Can we all just stop the "Anit-Prokofy" Mentality

Lecktor:

Thanks for asking The easiest thing would have been to either completely ignore Prokofy, or acknowledge the part of the post that was informative and then calmly explain to him that the personal attack he attached at the end wasn't necessary at all.

Treat Prokofy like a child friends. Affirm the behaviour you want, and when you see negative behaviour, use wise and calm methods of explaining to the child why that was negative behaviour, and give them an example of what they could have done to make it a positive behaviour.


Thanks!

WHY would any of the people on these forums not pick on Prokofy, me, and the dozens of others they lambast for not being conformist and quiet? You asshats need the conflict, and LL is breeding it. I hope you all get what you give.


















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Well said, Bob.

Just out of curiosity, why do you do






















this?

Why do you not apply the same logic to Prokofy?

I smell an alt.

I don't remember signing up for babysitting.

You are reading the Forums aren't you?



Thanks!

stop that.

bob is definitely not an alt of porky

You caught me, I'm an Alt. My real account is Jean Groshomme.



Thanks!

Sorry, Bob. That's been tried already, by myself, and at least three other people I've read here. Do that, and the consequences become severe. The problem is, we're not dealing with a "problem child" here. No amount of Dr. Phil-sophizing about encouraging good schoolyard behavior is going work because the "nature of the case".

Go ahead and pick on Prokofy, but let's see if you are capable of doing it without the name calling



Thanks!

didn't work. if you didn't agree with her 100% she'd lash out at you.

Who's Prokofy???

world's most offensive flag:

Then, do the next step, put Prokofy in a time-out and don't play with them.



Thanks!

Some people enjoy being antagonists. If people were not antagonized by his posts, our most notorious forum antagonist would be unhappy and would try harder. The most notorious antagonist on this site has said that he has purposely taken this role on the forums (and at his previous online hangout, as well), and claims it is for the betterment of the community. Really, it's just because he enjoys it -- a hobby that combines rhetoric and Fight Club.

There are other online forums where this sport is the focus (such as the Behind the Gym area at http://www.sissyfight.com). Competitors try to one-up each other in areas of rhetorical skill, manipulation of computer graphics, research, and painful personal attacks. That particular site even has even had formal events of this type, with prizes. Why, then, would someone decide to enjoy himself in this way at another site where this is not the primary goal? That varies. It's more challenging to pick fights and conduct them without gettting banned -- it's a competition not only with the other posters, but also with the moderation staff. It's also easier, because there are fewer seasoned competitors, and because fewer people will write it off for what it is.

Certainly, people who participate in this hobby do sometimes have some valuable things to say, but they are often overlooked in the noise of battle, and usually (but not always) might as well be arbitrary. The topic of debate is often only necessary as a ball to knock back and forth across the court. Some people with this interest will always fall back on an area of strength (such as knowledge of a certain historical period or political system) and try to make comparisons about whatever the current topic is with that area of strength, because it's easier for them, and because they enjoy that subject matter in the first place. Sometimes it's just done to irritate the opposition.

Why are people drawn into this game? Some of them enjoy it themselves. Others really do want to address the actual topic of the discussion in a thread where this game happens to be played. And others are baited into it, and punished for it by moderators. Although the most notorious antagonist on this forum does seem to get away with direct personal insults, more often he leaves bait in the gray area of the forum posting guidelines. Instead of saying, "You're an ass," he'll say, "If you disagree with me, you're an ass," or, "If you belong to such-n-such group, you're an ass," or, "If you believe/think so-n-so, you're an ass." It's even more effective than just calling someone a name directly, because many people who'd simply drop the conversation in that case will feel the need to attempt to reason in response to the less direct attack.

My advice is, if you enjoy this sport yourself, have fun and be careful, because the enforcement of forum guidelines is not always consistent. Be even more careful of taking this sort of antagonist seriously, because you are not going to affect his opinion through reasonable discussion; you are only being invited to mud wrestle.

Classic


Thanks Kim!

the problem is that she would go to many threads and insult many people.
and people would keep their peace, but new people would get insulted and respond, not yet realizing she wasn't worth responding to.

you're missing the key point to this phenomena... the sheer number of people she managed to offend. while many people did do what you suggest, it didn't actually prevent the degeneration of threads into verbal fights - because there were always new victims for her to abuse. so the threads kept going down in flames.

if you actually look at the threads you'll see that people who interacted with her had a high turnover rate. people did try to ignore the problem. but the problem didn't go away.

can't put her in time out... if you ignore her she just goes to bully someone else, and you still get fallout.

that would take a forum moderator.

So the point of attacking Prokofy *HAS* solved the problem?

OK, since neither of these two ways has managed to solve the problem, what other way can we use to stop this foolishness?



Thanks!

i don't think so. i'm just describing whats happening. (imnsho)

but things are still unfolding. it might have an effect in the future.

if you read some of the more current responses... there is some indication that something different is happening.

OK everyone, this quiet mild-manner builder is going to leave this thread now. I want to thank you all for your opinions, support, detractions, and interactions.

I hope that everyone will take some time in the future before we start to call people names and ask ourselves, "Will this really solve the problem?" before we do it.

Just because someone else has called you a name, doesn't mean you should do the same, you are supposed to be adults. It takes an adult to know when to respond, when not to, and how to without causing more problems then before.

Thank you all!

Bye

Is this what you meant by treating "problem adults" like children?

Well, I think the problem is that he's not the only one that devolves into personal attacks around here.

I find it pretty weird that people keep on forgetting this fact.

The only difference between Prokofy and many many others around here is

a) volume
b) Prokofy's opinions are not in the mainstream

Other than that, his personalization and deragatory language is par for the course of a lot of others around here.

Anyone else have no clue as to who this person is?