Can anyone see what's happening?

[Evan]

I think it might be useful to start a thread here where regular readers of Sott can notify us about comment sections that have gotten out of hand. Anyone up for helping out with such a thing?

I read it daily pretty much as part of my morning routine. I’m certainly up for the idea of sending up the Bat Signal if it’s looking that way, at least so someone can make an assessment. If you all want to start a thread and pin it, and maybe set some guidelines. I know the people here aren’t the sort to be petty or cry wolf, but I feel like some kind of structure would help me at least feel a bit less conflicted about what to say and when to say it. I’m just kinda thinking out loud, looking for your feedback.

 

[duyunne]

Perhaps a comment voting system? I know those can be manipulated too but the normal readers might be encouraged to downvote the vandals and upvote the artists.

 

[Ruth]

It would most definitely be nice to have a “No longer receive notifications for this topic” option when reader responses go well beyond your moving on point.

Yes, same here. There's only one person I can think of who's being deliberately obnoxious. Unfortunately there's still a lot of 'noise' to sort through too, which is often boring and irrellevant and seems deliberately attention seeking to me. It just seems sad to me that the web space for "people who think" seems to have attracted some people who appear not to think at all.

It would be really cool if we could take away their notification (red bell app). I think these people would no longer engage in attention seeking, 'noisy' behavior. Although it is very difficult to make a value judgement on who's doing what and why because we often don't know what is behind their behavior.

 

[Ruth]

Perhaps a comment voting system? I know those can be manipulated too but the normal readers might be encouraged to downvote the vandals and upvote the artists.

People who are pathologicals just want attention. They don't care if it's positive or negative attention as long as they get it. Often the more people they can upset the happier they are. The one called dazks18 who made such a mess of the "4 Feminist Lies That Are Making Women Miserable" is one such example (I think). These types of people make effective trolls and they end up upseting everybody.

From a personal point of view, posts tend to have a 'flavor' to me. This is how I get a sense of the person who's writing them. It's a subjective impression rather than an objective one. I'll call it intuitive. This is why I wouldn't offer to have input, or monitor the behavior of posters on the site, even though I am a long time user. The exception is this thread, when I thought something needed to be said.

The thing that maybe most people don't realise is that not all people have the same background, abilities, or agenda. Some of them abuse other's good nature, time and patience. This seems to be an increasing problem with electronic media and not an easy one to mitigate.

 

[duyunne]

People who are pathologicals just want attention. They don't care if it's positive or negative attention as long as they get it. Often the more people they can upset the happier they are. The one called dazks18 who made such a mess of the "4 Feminist Lies That Are Making Women Miserable" is one such example (I think). These types of people make effective trolls and they end up upseting everybody.

From a personal point of view, posts tend to have a 'flavor' to me. This is how I get a sense of the person who's writing them. It's a subjective impression rather than an objective one. I'll call it intuitive. This is why I wouldn't offer to have input, or monitor the behavior of posters on the site, even though I am a long time user. The exception is this thread, when I thought something needed to be said.

The thing that maybe most people don't realise is that not all people have the same background, abilities, or agenda. Some of them abuse other's good nature, time and patience. This seems to be an increasing problem with electronic media and not an easy one to mitigate.

I know what you mean. They want to agitate and annoy people to the point they rouse a reaction (of any kind). I just think a voting system much like the comments in YouTube can allow people to communally mute crappy comments that aren’t serving everyone’s thought centres.

It’s hit or miss but it can help the admins understand the breadth or numbers of these trolls. Somehow, I doubt they have a community in themselves to abuse the voting system.

Edit:
Another caveat to a vote system is that it’s anonymous. People are far more likely to downvote than to give these people a peace of their mind as we all know that’s what they are fishing for any way.

 

[Scottie]

You can turn off Notifications on SOTT by going here:

Sott.net - Independent Unbiased Alternative News

Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events.

www.sott.net

If you uncheck the option Receive Alerts when anyone posts on articles where you have commented, that will turn off "the red bell" completely (and Push Notifications, as well).

If you uncheck the box under Receive Push Notifications for new comments, that will turn off just Push Notifications for new comments (the popup windows that appear even when you're not surfing SOTT) but the red bell will work.

In either case, click Update to save your settings when done.

 

[Evan]

You can turn off Notifications on SOTT by going here:

Sott.net - Independent Unbiased Alternative News

Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events.

www.sott.net

If you uncheck the option Receive Alerts when anyone posts on articles where you have commented, that will turn off "the red bell" completely (and Push Notifications, as well).

If you uncheck the box under Receive Push Notifications for new comments, that will turn off just Push Notifications for new comments (the popup windows that appear even when you're not surfing SOTT) but the red bell will work.

In either case, click Update to save your settings when done.

I’ve tried that repeatedly Scottie. Unfortunately that box, at least on my mobile browsers (Duck Duck, Firefox,) will not deselect. Advanced and Basic work fine, but Receive Alerts won’t respond. I don’t see Receive Push Notifications available at all. Here’s what the page looks like on my phone:

 

[Scottie]

Unfortunately that box, at least on my mobile browsers (Duck Duck, Firefox,) will not deselect. Advanced and Basic work fine, but Receive Alerts won’t respond. I don’t see Receive Push Notifications available at all.

Well, that's odd.

I just turned off Alerts for you.

 

[Evan]

Well, that's odd.

I just turned off Alerts for you.

Cool thanks!!

 

[Ruth]

Possibly Gene26253 needs a little observation too. Quite an interesting individual who describes Adolf Hitler as a "cultured and educated statesman" in comparison to Netanyahu.

Odeh blasts Netanyahu as a 'dangerous psychopath' who targets Arabs and left-wing Jews

Israel's top Arab lawmaker on Saturday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "psychopath" and accused him of stirring trouble for those who oppose him. "Netanyahu's hatred and violence spread like wildfire. Arabs, left-wing Jews,...

www.sott.net

He feels more contrived and strategic than Dazks18 was, like he has an agenda. Worth a look I think, for anyone who's interested in observing human behavior.

 

[BHelmet]

I think it is important to remember that a lot of the trolls and commenters who rile things up and spout the party line are paid government operatives whose job is to maintain the narrative and to try to shame and infuriate legitimate dissenters. IOW, they are not all "real" people.

 

[Evan]

I think it is important to remember that a lot of the trolls and commenters who rile things up and spout the party line are paid government operatives whose job is to maintain the narrative and to try to shame and infuriate legitimate dissenters. IOW, they are not all "real" people.

Agreed. That’s of course expected. In this particular case which Ruth drew attention to however, Joe intervened and the regulars for the most part reeled it in. I’m thinking that that little reminder to keep it on point will likely go a long way toward remedying the situation, as the people very often in the thick of it are among the ones I would consider the SOTT “coffee klatch“, i.e. they’re there every day and post back and forth with each other as if chatting amongst friends. They’re usually solid contributors to the discussion, it’s just that there’s a rapport between them that can veer off towards getting silly (I’m actually guilty of participating occasionally myself,) sometimes obnoxious, and - in some cases - downright offensive. I believe Joe popping in and steering the car back onto the road will improve the situation immeasurably.

 

[Arwenn]

They’re usually solid contributors to the discussion, it’s just that there’s a rapport between them that can veer off towards getting silly (I’m actually guilty of participating occasionally myself,) sometimes obnoxious, and - in some cases - downright offensive.

I do enjoy reading the oftentimes colourful exchanges between the regular SoTT commentators, but I have to agree that the commentary can devolve into being offensive and absurd. That said, having this thread to alert senior editors to steer the conversation back on track is a great idea.

 

[Ruth]

I turned off the notifications as per Scottie's instructions. Best thing I every did! I don't miss it at all. It's probably because I spend too much time there anyway, and I have no patience with the people who just want to make noise and get attention.