Julia Altshuler
August 19th 03, 04:19 AM
Please, PLEASE, just ignore him. He's crossposting to more and more groups so
more and more people are likely to respond. You can't reason with him, and
telling him to shut up doesn't work. Here's the canned message on the subject.
This message is posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior (r.p.d.b.) regularly and
occasionally to other newsgroups including alt.animals.dog,
rec.pets.dogs.rescue, alt.pets.dog, and rec.pets.dogs.misc. These are
unmoderated groups meaning that no one checks the messages to make sure they're
on-topic, civil or sensible before they go through.
The purpose of this occasional posting is to give information about the
newsgroup so that discussion about the newsgroup itself is cut down and
discussion about dogs increases.
Like so many usenet groups, this group has people who post annoyingly
and constantly, people who post angry and abusive messages, people who
post to irritate others. It's up to individuals to decide which posters
bother them.
Here are some guidelines that many people follow to make this newsgroup
pleasant and informative:
1. Use your killfile. A killfile (or filter) makes invisible posts by
any particular person or with any particular words in the subject line.
The posts are still there, but they don't show up on the screen of the
person using the killfile. Look at
http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/killfilefaq.htm for instructions. Or
try: http://www.graphixmad.plus.com/OE_FAQ_newsgroups.html.
2. Don't make more noise. The only thing more annoying than a troll is
an otherwise rational person arguing with or about a troll. That's
known as feeding the trolls. Please don't feed the trolls. It really
is insane to attempt rational discussion with the insane.
3. Want to exercise your right to free speech and argue about or with
trolls anyway? Put "ninnyboy" in the subject line. That way the people
who want to join the fracas can, and those who don't can opt out by
killfiling "ninnyboy." If you don't do this, expect to be killfiled
yourself. [Jerry], with the brackets is also a recognized signal.
4. Figured out that arguing with trolls is useless but still want to
talk about trolls by referring to them in the third person? Put
"ninnyboy" in the subject line then too. That subject is boring too.
5. Trim quoted posts to include only the part you're responding to.
Quoting an entire long post in order to respond to only a small piece of
it is annoying. Again, if you don't do this, expect to be killfiled.
6. Understand Candace. Candace is an automatic program that answers
troll posts automatically, repetititively and relentlessly. Most of us
find these posts boring after a short while and killfile it too. That's
O.K. You can't hurt its feelings.
7. Show no fear. Have a question or need to admit that you've made
errors in dog training in the past? This is still a good place to come
for (often contradictory) advice. Use your own judgment to decide what
advice to follow and what not to. No harm can come to you even if
people vehemently disagree, call you names or repost your old messages.
8. Label off-topic threads as "OT." A label helps people decide what
to read and what not to.
9. Check the F.A.Q. for answers to frequent non-complicated questions.
10. Don't post pictures. This is not a binary newsgroup. That's plain
text only, no HTML, no attachments. If you'd like, post a pointer to a
website with pictures on it.
11. Don't crosspost. It's bad enough when someone posts something dog
related to all the groups having to do with dogs. It's worse when
totally unrelated groups get tossed in the mix. Feel like you
absolutely have to jump in on something that's been crossposted to unrelated
groups? Erase the extraneous ones when you answer.
more and more people are likely to respond. You can't reason with him, and
telling him to shut up doesn't work. Here's the canned message on the subject.
This message is posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior (r.p.d.b.) regularly and
occasionally to other newsgroups including alt.animals.dog,
rec.pets.dogs.rescue, alt.pets.dog, and rec.pets.dogs.misc. These are
unmoderated groups meaning that no one checks the messages to make sure they're
on-topic, civil or sensible before they go through.
The purpose of this occasional posting is to give information about the
newsgroup so that discussion about the newsgroup itself is cut down and
discussion about dogs increases.
Like so many usenet groups, this group has people who post annoyingly
and constantly, people who post angry and abusive messages, people who
post to irritate others. It's up to individuals to decide which posters
bother them.
Here are some guidelines that many people follow to make this newsgroup
pleasant and informative:
1. Use your killfile. A killfile (or filter) makes invisible posts by
any particular person or with any particular words in the subject line.
The posts are still there, but they don't show up on the screen of the
person using the killfile. Look at
http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/killfilefaq.htm for instructions. Or
try: http://www.graphixmad.plus.com/OE_FAQ_newsgroups.html.
2. Don't make more noise. The only thing more annoying than a troll is
an otherwise rational person arguing with or about a troll. That's
known as feeding the trolls. Please don't feed the trolls. It really
is insane to attempt rational discussion with the insane.
3. Want to exercise your right to free speech and argue about or with
trolls anyway? Put "ninnyboy" in the subject line. That way the people
who want to join the fracas can, and those who don't can opt out by
killfiling "ninnyboy." If you don't do this, expect to be killfiled
yourself. [Jerry], with the brackets is also a recognized signal.
4. Figured out that arguing with trolls is useless but still want to
talk about trolls by referring to them in the third person? Put
"ninnyboy" in the subject line then too. That subject is boring too.
5. Trim quoted posts to include only the part you're responding to.
Quoting an entire long post in order to respond to only a small piece of
it is annoying. Again, if you don't do this, expect to be killfiled.
6. Understand Candace. Candace is an automatic program that answers
troll posts automatically, repetititively and relentlessly. Most of us
find these posts boring after a short while and killfile it too. That's
O.K. You can't hurt its feelings.
7. Show no fear. Have a question or need to admit that you've made
errors in dog training in the past? This is still a good place to come
for (often contradictory) advice. Use your own judgment to decide what
advice to follow and what not to. No harm can come to you even if
people vehemently disagree, call you names or repost your old messages.
8. Label off-topic threads as "OT." A label helps people decide what
to read and what not to.
9. Check the F.A.Q. for answers to frequent non-complicated questions.
10. Don't post pictures. This is not a binary newsgroup. That's plain
text only, no HTML, no attachments. If you'd like, post a pointer to a
website with pictures on it.
11. Don't crosspost. It's bad enough when someone posts something dog
related to all the groups having to do with dogs. It's worse when
totally unrelated groups get tossed in the mix. Feel like you
absolutely have to jump in on something that's been crossposted to unrelated
groups? Erase the extraneous ones when you answer.