you original post Mr. Scalzi. Most twelve year olds turn out to be rather reasonable people, and none that I’ve met spew racism and homophobia in one breath, and sexism with the other.
First time I saw the acronym, I parsed it as “remote shell daemon”.
Certainly there is entertainment and educational value in you sharing your thoughts on this, though it’s regrettable to the extent it is an unproductive waste of your time.
I know WordPress has a function for filtering spam; I think it’s heuristic. I don’t know if it can filter, say, IP addresses. If it were annoying me, I’d ask wordpress.com tech support about that (or maybe you’ve already done that).
I don’t know if it’s so much “mancrush” as “trying to glom onto your celebrity to gain attention for themselves”.
After unsuccessfully trying to scrub RSHD’s website from my mind all day it dawned on me that it can be real. I mean seriously no one, especially a self proclaimed Christian genius, could believe the things he professes on his site. It’s got to all be an act designed to garner attention. Anyone that follows mma knows of Chael Sonnen who continually gets title shots despite the fact that there are more skilled, more deserving fighters. Chael gets the headlining fights by running his mouth, usually acting like an ass. Love him or hate him, he commands your attention and sells tickets. It has to be the same thing for RSHD. His website, his persona, it all has to be an act. Or at least that’s what I’m going to tell myself so I might be able to sleep at night.
You may be giving him more brain cycles than he deserves.
MRAL: Thanks for saying Voldemort, because otherwise I would have had to google things, and then seen some horrible website that would make my brain itch. I read your post and said, “Oh, THAT GUY, hahaha.” Him and Nancy Grace in a room with no doors or windows. Tickets $5!
This is definitely one of those occasions where I am thankful for my lack of curiosity about these sorts of things. I have no desire to visit such a universally declaimed site.
Also, re: the bullying thing, adolescent bullying sucks but is related towards people forming new peer groups that serve a different purpose from the friendships in earlier childhood. So it’s a dysfunctional outcome of normal teen and pre-teen behavior. If someone is bullying in early childhood, however, they may have something wrong at home that may be causing them to act out. So ignoring it isn’t just bad for your kid, it may be bad for the other kid as well as it doesn’t get to their actual problem.
I cut my teeth on Slashdot early 2000’s. Honestly, kids these days have no idea what it was li…Oh, right, YouTube comments…(queue Gilda Radner) Nevermind!
On /b, there is a thread. It’s an old thread, an established thread of good reputation and influence in the community. It consists of a cycle of three posts, repeated over and over. In the first, someone says, “Don’t ever put Tiger Balm on your junk.” In the second, a second person replies, “Why not? Might be fun!” In the third post, the second person says, “OOOWWWWWW whyyyy why did I do that? Don’t ever put Tiger Balm on your junk!” Over and over, for months and years.
I don’t know why this thread made me think of that one, but I feel the strangest urge to visit RSHD’s blog. Then again, Tiger Balm was one of those “only interesting once” things.
Interestingly enough, the nameless one hadn’t commented on you since your last missive, until after this one showed up. Frankly given all the scatological, dickbag and mancrush references in your posts referring to him, I think it’s reasonable to infer the psycho-sexual fixation flows in the opposite direction.
If you truly think he’s beneath you, then why do you keep stooping to the sixth grade level of repartee. The occasional agnomenic reference on his blog is simply dwarfed by the abundant, closely-clustered, repetitive use of abusive language you heap upon him.
If the first thing you can think of after throwing your cat out at 3:00 is to see if one of us so-called gibbering fellow monkeys has posted hear, that is truly sad. I’d rollover, grab my wife and … well … forget my troubles.
Ridip:
My language isn’t particularly abusive. He is in fact a racist and a sexist and a homophobe. The dipshit part accurately describes his personality as far as I can tell. If he doesn’t wish to be described as a racist sexist homophobic dipshit, he can work on not being those things. Let’s just say I won’t be holding my breath on that.
As for the idea that the psycho-sexual fixation flows the other way: AH HA HA HA HA HAH HA. Dude, if I’m gonna do a man, it ain’t gonna be that pathetic ball of issues. I don’t do pity fucks.
Beyond that, the minute his gibbering follow monkeys stop visiting my site is the minute I stop thinking about him. However, considering the number of dipshits I had to Mallet today and the fact that your post rather tragically qualifies as the most coherent from his cohort, I am not exactly holding my breath on that, either. More’s the pity for me.
the nameless one hadn’t commented on you since your last missive, until after this one showed up.
But, of course then he had to. Scalzi had talked about him. On the blog. Must have sent his little heart* all aflutter.
*and I do mean little. As in, pre-Mt. Crumpit-Grinch-little.
@Ridip.
I call bullshit. I just popped over to his site just to see whether Scalzi had been mentioned in recent posts. Now, I didn’t read in too much detail (because, well, the stupid, it burrrnsss!!), but I couldn’t help but notice several mentions of him both by name and epithet. Or, to elevate this to the level of discourse that you lot seem to understand and appreciate: NEENER NEENER LIAR LIAR!
Actually, let’s try to maintain the native level of discourse here, not import a baser level from elsewhere.
@John Scalzi
1st comment 5:43 a.m.EST. Still up at 11:04 p.m. EST.
If I promise not to say “neener neener” anymore, will you go to bed and get some sleep already?
Heh. Trust me, I will be asleep soon.
Which means it’s a fine time to note to folks that one common m.o. of the gibbering follow monkeys is to smear their poop around here while I am asleep. Remember not to engage them, please. I will Mallet them when I wake.
Looking, it is true that RSHD hadn’t mentioned Scalzi since the 23rd. However, before then, he had devoted posts him on the 22nd, twice on the 21st, twice on the 20th, and sporadically throughout early January and December. In addition, “McRapey” is one of the twelve starred categories displayed on his sidebar. He also regularly refers to Scalzi as a “rapist”, and while I have to assume that he’s just trolling at this point, that’s really not a cool thing to be trolling about. And finally, he made a post about Scalzi again today, which he seems to have subsequently expanded after seeing this post. It’s also abundantly clear that he has no problem with his followers trolling on this blog.
So I mean yeah, Scalzi is pretty scathing, but I don’t think it’s undeserved. RSHD could stop anytime he wants.
I don’t do pity fucks is the most apt response I can imagine. When someone writes that they wouldn’t give Margaret Thatcher the vote because of her gender failings, my mind kind of explodes. I’m no Thatcherite, but she more than likely thought about issues facing 1980’s Britain more deeply than most. Her solutions to those issues are arguable, but her intelligence and seriousness, IMHO, is not. And to cast aspersions on her judgment because of her genitalia is just kind of, well, weird….
MRAL… are you attempting to… argue logically with and point out facts to an internet troll?
Good God, pull yourself together! What are you THINKING?
Weird but not unusual, sadly. Hey, Margaret Thatcher is only the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and (IIRC) the first ever to serve three consecutive terms. Most politicians would sacrifice their first born to have judgement that bad.
The Margaret Thatcher thing killed me. I’m kind of at a loss for words it’s so mind-numbingly stupid. However, it is nice to see people here who didn’t agree with her politics defend her right to vote (as crazy as it sounds to have to do that). Anyway, good on you JJ and others.
I thought RSHD was the dedicated troll of that P. Z. Myers chap?
Last time that was the case, somebody on one of PZ’s comment threads mentioned that RSHD seems to have a history of this sort of thing, and PZ was neither the first (nor sadly, the last) target of RSHD’s endless quest to gain status by persuading a popular male blogger to engage with his dipshittery. Of course, the problem with this cunning plan that cannot fail is that he keeps picking bloggers who did not reach their level of Internet-famous by wasting time engaging with dipshits.
Thanks for the info graphic link.
The internet is all about the cats, and you defintely have a sinister bunch there;
at least this one doesn’t have (glowing) red eyes. But the caption is clearly
“So, Mr Bond, we meet again ….”
Lifestyle tip: try to avoid looking like a mouse.
Will
John… come on bro. If you really thought that Mr. Beale was a troll, you would realize that the only way to win is not to play. Calling him names only makes him laugh. Writing posts about how you don’t care doesn’t make it seem like you don’t care. Acting like he didn’t understand your rape post, and acting like he wasn’t making fun of you for it, isn’t going to convince anybody who actually read his mockery of you. In other words, if Theo Beale is trolling you, you’re actively feeding him and it is honestly embarrassing to watch.
I’m trying to be your friend.
You know, having looked at RSHD’s blog, I would have worked “Elitist” into the epithet somewhere. Anyone who bills himself as a “superintelligence” and refers to anyone who does not agree with him as a “rabbit”, definitely qualifies. When you teach college, you occasionally run into students who think they are the smartest person in the world. Generally this is the result of not having much experience with the rest of the world. Most of them figure it out eventually – they’re not the smartest person in the world, and it doesn’t really matter who is. But some people never quite make that leap. Which is sad, because in the long run it hurts them more than it does the rest of the world. Just sad.
First of all: They have an entry on your super-fan over at rationalwiki that I just discovered. Wow. This guy is a libertarian, creationist, racist, sexist, homophobe, who wants to bring back the gold-standard, and is wrapped up in all manner of wing-nuttery. Of all the trolls to get a crush on you, John, you got one with all his trolly-stats maxed out.
Second of all: stages of man crush seem to indicate he is in the “denial” stage: http://cnngeekout.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/401939_10151853066510637_975457101_n.jpeg
Third of all: CRIPES! You cruel bastard. Let the poor cat in already. It’s been over 24 hours. Zeus is probably shivering in the cold!
Art:
No. The racist sexist homophobic dipshit in question most certainly did appear to believe I was actually outing myself as a rapist, and then frantically backtracked when people pointed out his error, re-establishing that he’s a racist dipshit in the process. I think it’s sweet that you support his attempt to revise inconvenient history, but no matter how much he tells you and all his other little pals that “nuh-uh, I meant to do that,” the fact is he made a complete ass of himself in that particular case. The additional fact that he and all his playtime buddies continue to get off on calling me “McRapey” and that some of them then come over here and make comments about me and rape is continuing psychic compensation for the embarrassment he felt in the discovery that he neither had the intelligence to grasp that I wasn’t actually admitting to rape, nor the facility to pull of the hasty “of course I understand satire” addendum afterward.
I mean, I get that the racist sexist homophobic dipshit feels bad about being revealed to be a credulous unsophisticate in front of all his gibbering follow monkeys. But that’s really his problem. My problem is that his gibbering follow monkeys then come over here and bother me with their attempts to curry favor with that racist sexist homophobic dipshit by making a mess all over my walls.
Beyond this, the trolls are the gibbering follow monkeys who show up at the site, not the racist sexist homophobic dipshit himself, who at least has the presence of mind to realize he lost his commenting privileges here some time ago and doesn’t darken my door. I’m sure that the racist sexist homophobic dipshit is having a good laugh about the fact I have to deal with the brain-dead little cretins who detatch from his site and show up here. He’s just the sort of self-aggrandizing tool to confuse my irritation at having to deal with his play pals with some estimation of his own self-worth. This is what you do when you’re an asshole, as he clearly is.
But to be clear, I simply do not care what that racist sexist homophobic dipshit thinks of me. Both you and he confuse my managing the mighty wave of nonsense he concocts about me and causes to show up on my doorstep with a contest of wills, or something equally dramatic. I might as well be concerned about what a busted sewer pipe thinks of me when it sprays shit all over my basement. In both cases, what I want is the shit out of my house. In both cases, once the shit is out of my house, I stop thinking about it.
And of course, that’s what the racist sexist homophobic dipshit hates most of all: the idea that if he stops frantically whipping up his gibbering monkey followers with invocations of my name, that I will cease to give him any thought at all. Which is why I imagine I will continue to be his mancrush for some unfortunate time to come.
Now run along, Art, and report back to the dipshit. There’s a good follow monkey.
When targets refuse “to play” as you suggest, they leave the field wide open for the trolls to to control the playing field of ideas without opposition. Blogs and other forums are not the USENet newsgroups of yore, and different tactics are both now possible and much more effective than the simplistic motto of “Don’t Feed The Trolls” ever was. As a silencing tactic it always benefitted the status quo for the trolls by elevating non-confrontation for the sake of thread integrity above robust rebuttals for the sake of ethical integrity anyway – why (and for whom, and when) is that such a great idea exactly?
TWIAVBP and YMMV: many others are finding it highly amusing and/or educational. TB is attempting to suck everybody into a vortex of rebutting his Gish gallops of bigoted buffoonery, and Scalzi is pointing and laughing at the Mensanperor’s New Clothes.
Should someone here be embarrassed? Maybe so, but not Scalzi. TB is very precisely skirting the boundaries of defamatory statements, and that shouldn’t be expected to go unchallenged. TB’s slimy claims don’t deserve the dignity of individual rebuttals, but the fact that he’s making them does deserve to be mocked.
Assertion of facts not in evidence.
John wrote: “I might as well be concerned about what a busted sewer pipe thinks of me when it sprays shit all over my basement.”
A very apt summary.
Today there’s an interesting Slate.com review of the book “Give Me Everything You Have.” The book’s a memoir of a college professor who was cyber-stalked by a former student and collaberator. She was just a single individual, and she still managed to sew alot of chaos. I imagine that a person with a following would never have to do this himself. He could influence quite a few people to do it for him, all while keeping his hands clean. Just keeping away one stalker takes tons of man hours.
But I already knew that. What the reviewer points out is that the cyber stalking altered the memoirist – the guy’s so afraid of actually appearing to be whatever his stalker accuses him of being that he can’t present his account of events without constantly apologizing for it. Honestly, he sounds a little like an abuse victim who can’t quit excusing his abuser’s behavior. “In [the stalker’s] wake, Lasdun’s self-flagellation is exhaustive and sometimes exhausting. He admits everything (unseemly attractions, unfair judgments, vestigial prejudices) before any imagined adversary can accuse him.” Until now, I assumed that Mr. Scalzi’s ‘RSHD’ label for his stalker was all about countering the man’s actions with ridicule, and maybe was simply a strategy to wear the guy down. Now, though, I wonder if it’s also a psychological tonic – a habit that subconsciously buffers his mind so that he doesn’t wind up being an apologist.
Sihaya, took me a while to figure out what you were saying, I think–probably because I hadn’t read the original review. At first, I thought you meant that John was in any sense apologizing for his actions in response to the trolls (and I was wondering if you and I were reading the same blog!); but now I think you mean that he’s being forthright in his ridicule so he doesn’t fall into the psychological trap of apologizing for his attacker? Or apologizing for causing his attacker to react, maybe? If something like that is what you meant . . . nah, I can’t see it, myself. John’s just rolling his eyes at the idiot trolls and making sure they don’t mess up his living room–I suspect mostly for the benefit of his readers, to tell you the truth. Or at least, that’s how this reader sees the situation. In other words, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar . . .
That was eaxctly what I meant – and I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose, I just wonder if it’s a psychological bonus. As long as John keeps calling the guy RSHD, he’s reminded not to slip into apology.
Sihaya:
Nah, I call him a racist, sexist homophobic dipshit because that’s what he is. As mentioned before, it’s not abuse nor is it really ridicule. He really is a racist and a sexist and a homophobe, and his actions certainly qualify him to be described as a dipshit. Accuracy counts in this world. It’s certainly true that the racist sexist homophobic dipshit in question has concocted a version of me to parade around to his followers, but it’s so entirely removed from who I am in the real world that the idea I would try to protest it or apologize for it seems silly. Especially since, as noted before, no one outside his little group gives this particular dipshit any credence whatsover.
As regards me and my life, this particular racist sexist homophobic dipshit is tiresome, but harmless.
It’s good to know that he’s been harmless. And thanks for answering my question.
@ Sihaya: Interesting points.
Last week I discovered, some 5 months after the fact, that TPOWJ (The Person Obsessed With John) had attacked me on his blog, where I was insulted lewdly, by name, over and over, by total strangers who knew absolutely nothing about me, and who speculated a bunch of fabricated bullshit that doesn’t describe me, resonate with me, or push my own particular buttons. Sure, it was all ugly and offensive; but it was also obscure, irrelevant, and non-sensical.
And, yet even so, for the next day or so after this discovery, I was aware of an insidious impulse to prove I was not who they said I was, the person they lewdly and erroneously described me as being… As if I had ever provided any reason for anyone to think those things about me in the first place, as if could “correct” an impression I had never actually made, as if there’s any need for me to prove fabricated bullshit about “me” by lewd internet trolls is indeed fabricated bullshit.
It made me realize, given how often and with what seething, vicious vitriol TPOWJ and his chums attack John here, on TPOWJ’s blog, and wherever else these trolls harass people from the safety of their keyboards, it takes strength of character for John not to let that make him self-conscious, second-guessing, and prone to refuting their fabricated bullshit. When someone spews sewage about you–and, particularly, follows you with obsessive focus, as John is being followed online by these people–drawing the line and staying on this side of crazy, rather than joining them over there on THAT size of crazy, takes some self-command.
There is also the fact that many people post here precisely because it is a racist, sexist, homophobic dipshit free site; it enables us to have conversations about the things which interest John, which tend to be the things which interest us.
There is a wide range of people who post here, and we disagree with each other, and with John, which is good because it’s hard to have an interesting conversation with someone who is identical to you in outlook and experience.
One of the silliest comments on a recent contretemps with the manosphere was when a guy who had flounced returned- OK, not a huge surprise, since flouncers seem to have a built-in return switch- claiming to have read the posts since his departure which showed that John only allowed people who agreed with him to post on his website.
One of those intervening posts was mine, and it started “John, I disagree” ..
Mr. Scalzi, what would it take to get the popcorn concession here? There are days when I could make a mint selling snacks and watching trainwrecks, as the various trolls mistake your blog for an outhouse and are shocked when you turn the fire hose on their leavings.
@Stevie:
Whut? Here was me thinking John’s basecode was “You don’t have to agree with a damn thing I say, but you do have to follow a few simple house rules for not being a shit-weasel.” Sounds like Flouncy McFlouncerson needs to grasp that freedom OF speech does not guarantee freedom FROM criticism or consequence. Also, there’s nothing in the Bill of Rights that obliges anyone to give anyone else a platform.
John, I just posted this over on RSHD’s blog and I said I’d post it here too: can you guys just bury the hatchet or at least ignore each other? Because this whole thing is getting to be pretty pathetic and I’m losing a lot of respect for both sides. Maybe to some people this is funny or entertaining, but at this point it’s just pretty sad and grade-school level in my opinion.
I strongly doubt that the RSHD will bury the hatchet or ignore the matter. If anyone in this is pathetic, it’s the RSHD.
Said it before, saying it again. If you have to tell people you’re an Alpha male with a ‘genius level’ IQ then you’re REALLY missing the point badly.
All the other bits seem to fall in line naturally from there.
@Anon: It’s really cool you have the privilege of not giving a shit. Seriously. Mad respect — it’s a little different if, say, you’re a feminist blogger who writes about things like reproductive rights and rape culture and have your inbox flooded with threats of physical and sexual violence every damn time. Or you’re a transactivist who gets charming advice like “why don’t you cut your duck off and **** yourself to death”. Or a GLBT youth in a small town who wakes up one morning to find s/he has been maliciously outed.
@Madlibrarian
forget popcorn! I want a churro stand. Or maybe something like at a state fair– churros stuffed with that cookie spread and deep fried. ONNA STICK.
(Also: Bacon wrapping.)
Has anyone who normally/regularly posts here gone over to RSHD’s blog and flung feces there with as much vigor as his posse has here? I’d be pretty surprised. Log, speck, and all that.
Anon:
And I care what you think, why, exactly? You are an anonymous comment.
Beyond this, the implication here is that there is some sort of equivalence in action is dumb. I am noting that assholes are coming here from elsewhere to troll the site, and give context to explain why I don’t want commenters here to engage. The racist sexist homophobic dipshit is whipping up his little pack of lost boys with a steady stream of nonsense about me, which is why they come here and why I have to bother with this sort of thing at all. To imply I am somehow to blame for this, much less apparently equally to blame, is complete crap, and you attempting to admonish me on that sort of reasoning is likewise crap.
When trolls show up, I’m not going to pretend to play nice with them — I’m going to Mallet them and I’m not going to be particularly civil about it, because there’s no reason to be nice to people who come into your home with the sole intent of shitting on the carpet. When they go away, I stop thinking about them. It’s really pretty simple. If you want to imply that my mocking trolls for being trolls is somehow beyond the pale, it’s probably best you wander off from here.
Which is to say I’m not entirely sure I appreciate your attempt to play the UN here, based as it is on not particularly excellent reasoning.
Funny, anon, how you didn’t post the whole bit over here that you did on the comments over there Fear the mighty mallet?
He’s even pretty shit at that. The UN, for all its flaws, actually tries to make people’s live a little better not tell them to STFU and accept their lot.
Unfortunately, there are still a large bulk of people out there that think along these lines, but thankfully they are no longer the majority (for example, 48% of Americans believe in Young Earth Creationism and for comparison 22% of Canadians). Every year we see new strides around the globe to remove these vestigial intolerances and unsubstantiated ‘facts’ (for example, women in the US military finally being allowed in ‘front line’ positions). The tide of history is against them and the greatest tool at our disposal is education of the world’s youth. Let the old RSHDs of the world rant and rave, grow old and die; save your energies, rational thoughts and reasoning for those that are still willing to listen to a well argued point and might make a useful contribution to the world.
[Dipshit Malleted — JS]
Keep the popcorn. I’m holding out for the bacon-wrapped churros.
Dude, I’m not trying to tell you how to run your site, I’m just saying that not only is posting a four paragraph news post every time someone comes over and posts something stupid int he comments is only exacerbating the problem, but it gets pretty boring to read. I think there are a lot better subjects you could be giving your time to than some pathetic loser on the internet who wants to start a slapfight. The only way anyone will win in any of this is when everyone realizes how stupid and childish the entire thing is, walks away and goes back to business as usual.
I assume this all serves perfectly as link bait like many of the other “controversial” posts here?
NateM: No, I just have more respect for John, because at least he doesn’t post childish things like “palsy” jokes. I mean, seriously. That just was the last straw for me in this whole thing.
Anon, he doesn’t post something like this “every time someone comes over and posts something stupid int he comments.” If you go back and reread the entire original post above, you will find that the first few paragraphs were background leading to this one:
“Until that glorious day, these gibbering follow monkeys will show up to fling their poo, and I will Mallet their comments. What I would like for you to do, if you see a comment that is obviously the flung spoor of such a creature, is to not respond to it; as with any troll, what these dudes are looking for is for you to react to them. Ignore them, please, which will frustrate them. I will be along presently to take out the trash. Please note that this is in general a good practice for any troll, whether he is a gibbering monkey follower of the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit or not.”
If you have read this blog for a while, you might have noticed that John occasionally writes something that he can use as a reference when the same situations come around again and again. That way, instead of having to write this every time one of the gibberers shows up and some people here unthinkingly take the bait, John can Mallet the troll posts and point everyone to this post. It’s more efficient this way and the opposite of what you think he’s doing here.
So scalzi is being less of a “whiny b-” when you post it here? I note with no small amusement you used far more inflammatory language over there and have yet to be banned despite your insistence. And not a single threat to leave John’s blog and not read his books?
@Anon It is that attitude exactly that attitude that exacerbates the situation and enables bullying in the larger picture. RSHD came to this site, shat in the comments and encouraged his followers to do the same. @Scalzi malleted them and then asked others to please not “feed the trolls.”
How is that remotely the same level of childishness? There are many ways @Scalzi could have responded, but he has done only so much as is necessary to keep his site clean. He’s documented what he has done, he has asked others not to participate, and has avoided anything even remotely considered revenge.
In other words, this is an adult response to a childish temper tantrum. For my part I am grateful to @Scalzi for showing how to maturely deal with trolls, keep his threads clean, and not lower himself.
Anon:
One, when I want your opinion on what I write here and how I write it, I will be certain to let you know.
Two, the headline to the piece was pretty unambiguous as regarding the content of the piece, and it’s not as if anyone’s holding your head up the screen and forcing you to drag your eyeballs across the entry. If you don’t want to read an entry, don’t. Lots of people choose not to read all sorts of things I publish here, because they just don’t care for it; another post which may be to their liking is likely to come up afterward.
Three, you don’t appear to understand that stupid and childish is the racist sexist homophobic dipshit’s “business as usual,” and it simply doesn’t matter what I do, he will continue to be childish and stupid, and I will have to continue to have to deal with it until he finds someone else he finds more advantageous to bother.
Four, the posts here are not about the racist sexist homophobic dipshit, they’re about dealing with the shit he causes to show up here, and I think it’s useful to let people know what I’m doing and why. You may not like how I choose to do that, but I don’t really care; I didn’t ask your opinion.
Do me a favor, anon, and stop trying to insert yourself into this thing. You appear well-meaning but underinformed about what’s going on here and the nature of the assholes I am dealing with, and as a result I find your attempt to meddle irritating.
Anon, in threads that are not about trolls, John just mallets them and “goes back to business as usual”. No muss, no fuss.
“When targets refuse “to play” as you suggest, they leave the field wide open for the trolls to to control the playing field of ideas without opposition. Blogs and other forums are not the USENet newsgroups of yore, and different tactics are both now possible and much more effective than the simplistic motto of “Don’t Feed The Trolls” ever was. As a silencing tactic it always benefitted the status quo for the trolls by elevating non-confrontation for the sake of thread integrity above robust rebuttals for the sake of ethical integrity anyway – why (and for whom, and when) is that such a great idea exactly?”
I don’t think that telling Mr. Scalzi that even acknowledging Mr. Beale is a bad idea counts as a “silencing tactic,” neither are these posts that Mr. Scalzi writes every time Mr. Beale mentions him “robust rebuttals.” Nothing written on Vox’s blog prevents Mr. Scalzi from offering his thoughts on his own, including throwing out ad hominems (though they aren’t incorrect, besides “dipshit,” maybe). And, perhaps I’m mistaken here, but there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly positive generated by the roaring turbines of these two, quite powerful echo chambers.
One side is laughing like twelve-year-old boys while the other is all a-tizzy with righteous indignation. It’s very predictable and it clearly amuses Mr. Beale, which is why he continues to poke.
And yes, I’m only trying to be helpful here. I did the same, with blunter language, when Beale started a similar tiff with R. Scott Bakker.
Mr. Scalzi:
You seem to think that I’m a follower of Mr. Beale. I admit that I occasionally read his blog. His posts on economics are good reading, if you subscribe to a similar perspective.
I don’t, however, comment on his blog. Neither do I care what his opinion of me would be were he to read my comments here. You’re doing me a disservice by assuming I write to you in bad faith without any evidence.
You seem to think that I have confused what you’re doing here as waging a battle of wills. I don’t think this is the case. I think you are enjoying the sycophantic comments here in much the same way that Vox is enjoying similar comments over there. But from an outside perspective, you’re certainly receiving the worst of it. With your repetitious rejoinders replying to every sarcastic post he pens about you, you’re playing right into the role he’s cast (the “gamma male” thing, which is part of Mr. Beale’s theorizing I find particularly reductive and unhelpful).
This is why the best course of action, at this point, is to not play his game. If you have to comment, your best bet is to be succinct. You’re trying too hard, which is why his posturing continues to grate on you so much.
As for his credulity, lack of sophistication, and whatever, I have no problem reading his initial post as sarcastic. But even if it wasn’t, what you’re attempting here is not making you look any better.
Anon: two questions for you.
Have VD’s commenters been trolling Scalzi’s blog?
Have Scalzi’s commenters been trolling VD’s blog?
Beware of the false equivalence.
“you don’t appear to understand that stupid and childish is the racist sexist homophobic dipshit’s “business as usual,”
And engaging him at all, including referring to him multiple times, in multiple posts across a short period of time, does nothing but bring you down to his level. I’d like to think you’re better than that.
“One, when I want your opinion on what I write here and how I write it, I will be certain to let you know.”
Excuse me, but if you don’t want my opinion on what you write, then why do you have a comments section attached to every one of the articles you write? I thought the whole point of a comments section on an article was for readers to discuss the article and provide an opinion.
You may not care about what I have to say, but I do care about what you have to say. That is the whole reason I come here, to get an opinion that is, at its best, thought-provoking and insightful, and at its least, usually entertaining. I’m not trying to insert myself into this, I’m trying to tell you that, as a content provider, your usually quality content is becoming stale and boring with each post on this subject. It’s your site, you’re going to write whatever you want, I’m just using your comments section to comment on the article.
And don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson and won’t have the audacity to post my opinions here ever again.
The concern trolls are concerned.
“sycophantic comments”
Remember, kids, any commenter who agrees with the original post is a sycophant. There can be no other possibilities. Just say no to agreement! Be a Free Thinker™!
Jargon alert: “content provider.” Anon, this might be where you’re going wrong in your approach.
Art:
“You’re doing me a disservice by assuming I write to you in bad faith without any evidence.”
Fair enough, and I apologize.
“I think you are enjoying the sycophantic comments here”
This is where I get to return the favor to you and inform you that you are doing the commenters here a disservice; they are not sycophants and I’m annoyed with you that you suggest so. I also don’t find it particularly surprising that they are in agreement that the fellow in question is in fact a racist sexist homophobic dipshit and also a bit unhinged; these things are sadly self evident. But that agreement is not equivalent to sycophancy; it’s merely the acknowledgement of the obvious.
Likewise you seem to be proceeding on the assumption that it matters what I do here, as regards the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit’s actions. It really doesn’t; he’s self-winding. When I don’t comment on him or his follow monkeys, he’s still blathering away about me, and has been so for a while now. Because, again, he’s decided I have some value to him as someone to whip up his gibbering follow monkeys into a frenzy, regardless of what I were to do. So the occasional notation of him here, in the context of the fact that his gibbering follow monkeys show up here to fling poo because he’s whipped them up, is neither here nor there on that. Again, if they stopped showing up here, I wouldn’t give him any thought. But they haven’t, and occasionally I note what I have to do to deal with them.
And of course, no matter what I did, I’m sure the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit and his gibbering follow monkeys would be happy to say it was evidence that I am whatever they think I am. Again: Like I give a shit. They’re idiots and their strawman construction of me has so little to do with the reality of my day-to-day life that I don’t waste much time thinking about it, other than to laugh when it’s pointed out to me.
|9| |7| |8| |8| |5| |8|
“Nice scores on the flounce, Bob, but he got screwed by the East German judge.”
Anon:
“And engaging him at all, including referring to him multiple times, in multiple posts across a short period of time, does nothing but bring you down to his level.”
Again with the false equivalence. To recap: In your mind providing context for why a bunch of jackasses are continually attempting to leave trolling messages on my site is the same thing as winding up a bunch of jackasses so that they wander over here and try to leave shit all over the walls. Nice try, but no. That’s still dumb, and I’m not obliged to treat your attempt at equivalence seriously. I recognize this comes across harshly, but this is lazy thinking and I want to be clear what I think of it.
Also, to address this “multiple post” thing: Between “The Kitten Setting” and this post there are ten days and two dozen entries. If one post every ten days, comprising 4% of the total output of this blog in that time, seems to you excessive, you might consider recalibrating your definition of “excessive.”
Anon:
There is a significant difference between commenting on a blog and telling the author of said blog what do or say on their portion of the interweb. You were clearly doing the latter.
[Mallet — JS]
I’d love to see that reasoning applied in other areas of life. “Copyeditor, how dare you correct grammatical and typographical mistakes on the manuscripts you’re given! That’s just sinking to the level of prose of the writer!”
Like, wat.
The view pre-and post- mallet just above was a lovely thing to watch. A dick-swinger was shown proper tool usage by a definite post Neanderthal. Gibbering buffoon vs. sniper.
Regardless (which is accurate because we can no longer regard him).
I do not understand what makes people imagine that going a-visiting to do some poo-flinging has any real effect on people. Dazzling intellect and logic are truly wonderous to watch. A well-turned phrase makes one appreciate the author. It baffles me how any-one can regard themselves with respect if their medium is copied from a toilet stall divider. It is value-less content. Me-Too-ism in excrement.
I like what the OWNER of this location does, as an author and as a dialogist. I do not comment frequently, but hope that when I do it has value. I want what I do and say to be value-added. This gets me respect from people that I respect.
I have a job that requires me to be polite and professional, even as people are pontificating racist views that set my teeth on edge. I have to deal with sewage (the actual human kind) on occasion. I want a place that lances the pustules of impacted feces.
Mr. Anon up above wants us to just ignore the sewage spilled in the living room. That does not work. It simply breeds mold and bacteria and all sorts of bio-hazards. Deal with it fast, before it has time to become dangerous. Clean it remove it and prevent it. Works on all types of human sewage spills.
Damit. Now I want deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, cookie spread stuffed, waffle churros!
When’s the state fair coming to town?
I’m sorry, John, you’re totally right. Dubbing someone “Racist Misogynistic Homophobic Dipshit” and then using that full title five times in the above article is not childish at all, and does not stoop to his level in any manner, and is a totally great way to stop this, because RMHD will see that you gave him a special title and go, “wow, he is so mad at me he won’t refer to me by name and created a special nickname just for me and uses it profusely! I will quit now.”
Sorry for being so dumb.
Me too, Carter. Me too.
Doc Rocketscience, after that bungled dismount, I’m afraid I have to go along with the East German judge. |5|
Anon:
The racist sexist homophobic dipshit in question is in fact a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, and in my estimation, a complete and total dipshit. It’s not childish to accurately describe him, although I do admit it’s fun.
Additionally, you seem to think that the reason I call him a racist sexist homophobic dipshit is to get him to change his ways. You are mistaken. And even if it were it would be futile, since the racist sexist homophobic dipshit in question gets off on being a racist sexist homophobic dipshit. I call him a racist sexist homophobic dipshit because it’s what he is. I couldn’t give a shit what he thinks about it, just as I don’t give a shit about what he thinks about anything else.
Anon, yet again you point out that you don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on here. I understand that you disapprove, but I remind you once again that I don’t particularly care. But inasmuch as this really seems to irritate you and you’ve already flounced once, let me suggest that you move along from this thread. It’s not making you happy and it won’t make you happy in the future. Move on, please.
Anon
Perhaps you could come back some time and engage in reasoned discussion of substantive issues; that way you might demonstrate that you are capable thereof.
On the other hand, your willingness to totally ignore the profoundly disgusting attacks on Laura Resnick suggests that you actually don’t object to racist, sexist, homophobic dipshittery…
John
Sorry, we cross posted…
No worries, Stevie.
Mr. Scalzi, you could totally make a killing by selling the food concessions here. You’ve already had requests for bacon wrapped, deep-fat-fried churro waffles stuffed with cookie dough. I will yield and simply run the beverage stand. Mochalatta Chills, anyone? Or some other type of evil, horrible hot chocolate/raspberry/peppermint/spice/coffee drink? Please not to throw your used napkins and/or cups at the trolls.
@ the mad librarian: 1 part kahlua, 1 part godiva chocolate alcohol, 1 part framboise, 1 part creme de menthe, 1 part Tia Maria and 1 double espresso would sort you out.
However, I am not responsible for any damage that does to you or your brain.
The problem with the food concession is that I suspect shipping would be a challenge. I don’t think there’s an RFC for churros over IP. (Although having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one turning up in two months.)
On the other hand, John doesn’t have to concern himself with details of implementation; he can just sit back and rake in the royalties.
My humble opinion is that Vox Day is better at getting his point across.
Contrary to you Mr. Scalzi, who must sink to childish name-calling.
Recent posts by you only bolster that fact.
And if you continue on this track, will alienate people who might agree with you.
People who are also members of the book buying public.
Every time you fall into the trap of emotion vs logic you lose.
You can be better than that.
Tiredofitall:
“My humble opinion is that Vox Day is better at getting his point across.”
You are entitled to your opinion. However, his points are vile, hateful, ill-formed bullshit. A shame, that.
“Contrary to you Mr. Scalzi, who must sink to childish name-calling.”
Ah. So when he falsely labels me a rapist, this is the sort of elevated discourse that’s getting the better of me, who accurately notes that he is sexist, racist and homophobic.
The comments here are genuinely getting stupider as we go along. I mean, seriously, that is some world class stupid right there. One sits in wonderment at where we might possibly go from here.
OK, it looks like I’m going to have to break out into the serious questions, here, now.
Sfogliatelle, tiramisu, cannoli, baba rhum, or rainbow cookies?
I will judge you if you choose wrong.
@tiredofitall:
My humble opinion is that Vox Day is better at getting his point across.
Only if you agree with him.
Contrary to you Mr. Scalzi, who must sink to childish name-calling.
It’s not childish; it’s accurate.
Recent posts by you only bolster that fact.
Disagree. Again.
And if you continue on this track, will alienate people who might agree with you.
People who are also members of the book buying public.
Every time you fall into the trap of emotion vs logic you lose.
Look, I realize you think you’re doing JS a “service” by trying to get him to stop calling out RHSD. The problem is that RHSD or his lackeys keep coming here. I’m willing to bet all (checks his pockets real quick…) $22.35 I have in my pocket that JS would like nothing more than for RHSD to stop coming here. If that were to happen, this wouldn’t be happening. When someone keeps coming to your house and crapping on the front porch, just ignoring it doesn’t help. Unfortunately, there are no “Internet cops”, so he has to take a different tack. This is that tack.
You can be better than that.
He already is, my friend. There is no equivalence here.
Josh Jasper:
This is a trick question as the obvious answer is: All of the above.
Churro waffle stuffed with cookie spread, deep-fried and wrapped in bacon?
Two, please. Hold the flounce.
I’d like to thank tiredofitall, for mentioning the possible dangers to John’s sales re: his posts on his blog. It reminded me to congratulate him for having 3 titles in Amazon’s Sci-Fi top 20 list. Kudos sir, loving the Human Division!
[Mallet 2: The Malletination — JS]
Josh Jasper:
Panna cotta.
Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA!
“Remember, kids, any commenter who agrees with the original post is a sycophant. There can be no other possibilities. Just say no to agreement! Be a Free Thinker™!”
LoL! Honestly, how can anyone take these kind of my comments seriously. Yet, people do all the time. Sad.
High speed chocolate sauce:
2 tablespoons of Nutella or equivalent
Place in microwave and give 10 second pulses until it stirs easily
Add Baileys to taste and stir in until smooth
Dip in banana, strawberries or other delectables.
Delectate
Just read this amazing thread and want to mention…
“oasis among the feces” is now the name of my cover band. Loads of love, @Beej.
Considering the difficulty I would have getting autocorrect to accept the other options as valid, and additionally supported by my deep love for all things cookie. I believe the correct answer must be rainbow cookie.
I think something may have gotten lost in the translation
Lurkertype: “Two, please. Hold the flounce”
Wait, holding the flounce is an option?
Is it too late to change me order?
Also, this trolls always remind me of one of my favorite lines of movie dialogue (even if the movie left a little to be desired):
“Well, look at these morose motherfuckers right here. Looks like somebody shit in their cereal… Bong”
followed with:
“The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another.”
(see what I did there? Clever commentator is clever! Also: hungry because no one has brought me my deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, cookie spread stuffed, waffle churros. I’m holding you personally responsible for this Scalzi. You and you alone!)
It’s fun reading through this, although I recently got sent sideways (via a few other things) to the thread where I suspect the whole “vendetta” (such as it is – can it really be a vendetta when only one party is participating?) got started. And really, reading that thread (and a few others on other blogs where said RSHD of a pinata showed up) one gets the impression of a kid throwing water balloons at other people and making grenade noises in the hope their targets will believe they’ve been hit by something which is genuinely damaging. It’s almost amusing to watch. There’s just one difference: a kid who gets a kick out of throwing water balloons at unsuspecting passers-by generally grows out of it after about a summer or so of the activity. The RSHD? He’s been going at this for seven years now at least, and shows no signs of stopping.
That goes right past “amusing” and into “pathetic”.
Inasmuch as this is quite evidently a thread which will sprout trolls, and the gibbering follow monkeys are fond of showing up in the middle of the night whilst I sleep, I’m going to go ahead and close up this thread for the evening and turn it back on in the morning.
Update, 10:20am 2/2: Back up and commentable.
I appreciate the willingness you show to provide some fly paper for them but is there any reason to assume they will not be back here trying again in this thread? Whats left to say?
What would be interesting to do would be to filter people who were redirected from that site to a Potemkin Whatever blog so they would leave the nice people here alone. Then if someone could write an auto-reply app like that worked like that fake psychiatric analysis program that selected words out of your input and turned them into questions in reply they could have hours of activity believing they were really winning while the adults could continue are conversations without them.
Frankly:
“What’s left to say?”
Not too much, actually. Between this post and The Kitten Post, I don’t know that I’ll need to address this much anymore; I can just refer people back to either one of the two. Which is, of course, one of the reasons to write them.
Laura Resnick @ 9:55 PM: Panna cotta is not a pastry! Barbaro!
I lurk more than comment and I don’t always agree with everything you say as do some of your other followers. That being said I appreciate the fact your followers are adults, thinking adults who can have a intelligent conversation and not have to agree with one another. There are those that when you (generalized you) don’t agree with them, feel the need to attack because they can’t back up anything they say with facts or intelligence. I generally tend to walk away from those conversations because what’s the point. Plus there are those who just have to have the last word, those who are so close minded or simple minded, that it doesn’t matter what you say, I’ve learned, let em if it will end the conversation, especially when it’s going to lead nowhere. I wondered over and checked out he who must not be named and bleaching my eyeballs and brains right now. I’m glad your followers, the adults we are, aren’t stooping to his level and leaving s**t bombs on his blog. He doesn’t deserve the attention. Let’s not confuse the issue with facts as my husband always jokingly says. Nuff said. Moving onward and upward. Glad to see you are taking the high road and like the idea of the charity thing. Cool move!
Being a mod myself of some communities on a blog-type platform, I think something the Anons and others denouncing you for talking about the trolling don’t understand is that you sort of have to address all those hateful comments in some way. You can scrub them completely, but unless you live online 24/7, your readers/members will see them before you do, and comment; and then you have to explain THEIR replies, and it becomes a whole big Thing.
You post several types of posts a day. I usually don’t read about Poo-Boy and his League of Excrementary Gentlewipes, in favor of your cat and book posts instead. I would advise troubled commenters to employ the Scroll function if they feel put out by these posts and to remember, hey, you can write what you want in your blog. (And I’ve had no desire to look up dude’s site; I’ve dealt with enough dipshits that I don’t want to add to my mental trashcan the details of even one more.)
On another note, I just finished “Fuzzy Nation” (it’s unusual to have a hero who likes the guy now dating his ex, and for me to like him too, I’ve found; also, I now have to wonder if my cats have a high-frequency “language” and are plotting my overthrow) and am now trying to hunt down Piper’s “Little Fuzzy” to see if I like it as much. “Agent to the Stars” is next in my queue …
Scalzi: you seem to be proceeding on the assumption that it matters what I do here, as regards the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit’s actions. It really doesn’t; he’s self-winding.
like.
It seems that a lot of the “concerns” being raised on this thread essentially boil down to asserting that Scalzi is somehow doing something that is causing racist-homophobic-sexist to attack him. If Scalzi would just thank RHS for his mancrush, then maybe RHS would stop attacking. The idea that RHS is “self-winding”, the idea that he would be racist, sexist, and homophobic, regardless of what Scalzi does or says, and that he would attack Scalzi without any justified cause, seems to be taken off the table. But even a minute on RHS’s blog, and it is clear that he really and truly is self-generating all manner of bile.
@Ann
Little Fuzzy is a different style of storytelling and shows its age around the edges a bit. That said there is a reason that it is considered a science fiction classic and is a very enjoyable read. The confused mix of sequels to the original are hit and miss.
Is it bad that sometimes I want to kitten my own post?
I would kitten everything in the world; baby cats are ADORABLE. I would kitten Congress.
*sigh* I liked it better when people didn’t leave enough clues about the RHSD to ID him with Google. I was much better off not knowing.
Ann: Little Fuzzy is now out of copyright and free to download from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137
Thanks for the heads up!
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