BP should cool it on trollers

[JXC]

Look guys, i'm nothing more than another random member of BP. I'm not a mod, or admin. I'm just a part of the community, and therefore I don't know how much of what I have to say matters, but i'm going to say it anyway.

Recently, another troller was harrassed before being banned, and i'm sure most of you know what I am talking about. Before you know it personal information, pictures, addresses, etc. are being provided, and many BP members are encouraging spamming and prank phone calls, along with defacing pictures, and promoting harassment. This is not the first time this has happened.

First off, there is no way to be 100% sure that this IS the person who was trolling, but that may not matter. If this person really wanted to, they could file a harrassment lawsuit against Buckeye Planet. Now depending on what actually happened, the effect of this lawsuit could range from none to a lot. Though unlikely, if we aren't careful it could end up hurting Buckeye Planet in a way that gets the website shut down.

If somebody comes on here and says negative things about Ohio State, a member, etc. or violates any other terms that Buckeye Planet has set forth, they should be banned. But that should be the end of it. What is the point of getting personal information about the person? Payback? Payback for talking trash? I don't think that is right at all. I believe in an eye for an eye, but these things have been moving closer and closer to excessive. Banning them and removing or splitting their comments is all that should be done.

I do not feel like BP should allow it's memebers to actively post personal information about another poster in a manner that encourages others to harrass that member. I know that if I hosted a website, I wouldn't want that stuff to go on there. A LOT of people view Buckeye Planet. I think we should be above this type of harrassment. Nothing good can come of it, and it just make us look as bad as whoever it is who is trolling.

There is nothing wrong with responding to their comments and standing up for Buckeye Planet and The Ohio State University. But in a way I feel like we represent The Ohio State University, and this type of harrassment is not a good way to do so.

There is a fine line here, and I think it has been crossed a few times. I'm not trying to ruin anybody's fun, but BP offers a lot more enjoyment than this type of fun. I don't feel like it belongs here. I hope this doesn't offend anybody. I'm not trying to point fingers. It's a collective effort and I just kind of stepped back and realized that this stuff is going down a bad path quick. I definitely don't fault any single BP poster or group of BP posters.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Good points, you are correct.

 

[generaladm]

Seriously though, JXC, you make some good points, but I don't see it as that big a deal. For one thing, it would be extremely difficult for someone to fake a registration without having access to the McNeilee's email passwords, and using them to complete the reg process without them knowing. Okay, maybe not that difficult, but if people are that careless with their passwords, they will have much bigger problems than a BP McNeiling. Second, the really personal info (i.e. phone#s, address) are only up for a short time before they're removed by mods. MySpace/Facebook pics are already publicly posted for anyone to see, it just wasn't their intention to have them ridiculed by strangers. Email addresses fall somewhere in the middle, but at least they learn a quick lesson in not trolling with your real email. In this particular case, the guy was given several chances to cool it (both from mods and members) before the hammer came down. Anyone who chooses to post on any message board should at least skim over the rules. He used profanity in the recruiting forum and posted offensive pics of an OSU player, which are at the top of the list of infractions. He chose to cross the line more than once. Had he stuck to moronic pro-UM posts, I doubt it would have escalated past a few "fuck off"s.

As far as harrassment, isn't that what he was doing to us? Sure, it was harmless, but his intent was malicious, and it caused some busy work for the mods. He just didn't realize he wasn't as annonymous as he thought. Now, he may have to set up a new free email account, and start over on his networking profiles, but he brought it on himself. Anyone who wants to make a stink because they got schooled by the members of a message board they trolled doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. I seriously doubt that any legal action could be taken against BP or Clarity. That's like suing a bar because another customer scrawled your phone# on the bathroom wall (after you called their mother a whore). I've never been McNeiled by a rival's site, you know why? Cause I'm not a stupid asshole! (at least not in that manner) IMO, a light McNeiling just serves to cut down the bravado that trolls have when they think they are protected by annonymity, and helps reduce the trolling problem over the long haul. A troll who gets McNeiled is far less likely to try it again. Besides, we got shetuck, they don't. Fuck 'em.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I'm with the general.

You fuck with us, you get fucked with.

It's not about revenge, imo...it's about letting other would be trolls know we're not the ones.

If BP could get in ANY kind of trouble over this...I'd imagine BKB, gator, or another down ass motherfucker with knowledge would curb our enthusiasm with the quickness. They haven't, so fuck trolls.

edfinancial.com

 

[Mr. Buckeye]

That's like suing a bar because another customer scrawled your phone# on the bathroom wall (after you called their mother a whore).

In a bar, who would know who scrawled it as on a message board the person who post's personal Information is not anonymous.

If someone was to post my address and somebody came here and did something, I would assume that the person who posted it as well as Buckeyeplanet could be held liable.

 

[JXC]

Just throwing it out there. I don't think it's right. I don't think you can compare the harrassment either, because the troller's harrassment of tOSU and BP and members is usually kept general and not specifically pointed at somebody personally who has no ability to respond. Harrassing JXC is a lot different than harrassing a real person. There is a difference between the internet world and the real world. He didn't cross that line, we did. He broke the rules. He was a complete jerk. I am not sticking up for the guy. His intent was to troll, not to just show love for scUM or dislike for Ohio State.

My point about it not being the right person...is lets say I know somebody who always uses the screen name TexPeterBli. It's attached to everything, names, numbers. If somebody really wanted to do research, they could find out anything on TexPeterBlunt. Well...I could sign up for a free email address. [email protected]. Have my screen name be TexPeterBlunt on BP...and then troll away. Soon enough somebody find out TexPeterBli's real name is Peter Blick and he's from Texas. Then they find his facebook and myspace account. Then they find his phone numbers and other emails and address and pictures and so on. Even if some of those things get deleted, they are on here for awhile. Not Peter Blick is getting random emails, has his picture plastered on this website, and all this other crap...and he did nothing. Seems pretty simple to do if you ask me.

And even if it was really Peter Blick who was trolling, ban him...spam out his email address he signed up with, but don't get personal. To me...that is WAY to far. And I don't understand why everybody is like, "This will teach others from doing it." 1) I don't think other's do enough research to know what's going to happen to them. And 2) It seems like a lot of people have so much fun bashing these trollers, that they really don't mind when it does happen. Yeah it sucks for the mods to delete and have to do extra work. But posting other info that has to be deleted just causes even more work.

I don't agree with the bar example either. It would be like a bar posting personal info about something in their windows, with the owners knowing about it...not like writing a number on the bathroom stall. It's a fine line. Do we have to wait until somebody does go to far, and then we find a troller that really wants to do something about it, and all of a sudden BP is in trouble?

Maybe there are other ways to go about preventing trolling than posting personal info. Maybe until somebody has 50 posts or whatever number seems fitting, if any of their posts get like 3 or more neg reps, then they are auto banned until a mod can review the post and see if the ban should stick or not. To me it seems like we aren't THAT worried about the trolls, when they stick around for long enough to post several posts. So maybe something like that could get them banned quicker...and if they don't deserve to be banned, then they are un-banned when a mod looks at it, and that's just what you have to go through until you have a certain amount of posts here. Maybe we could have more BP memebers with the power to ban other members, so this could be stopped quicker. There are a lot of memebers on this board that could be entrusted with this power, bans could always be reversed, and if the power was abused you could be stripped of it and banned yourself. Just an idea. My ideas will probably all get shot down. But i'm shooting down the idea of this slipperly slope of posting personal info, etc. about trollers. And as far as letting other would be trollers know that we are not the ones. They already know that...as well as they could, and it still happens. I'm not saying we just lay down and take it...i'm saying we fight it in a different, more effective, and smart manner.

I just think the idea of this being our security measure on keeping trolls out isn't good. I believe it could be handled better. If i'm wrong, then i'm wrong. If i'm i'm in the minority, then so be it. I only started this thread because I love Buckeye Planet. It is BY FAR the best place on the internet. I want to keep it that way forever!

 

[FWBuckeye]

I don't have a problem with e-mail addresses or Facebook/MySpace pages being posted. I don't think anything too harmful can come out of signing someone up for a few porn sites or making fun of their pictures they post on social networking sites. However, I do think publishing stuff like phone numbers, home addresses, place of work, ect. crosses a line. At that point I think it can become too personal and get out of hand very quickly.

 

[3074326]

I just think the idea of this being our security measure on keeping trolls out isn't good. I believe it could be handled better. If i'm wrong, then i'm wrong. If i'm i'm in the minority, then so be it. I only started this thread because I love Buckeye Planet. It is BY FAR the best place on the internet. I want to keep it that way forever!

I'm not trying to take sides, but I've seen much worse come out of a simple ban. So far, ironically, this is the most effective way of dealing with trolls that I've seen. Bans are easy to get around. Easy actually makes it sound difficult. If someone gets their information posted, they'll stop. And they do. The trolls generally just get annoyed at being banned, and then sometimes use their 1337 h4x0r skills to cause some true harm to the site. By real harm, I mean scripts, hacking user, mod, and admin accounts (my moderator account was hacked and people thought I was fucking up the site). Ask Jeremy (user: mx) at musicianforums.com what a simple troll ended up doing to his site. It's ridiculous. That particular forum used vBulletin, as well..

So the fact that these fools get their stuff posted and don't come back is welcomed by me. The odds of something drastic happening are slim, but this works. Fuck 'em, they're fools. If they're dumb enough to sign up with their real e-mail addresses and bash recruits and/or players, both personally and sport-related, they deserve what they have coming. They're probably just going to have to register for a new e-mail address. They're going to do that to circumvent a ban anyways.

I know what you're saying. It's tough to disagree. But, based on experience, exposing the troll works. Controversial, but effective.

Most of this stuff is public anyways. The majority of the people I know on Facebook have much more than their phone number posted.

 

[JXC]

I don't have a problem with e-mail addresses or Facebook/MySpace pages being posted. I don't think anything too harmful can come out of signing someone up for a few porn sites or making fun of their pictures they post on social networking sites. However, I do think publishing stuff like phone numbers, home addresses, place of work, ect. crosses a line. At that point I think it can become too personal and get out of hand very quickly.

+1

 

[DaytonBuck]

We need attorney advice on this stat

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

It's pretty hard for your "law suit" to gain traction when you're being "harassed" with information YOU made public, eg Myspace, or is public info about you, ie home addresses. "Well, BP published my phone number!" "Yeah? Isn't that also in the phone book, linked to your real name?" "Ummm.... well.. yeah... but... ummm..."

I think JXCs heart is in the right place, but I also think he's being a bit of a pussy. His point about not being so sure on who's behind the computer on the other end is a decent one, though, and we do need to be careful. Not everyone needs to be McNeiled.... but... the threat is more effective a lot of times. If I'm a troll, and I see my REAL info out there... you know what I do? Quiet the fuck down.

Trolls are not welcome here. BP has gained, and continues to gain the reputation - because of these sorts of incidents - of being a place you'd better NOT troll. Why? Because it's not worth it.

So.... yeah, JXC doesnt say anything in his post which is particularly untrue... but... it should be known among the user base, this isn't the first time people have kicked around the issue of whether this sort of thing should be allowed. It still occurs. Take from that what you will. Likewise, it's not just a matter of making some individual troll feel worried. There is a larger purpose to this. As above, we'd prefer if the trolls just pass BP bye. As this sort of thing goes on... they will.... indeed, I believe they already do. Why the fuck are you gonna troll BP when you can troll scout or rivals?

JXC, I don't think there's some sort of organized hideout for trolls where they all get together and break down which sites to troll and which to ignore. But, that said, you're wrong if you don't think BP has a reputation out there. For multiple things, hopefully most of them good. But, if among "They've got a great preview" & "their recruiting info, for free stuff, is top of the line" is also "Oh, and for God's sake don't troll there" I'm perfectly happy.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Oh, and I'll be a bit of a pussy myself and say, when I said that about JXC I don't want to be understood as discouraging these sorts of "Who are we as a group" threads. I was just bustin his balls a little bit.

There was a time when the "How should we be doing this or that" thread was quite common, and there is certainly nothing wrong with examining our behavior as a site. So, if you have an opinion, share it.. if there is a better way to deal with these idiots, lets hear it.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I agree with everything BKB said about JXC being a pussy.

 

[buckeyemania11]

if Trey McNeiling trolls is wrong then I dont want to be right

 

[JXC]

It's pretty hard for your "law suit" to gain traction when you're being "harassed" with information YOU made public, eg Myspace, or is public info about you, ie home addresses. "Well, BP published my phone number!" "Yeah? Isn't that also in the phone book, linked to your real name?" "Ummm.... well.. yeah... but... ummm..."

To me, it's not as much about the public info being posted, as much as the info being posted, and then harrassment using the personal info being encouraged. Public info is public info. I agree with that. But how you use it is important. Your phone number is public, but that doesn't mean I can call you and harrass or threaten you. That crosses a legal line. Having a night to sleep on it, I feel like posting pictures or email address isn't bad. It's the addresses, phone numbers, and other stuff that may cross a line, especially what any encourgament to harrass. Good discussion though. Thanks for the post BKB.