[pct-l] Admin Note please read: Trolls & Flames

[brick@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Brick Robbins)]

PCT-L has had a few Trolls recently which we tend to get this time of year.
Trolls and Flame wars are as old as the internet, and the "problems" PCT-L
has been having are really quite mild.

Members have asked me to do something, specifically asking me to "boot"
certain members. "Booting" is not really that effective because the troll
re-subscribes using a different address. The best way to deal with a Troll
is to ignore them. Fighting with them is like mud wrestling a pig. You just
get tired and dirty, and after a while you realize the pig LIKES it.

This is not to say that I am not doing stuff behind the scenes, but with
the 40-50 spams the list receives every day, etc,  I already spend way too
much time on this list.

There is lots of advice on online how to deal with troll. Here are some of
the best pieces of advice IMHO:

***Whatever you do, DO NOT reply to the post.

*** Sit and think.  Go clean that green stuff off the sides of your fish
tank like you have been meaning to do.  Try to remember that the Internet
is not real life.  It is not worth getting upset over.  The group you are
so involved in would forget that you exist if you stop posting for 6 months
(most likely even quicker).  Real life goes on with or without the Internet.

*** Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable
from -- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of
free time.

*** Learn to use filters and killfiles in your email program. The Troll
can't upset you if you don't read their posts.