May 16
Killing off the energy vampires
Cats: blogs|Some of you might recall an incident a few months back when GT was flamed by the ultra right wing British National Party or BNP, as they are known.
The encounter was short-lived thankfully, but others have not been so lucky. Flamers are angry, mean-spirited people who enter discussions on blogs or forums and destroy the air of civility.
Here is an interesting piece by Boing Boing guru Cory Doctorow on extinguishing the flamers.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:07 am
I find telling someone that they are trolling and flaming, and perhaps define those terms for them, works pretty well.
It’s not a criticism as much as it is an observation, so they tend to vanish as opposed to getting defensive.
I love to take the piss out of these people, and am 3-0 so far.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Excellent Dick. You have just earned yourself the position of GT’s Chief Flame Whisperer. It’s a big job in addition to your responsibilities as GT’s Chief Forestry Correspondent, but I feel you’re up to the job.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Dick, do you think you could work your Flame Whispering magic on Harpo? Surely he qualifies as a political flamer.