I'm all for the TWoP way of dealing with trolls.

I only hang out in the C.S.I. forums which are for the most part pretty civilized, so I haven't seen any examples of TWoP troll-dispatchment. What do they do to them?

Because we see this board as a safe haven. We'd like to share it with others who belong here, and keep out those who'd disrupt or destroy it. And if we make any mistakes on these calls, someone(s) will get hurt.

Particularly now when my world is full of confrontation I want to come here to feel safe.

I have to say, one thing that this whole mess has convinced me of is that there needs to be someone(s) empowered and willing to act against disruptive community members. Probably those someone(s) discuss it amongst themselves before they act, but taking it to Bureaucracy every time seems likely to lead to long drawn-out conversations and hurt feelings.

I'd suggest a system like:

1) Anyone can volunteer. There are N empowered people at any given time; first-come, first-served. Everyone else is on a wait list, and the role gets cycled through say every three months.

2) A discussion of community values is had before the system goes into place, so we can come up with some rough consensus there.

3) The e.p.s act when necessary. They discuss the matter among themselves, but they don't have to put anything short of a full ban to a vote here.

And for everyone who hates the idea of a Stompy or whatever being empowered to act without consensus on all his/her actions, I'll remind you of the scene the term comes from in the first place; Buffy doesn't want to be a disciplinarian, wants to be able to keep just being Dawn's friend, but Giles, ever the grown-up, points out that it's her responsibility and Dawn needs her to accept it. If all the Stompies do is tech admin stuff, and that seems to be their primary role at this point, then who is responsible for making sure, metaphorically, that beds are made and people get to school on time? Because someone has to do that job, whether in a household or a community.

I, however, am not a 14-year-old girl and do not want/need someone to act in my best interests.

That would be a very big change in philosophy for Buffistas, and one that some Buffistas would feel was anti-Buffista.

X-post

Well, no -- you, Connie, don't. But the community as a whole does.

What do they do to them?

They stomp. No debate, no questions, do not pass go. Just the stomp. Delete the post, then a post from the mod that says something to the affect of, "You're done."

And that's that.

Because the nature of this board is to discuss in increasing detail until the pain is excrutiating, a troll can act freely for 8 years while we discuss who, and how, the person gets stomped.

Well, Cindy, here's the thing:

1. In our first incarnation, we did have people in that role. They worked for Salon, not for the board, but they were there. In fact, I think the first person with the Stompy Foot line in her tag was Mary Beth.

2. Hashing everything out in the current way in Bureaucracy is clearly not working.

My proposal was meant to be as community-based, non-authoritarian, and consensus-driven as possible while still empowering people to act against disruptive forces. But if we wait for consensus in dealing with trolls, every single one of them will end up like this one has been, and I can't think I'm alone in feeling like that might kill me.

Oatmeal!

Allyson, one problem a lot of people have with TWoP here is that the moderators stomp people for, really, no good reason at all. And I think that it's worth stressing that we'd need a system where individuals would be less empowered than the mods are at TWoP, because I don't want a board where, say, Jengod could get booted because Victor didn't like her style, or amych could get stomped for signing her posts. I do, however, want a board where we don't tear ourselves to bits trying to deal with a two-bit troll.

Well, except TVWOP seems to stomp one and delete threads for people accidently posting in the wrong place-- so a little overboard...

I can see where Michele is coming from, and I in some ways agree. It very, very difficult for this many people to discuss things, as we have seen. I can't see the Buffistas as a whole going for that much of a culture change. Maybe if everyone served?