It had to happen. First came the after-glow of a Webb victory in the primary. We have been celebrating, shooting off and generally having a good time as winners do. Our camp was a somewhat messy collection of grass-roots supporters with many reasons for being here. But you can+óGé¼Gäót stay in camp and win any ground. So off we went to engage George Allen.The Allen people had been secretly hoping that general confusion within the Democratic Party would yield them any opponent other than Mr. Webb. So they hung back and tried to act like they had no opponent. George Allen bet that the Democratic base would sit this election out. Foolish Felix.
Now they have Mr. Webb and make no mistake he is a formidable candidate. He has the bona fides, the skills, and most important, the instincts of a hunter. You will not see him crashing through the forest of Allen partisans looking for a clear shot. We should do the same.
We are in Troll Country now folks. Look Sharp, Be Sharp.
Put on your moccasins and join me in Crockettville+óGé¼-ª
We all know that George Allen has an obscene amount of money in his war chest. He can afford the best that money can buy. We need to make sure he spends it. For every volunteered hour we give, he+óGé¼Gäóll have to spend money on consultants. They+óGé¼Gäóll do it for the money; we+óGé¼Gäóll do it for the cause. They are protecting their Party and their jobs; we+óGé¼Gäóre protecting our Constitution and Nation. This is a national spotlight election.
So it should surprise no one that the pickets have been set. Raising Kaine was recently given international attention by Kos on his blog. Have you noticed how many new +óGé¼+ôfriends+óGé¼-¥ we have on the site? In just the last week all manner of +óGé¼+ômembers+óGé¼-¥ have appeared to post incendiary and off-topic comments. What are they doing?
They are looking for weakness and vulnerability. They want to divert your attention, hijack your thread, and spin you into a rant. They want you to discuss their points, or no point, anything but focus on the real issues in this Senate campaign.
If these new +óGé¼+ômembers+óGé¼-¥ can draw you into a back and forth posting about something emotional or off topic, you will become distracted and your brain will fog. You become useless to Mr. Webb and our cause.
Look at poor Ben Tribbett over at Not Larry Sabato. He made his usual gesture of being the sensible moderate, chastising the Webb campaign, and what did it bring him? Trolls, smelling weakness. He has troll shit to the rafters and a yard full of trolls. He may never get the grass to grow again! Ben has been crushed, move on.
We are just getting going here and I+óGé¼Gäóve been just as guilty of taking the opportune shot at these jackasses. It has to stop. Keep your powder dry. There is nothing worse for a troll than the stony silence of no reply. Use it effectively and often. Stay on point, or stay out of the fray. Focus.
A new politics is being born in America. It is bottom-up, netrooted, and individual activism. It is now possible to become completely informed outside of the mainstream media and its spoon-fed newsfeed. If you are at RK you are already more informed that 95% of your opponents. Use your advantage. Get better. Visit the other linked liberal progressive blogs provided by Raising Kaine and arm yourself with knowledge. You have the advantage of a social movement that rejects the central control that seeks to limit your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. You are the reality-based community. You will prevail.
But we need to develop more discipline here. We need to pick our targets very carefully and let the trolls spin themselves dizzy. If we do this right everyone will get to know the smell of a troll in two posts, and we can all step over them. If it takes more than that, the moderators have their own tools.
Now look sharp and give me a recommend. I need to know you are with me.
#2: If you have a good factual retort, use the Troll as an opportunity to debunk a talking point. It's good practice, but don't use personal attacks, they make us look bad as a community.
#3: Troll Rate. Yup, I think we can and should lower the number of Troll Ratings necessary to make a posting invisible. It looks like it takes 7 troll ratings now, we should drop that to like 3 or 4.
#4: Determine your core beliefs and determine your principles. If you have a strong list of Progressive principles to work from, every encounter becomes an opportunity to win friends and influence people.
REQUIRED READING: Jeffrey Feldman's 'Elevator Speech'
Here's mine: Democrats, Moral Leadership: Universal Opportunity. Responsibile Government. Energy Security. Fair Markets. Sustainable Growth. Healthy Families. Strong Communities. The Right to Privacy. The Common Good.
I can expand indefinately on each of those principles, working from principles you can discuss down to issues, and espouse powerful policies, as long as you tie everything always back to your powerful progressive VALUES.
#5: Get really familiar and comfortable with Jim Webb's values, history, and ideas. Get ready with your Jim Webb elevator speech and be prepared to repeat it 10,000 times between now and November.
#6: lighten up: These idiots are scared. Jim Webb the first one in 30 years to stand up to George Felix Allen Jr. The Virginia GOP is already fractured, and Webb will claim the full left all the way over to the center right of the political spectrum. Anyone who's not to the right of Pat Robertson will support Jim Webb once they get to know him. That's our challenge, to understand the positions of the campaign and bring them out. Relax in the courage of your convictions.
Point #1 - Just ignore. Why bother with posting useless stuff and taking up room. It would make all of us better cooks, but I'd rather keep the blog readable :-) The silent treatment, as noted by Bubby, is very effective.
And adding to #2 - try not to get caught up in personal battles. If a troll calls you a name try not to, however tempting, get into a fight (with or without FCC fine-able language). Just refer back to point #1.
Perhaps someone can let us know why the old Recipe technique is used.
2. It alerts everyone, especially the site admins, to the Troll's Troll status, thus alerting others to the situation, and starting the the site admin countermeasure process.
3. It's always nice to get a new recipie.
one other thing: using your rule 1 doesn't really work... Trolls piss people off, and then it's off to the races.
Eric, can we lower the # of troll ratings necessary to make a comment invisible?
Quite simply, the rating system is not used as it should be. Users (legit and trolls alike) tend to give high ratings (4) when they agree and low ratings (0) when they don't agree.
This creates a real problem because we're not getting troll feedback - just binary agreement or disagreement. So if we lower the threshold then people who have said something unpopular, but perfectly reasonable, will get zapped.
So that's why I prefer to keep an eye on things and take it case by case. Real trouble makers will be banned. Moderate trouble makers should be dealt with much the way you and Bubby (and others through the months) have said.
I'd still prefer ignore method. But I promise to email you the next good chicken recipe I get.
Troll rating is for the abuser and willful hijacker. Not the guy that disagrees.
Perhaps it's just human nature to push the extremes or try to one-up each other. We used to have a scaled Weasel meter that went from 1 to 5 - but why bother when it's always set to 5? And we received many suggestions that we just raise it to 10.
Everyone's looking for the proverbial amp that goes to 11.
I doubt the troll system as it currently exists will solve this problem.
Lets keep our eye on the prize!
Lets Elect Webb! and all the other Dems down ticket!
Let's learn from the Elevator speech, and FDR's version of it,
"There is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are: equality of opportunity for youth and for others; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; the ending of special privilege fro the few; the preservation of civil liberties for all; the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living."
kc