Maintaining the list

[Carl Root]

>       Every list I have been on has had a troll or two. These are people who,
> in spite of what they know about the topic, simply don't have the
> interpersonal communication skills to keep the exchange of info productive.
> They are constantly in the center of a flame war, and generally cause a lot of
> "noise".   When the signal to noise ratio goes up, lists begin to lose members
> that have a low tolerance to trash talk, regardless of what they may have to
> offer.
> 
> There is only one way to keep a group free of these type of people.  It is
> simple, non-threatening, cheap,  and fast.
> 
>      Do not respond to the antagonists!!    When  trolls gets no response to
> their postings, they will leave.   It works every time.
>      This will take a little self-discipline, as it is natural to react when
> insulted, but if the membership of a list ignores troublemakers,  they will
> soon be free of them.
>   So,  don't fight fire with fire, fight it with silence.
> Regards,
> Ed Foote


My fellow techncians.  PLEASE take this post to heart.  I made a similar
request about three weeks ago, but the whole place erupted in flames
anyway within 24 hours. 

I seem to have had a role in this most recent outbreak.  I reponded to
Jon Page's post questioning the need for grinding off extra long
beckets.  Imagine my surprise when David Ilvedson responded with a
frivilous post insinuating that my post was written by Bill!  Bill and I
both let it go, but when Bill responded to my post, David remarked in
another post that we were bonding!  Oh please!?  I let it go; Bill
couldn't.

Some of you have concluded that I support Bill's style on this list.  I
do not.  In addition to his need to beat a dead horse and his 'I'm the
ultimate authority' attitude, he seems unable to control himself when he
gets rolling on a BALONEY post.  What has me mystified is that the same
lack of control and need to respond is also true for a number of other
list members.  I have had friendly off-line chats with a few list
members who maintain that frivilous posts, including derogatory posts
towards Bill, are appropriate behavior for this list. Some members have
asked us to use the delete key.  My observation is that most frivilous
posts are not marked as such and are far more numerous than Bill's
offensive posts.

Nothing will change on this list until ALL participants in this war
understand why they have needed to perpetuate it.  

Carl