Should HA mods be stricter on trolls, shitposting and low-effort content?

[publicduende]

This is a country that has more substantial problems to solve.

It sounds like the problems will get much worse.

Like everywhere else, really...

[WilliamSmith]

PS – On the topic of trolls, maybe we could recognize a category of "HA sanctioned trolls" which would be allowed to operate in light of the comedy that they bring to the forum (some of the trolls are actually pretty funny ) and with the condition that they aren't too disruptive.

@Lucas88
@Pixel--dude
Reading through 5 pages of responses and seeing all this drama, I guess it's obvious enough that those of us who aren't actually out to ruin this forum should probably hold ourselves to a higher standard of civility, as long as we're not actually being censored from discussing particular topics (like on virtually every other site in the 2020s).
But this brings up what I referred to as the "chicken in egg problem" of how if the other obvious trolls are running rampant all around us, those of us who tend to want to step up to the imbroglio are more likely to get engaged with that as a form of sport and start spewing out pugilistic responses and contribute to the chaos... So how to fix that...........?

I don't know if this idea would work, but:

Lucas, when you said "maybe we could recognize a category of "HA sanctioned trolls" which would be allowed to operate in light of the comedy that they bring to the forum" were you thinking of a subforum to banish some of the most obvious trolls to for a temporary period of time after they act up?
(Or in my case, banish someone like me to if/when I misbehave with too many pugilistic comments, but am allowed a 2nd chance if I behave?)
That might be a good idea.
A guy I know who is a good father thinks "time-outs" are the way to go for badly behaved children, LOL.
(I don't know what it's like on the technical side to moderate, so don't know if that's feasible or not to limit other users to specific subforums easily, but just curious.)
For the trolls who are simply here to pollute the forum on purpose because they don't want free speech forums to even be allowed to exist, that might take care of a great deal of the problem, since if they' not allowed to derail all the other discussions, they might just leave............

[Lucas88]

Lucas, when you said "maybe we could recognize a category of "HA sanctioned trolls" which would be allowed to operate in light of the comedy that they bring to the forum" were you thinking of a subforum to banish some of the most obvious trolls to for a temporary period of time after they act up?

No, I simply meant a small group of trolls who are known to be trolls but who are allowed to do their troll shtick here with the condition that they aren't too disruptive because of the humor and comedy that they bring to the forum. Certain trolls who are accepted as part of the HA culture and to whom mods turn a blind eye.

At the time that I wrote my OP, CaptainSkelebob came to mind since many of us found his character hilarious and I admit that I've "latrally" spat out drinks reading some of his stuff (e.g., Skeletor as a role model for alpha masculinity, the alpha allience/alloence, ladyboys being hotter than real women, dark capitalism, his "confession", etc. ), but unfortunately the Captain got too out of hand and the ban hammer came down on him.

Mr. Mistoffelees would also fall into that category. We all know that he's too flamboyant and over the top to be a real person but we find him hilarious anyway and enjoy reading his troll posts. Unlike Skelebob, he happens to be extremely polite as well. I agree that Mr. Mistoffelees is the second funniest troll on the forum. He definitely deserves a place in the "HA-approved troll" category.

[Pixel--Dude]

PS – On the topic of trolls, maybe we could recognize a category of "HA sanctioned trolls" which would be allowed to operate in light of the comedy that they bring to the forum (some of the trolls are actually pretty funny ) and with the condition that they aren't too disruptive.

@Lucas88
@Pixel--dude
Reading through 5 pages of responses and seeing all this drama, I guess it's obvious enough that those of us who aren't actually out to ruin this forum should probably hold ourselves to a higher standard of civility, as long as we're not actually being censored from discussing particular topics (like on virtually every other site in the 2020s).
But this brings up what I referred to as the "chicken in egg problem" of how if the other obvious trolls are running rampant all around us, those of us who tend to want to step up to the imbroglio are more likely to get engaged with that as a form of sport and start spewing out pugilistic responses and contribute to the chaos... So how to fix that...........?

I don't know if this idea would work, but:

Lucas, when you said "maybe we could recognize a category of "HA sanctioned trolls" which would be allowed to operate in light of the comedy that they bring to the forum" were you thinking of a subforum to banish some of the most obvious trolls to for a temporary period of time after they act up?
(Or in my case, banish someone like me to if/when I misbehave with too many pugilistic comments, but am allowed a 2nd chance if I behave?)
That might be a good idea.
A guy I know who is a good father thinks "time-outs" are the way to go for badly behaved children, LOL.
(I don't know what it's like on the technical side to moderate, so don't know if that's feasible or not to limit other users to specific subforums easily, but just curious.)
For the trolls who are simply here to pollute the forum on purpose because they don't want free speech forums to even be allowed to exist, that might take care of a great deal of the problem, since if they' not allowed to derail all the other discussions, they might just leave............

I only ban the most abusive trolls or those who cause major disruption. Simply because that kind of trolling isn't funny and is too disruptive. It's because of abusive members like that that causes good members to leave in the first place. I don't think they should be shown mercy. Just get rid of them.