General

Basil needs more scrollable cord0ns

[quote=xtripled]i love the bump function, stop.
In fact, i'm sad they got rid of the front page bump. Imo, basil was more active when we had that feature.[/quote]
It's an optional choice to sage or not. It would allow you to post in junk threads without pushing it up.

[quote=mmorpg]@LimusocoBobo
Can we introduce sage on basilmarket? Basically an option to post that doesn't bump the thread. Would that help?[/quote]

i love the bump function, stop.
In fact, i'm sad they got rid of the front page bump. Imo, basil was more active when we had that feature.

@LimusocoBobo
Can we introduce sage on basilmarket? Basically an option to post that doesn't bump the thread. Would that help?

@MrSwagish Great post, I agree with most of it.

To OP: I disagree with allowing type 2 trolls to be allowed though but that's just me and my opinion on trolling. I feel like if you're going to troll then your thread should be thought out and believable in a sense. I like the threads where someone that is trolling makes up scenarios that cause the people reading to question whether it is true or not, a lot of the time i'll think it's not true but in the back of my mind I realize there is a small chance it could be! If you can cause doubt while trolling then you're a successful troll imo and that's what a "type 1" troll is.

I want type 2 trolls to be disallowed because they are not well thought out posts, they post stuff that is obviously false and it's just not a well put together "troll" at all. If it's obvious and causes no doubt in peoples mind then I do not see why it just isn't removed? Majority of commentators recognize it's a troll thread and post negative feedback so it's not like distinguishing what "Type" of troll thread is a problem. Instead of asking people not to post I think it would make more sense for a mod to ban the poster and remove the thread/lock it so that is sinks because if they do not do that then that's when all the problems start.

Problems: People come to Basil so that they can help others, find information, socialize and have fun so when you're browsing through topics, enjoying yourself and then that troll thread comes up it's just annoying, maybe the guy was trying to be funny but it just didn't happen, that's a possibility and when that's the case I promise you that there are very little comments but as you said, most people on Basilmarket have been here for some time and that goes for the trolls too. The troll threads that we constantly encounter are posted by the same well known [b]BAD[/b] trolls 99% of the time. They are receiving a large amount of comments because we are wondering why they are still allowed to post. That's when our problem overlaps with mod problems. If the person is still "at large" making multiple threads throughout the day/week (like your example 1 troll who was able to make multiple troll threads throughout the day in the same section) then people are past annoyed now, it's infuriating, you now have people making threads about the mods, mini modding etc because no one wants to browse their favourite section to be interrupted by the same well known troll that they reported yesterday/last week but is posting again today, hourly.

Edit: Locking the thread isn't a great solution because that doesn't stop a troll from just creating a new one.

[quote=Skyenets]The general Maple section is ridiculous. Sure there's good sections, but not so much just chat.[/quote]
I agree. General is worst section on basil. Chat takes second though.

[quote=mmorpg]This only applies to chat though. The users there post crap everyday. /90/ is such a great section.[/quote]

The general Maple section is ridiculous. Sure there's good sections, but not so much just chat.

This only applies to chat though; the reason why I don't visit that section anymore. The users there post crap everyday. /90/ is such a great section instead.
Maybe if we weren't so immature we could have stuff like image tags.

[quote=MrSwagish]I think it's important that we distinguish between a few types of trolling. This is a pretty inelegant distinction, and, while it may superficially seem subjective, I believe we all actually agree that such a distinction exists.

I will fist present the distinction, and then discuss why I think it is relevant.

[b]Type 1 Trolls[/b]:
The first thing to be noted about Type 1 Trolls is that they are generally not offensive (to particular individuals, nor to groups of people). While they usually involve fabricated scenarios/information, the humour of their troll post is not derived from presenting an offensive caricature of a group of people; rather, it involves word-play, some sort of "I did not see that coming" twist, or other things of that nature.

[b]Type 2 Trolls[/b]:
These are the sorts of trolls which you linked to in your OP. They are fraudulent scenarios/information, but they lack in any sort of clever devices from which humour is derived. As such, they are humourous only due to their (often obvious) fraudulence.

[b]Type 3 Trolls[/b]:
These trolls are the ones we see most often these days on basil. All of the fake homosexuality threads are clear examples of this. Any purported humour is derived solely from some sort of prejudicial presentation of a group of people, or an attack on a specific individual.

The thing about these various troll posts is that we regard each type uniquely. This much is evident by simply reading the comments in threads corresponding to each type of troll thread. Type 1 threads usually feature comments like "I don't get it" or "lol you got me". Type 2 threads feature comments which (like you described) basically just call out the fact that the thread is a troll. Type 3 threads are met with anger, cause flame wars, etc.

Type 1 and 2 threads really aren't much of a problem IMO. If we have too many of them, it will of course become problematic; but that is a problem of quantity--it is not intrinsic to the threads. Type 3 threads, on the other hand, are the ones which are highly destructive. I don't think it's really necessary that we report the first two types of threads (in fact, I don't think we should report them at all). With respect to type 3 threads, I think your advice holds: report them, and don't comment.

But the threads which you featured above are type 2 trolls, so I don't think we need to report them. They will cause a minor amount of fun (in fact, people in one the threads even acknowledged that they laughed). And these threads, simply due to their nature, will self-destruct. If they aren't funny, people are just going to lose interest in them. The same is true of type 1 threads.

So, to summarize, I don't think we should really be wasting our time talking about type 1 and 2 trolls. If anything, they (in small quantities) brighten up the forums, and probably do more good than harm.[/quote]
I appreciate your insight here. I had always thought about something like this in my head but never actually wrote it out. By identifying various types, it'll make this easier to discuss & understand for others.

One thing I'd like to point out is that even if you report a post, it doesn't automatically mean that the reported user will get suspended. I'd ask folks to report them anyway just so that we could be made aware of it. In many instances, a user will post (aka spam) multiple similar threads; and if we're alerted to such spam then it's a different issue altogether that could lead to a spam suspension.

Like you, I don't view the types of troll threads I presented as examples as being intrinsically problematic. Here, you can see that I did not suspend the thread starters in those example threads; instead, I locked their threads to end the discussion. In this case, what they've done isn't as bad as what you identified as a "Type 3" troll.

I just wonder why people would even bother w/ most trolling here since the majority of users don't fall for it. Isn't that most of the fun? I mean, you'll get a meta-discussion about how the users commenting about not falling for it are actually falling for it by saying they're not falling for it. But that's just confusing and makes one's brain hurt.

I don't mind a good troll. I can enjoy them. But when you fool me into writing a huge ass wall of text because you made me believe you needed help with something, you're scum. Pranking and joking around is one thing. I think we all can appreciate those threads at least at some point of the day. But toying with people? That's just wrong.

That's all I wanted to add. Don't be a tool people.

trolling is an art, unfortunately most of basil is quite terrible at it

alright bobo thanks for the psa

im srry bobo ill try harder