I have a fairly strict policy on comment trolls. If people who disagree want to have a reasoned debate, that’s fine. Witness the recent “Macy’s mannequin mess” thread that went on for over 100 comments. What I won’t tolerate are trolls who post inflammatory comments lacking in logic or rhetorical merit (building straw men, et al.) and refuse to respond to what people write in reply. I especially lack patience for trolls who come here by way of blogs of opposing viewpoint soliciting such trolling. So I ban them.
It wasn’t much of a problem when I required registration for commenting. Most trolls don’t have the courage to enter even a valid email address (which is required for registration), never mind use their real name.
One such example is a guy who calls himself “Citizen Charles Foster Kane.” He dropped a trolling comment in a recent thread so I banned him. On his blog (which I won’t dignify by linking it), he declares it a victory by calling me a “glass jaw conservative.” I left a comment on the thread explaining why I took this action and, predictably, he engages in hypocrisy by deleting it. Instead he emailed me, repeating his same worthless argument from the original comment, and adds: “Someone calls you on the nonsense you write and you run like a punk.”
I find this hilarious, being called a coward by someone who won’t even use his real name in a direct email to me. Yeah, it takes real courage to snipe at a guy, mano a mano, behind a pseudonym. You want to blog anonymously? Fine. But if you want to accuse me of cowardice in a personal email, then take off the mask when you do it.
Dom, you know I like you, so I’m saying this as a fan of what you do: don’t play the victim card, which is what this post seems like. Jesus didn’t. Shake the dirt off and carry on.
I am not playing the victim card. I am delineating a policy for the several people who have been banned lately and those may be showing up and will be banned. Trolls are not welcome.
It also explains to other commenters why I won’t always respond to those who write something that challenges what I write. It’s not because I concede the point, but because I will not feed the trolls.