Stealth Blocking

Wed May 23 20:49:11 UTC 2001

On Wed, May 23, 2001 at 12:59:44PM -0500, Albert Meyer wrote:
> 
> it on the list. If a troll says something and nobody rebuts him, that 
> doesn't mean that he wins. The troll wins by getting a response.

You're assuming that the responses are an attempt to convince the troll.

They're not; nobody cares what the troll thinks.

The responses are to convince the peanut gallery, because the fact is that
the vast majority of those reading this (or any) mailing list are not
posting, and many of them are undecided on any issue that comes up.

We respond to trolls so that the lurkers will hear the rational sides of
the story, not just the troll side.

This has the unfortunate side effect of feeding the trolls, but it's
an acceptable risk if it enhances the clue level of someone who isn't
yet lost.

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