Is there a way to punish chronic rude users?

[Anonymous]

So I think we've all noticed that a lot of replies on DCUM have gotten meaner lately, and I'm guessing that there are just a lot o shit-stirrers who are rude just to be rude.

Is there a way to pinpoint who these posters are and somehow dissuade them from being so obnoxious? Revoke their posting privileges for a certain amount of time or something?

Because right now, I think they're winning. They get threads to spin out of control and they just constantly piss in everybody's Cheerios. I'm tired of it and I really wish it would end.

I know this may be a pipe dream, but I'm starting to not enjoy reading DCUM threads anymore just because of these users.

[jsteele]

I don't want to be very specific about what I can or would do because the more information I disclose, the easier it is to avoid what I am doing. But, if you will use the "report" button to let me know about rude posts, I'll take a look at them. I may not always agree with you that the post is rude and my judgement may not be easily understood by everyone and I may even be wrong in my evaluation at times, but I will look at the post. I may do something about it. If I notice the same poster repeatedly making such posts, I may do something beyond what I normally do.

One of my latests pet peeves is that it seems some posters actually like the rude posters and enjoy engaging them. So, by the time someone reports the thread, it is 10 pages of back and forth and really impossible to do anything about other than locking or deleting. Please report early and don't respond. Also, don't post in the thread asking me to do something or asking why I did or did not do something. I probably won't see your post. Use this forum and the "report" button.

I am intentionally replying not just to you OP, but to anyone else who reads this thread.

[Anonymous]

Dcum has always been mean and snide.

When it starts to affect you emotionally, take a hiatus from it.

[Anonymous]

Your premise that we have all noticed that people have gotten more mean and rude lately seems fatally flawed. I've been on DCUM for 10 years and there are constant posts about DCUM becoming more mean and more rude "lately."

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Your premise that we have all noticed that people have gotten more mean and rude lately seems fatally flawed. I've been on DCUM for 10 years and there are constant posts about DCUM becoming more mean and more rude "lately."

That's true, but we go through periods in which we have to engage in re-socializaiton of posters who ratchet things up beyond the normal level of rudeness. We also have attracted a new breed of professional nasty posters lately. I've been on a seek and destroy mission of them.

[Anonymous]

So if I come across a post that's sort of Trump-level racist (Blacks and Latinos are taking college seats from white kids) or otherwise offensive (like the poster saying we'd be better off if someone had thrown the PG county shooter in jail on false pretenses) do you have a preference if I ignore them, report them, or call them out?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:So if I come across a post that's sort of Trump-level racist (Blacks and Latinos are taking college seats from white kids) or otherwise offensive (like the poster saying we'd be better off if someone had thrown the PG county shooter in jail on false pretenses) do you have a preference if I ignore them, report them, or call them out?

Those two examples are probably a coin toss as to what you should do. If the first one were a bit more extreme such as "blacks and Latinos who naturally have lower intelligence are taking seats from more intelligent white kids", then I would say report it. I'm pretty sensitive about racist posts, but it's not always easy to say exactly where the line is.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:So if I come across a post that's sort of Trump-level racist (Blacks and Latinos are taking college seats from white kids) or otherwise offensive (like the poster saying we'd be better off if someone had thrown the PG county shooter in jail on false pretenses) do you have a preference if I ignore them, report them, or call them out?

I just saw the second example you cited. The full message in context was actually worse than it sounded. So, I removed that one. So, that is an example of what you should report.

[Anonymous]

What about the total idiots, is there a way to punish them?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:What about the total idiots, is there a way to punish them?

Isn't going through life as a total idiot punishment enough?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the total idiots, is there a way to punish them?

Isn't going through life as a total idiot punishment enough?

I suppose it is. I still think implementing forum wide literacy requirements and mandatory think before you type practices would benefit the greater good.

[Anonymous]

Can someone define a "chronic rude user"?

Are there not multiple users who are sometimes rude and possibly borrowing phrases from each other?

I said "crawl back under your rock" a few times and now I see other people saying it. I even had it said to me.

I think as a user of this site, however perceptive you may feel, however "distinctive" a posters style of writing may seem to be, there are many cases of mistaken identity and its pretty near impossible to say someone is a "chronic rude user" unless you have the kind of access Jeff has.

Am I right Jeff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone define a "chronic rude user"?

Are there not multiple users who are sometimes rude and possibly borrowing phrases from each other?

I said "crawl back under your rock" a few times and now I see other people saying it. I even had it said to me.

I think as a user of this site, however perceptive you may feel, however "distinctive" a posters style of writing may seem to be, there are many cases of mistaken identity and its pretty near impossible to say someone is a "chronic rude user" unless you have the kind of access Jeff has.

Am I right Jeff?

I'm having a hard time defining it as well. I think some post require no sugar coat. Is that considered rude if one person doesn't agree with most? Or says it in a way that is straight forward?

[Anonymous]

I've seen a lot of posts lately that accuse the OP of being a "troll" on multiple threads. Usually the only thing they post is "troll" or "I call troll." This type of person is a person I would consider a chronically rude user.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone define a "chronic rude user"?

Are there not multiple users who are sometimes rude and possibly borrowing phrases from each other?

I said "crawl back under your rock" a few times and now I see other people saying it. I even had it said to me.

I think as a user of this site, however perceptive you may feel, however "distinctive" a posters style of writing may seem to be, there are many cases of mistaken identity and its pretty near impossible to say someone is a "chronic rude user" unless you have the kind of access Jeff has.

Am I right Jeff?

The only thing I can say is that there are some users who are incredibly perceptive and I would never doubt their ability to correctly identify posts from the same anonymous posters. Of course, there are also a handful of users here who are not nearly as perceptive as they believe they are. But, rather than worry about who is a "chronic rude user", just report rude posts. If the user is chronically rude, I will notice that eventually.