You may disagree fervently with Pres. Biden's Israel policies, and that's fine. But if you come into my feed calling him "Genocide Joe" or any variation on that theme, you're blocked.
I've already had to block a few accounts for this.
Pres. Biden is not "for genocide." I will not argue with you on this topic, nor do I discuss the Israel/Hamas war here.
But I will not tolerate accusations of "genocide" by Pres. Biden. He's not "pro genocide."
@GottaLaff
<sigh>I known the pain. Not as often as you obviously, but I understand. So sorry to hear you are being harassed. Let me know anytime if I can help
@GottaLaff THank you. I do the same. Have had several rabid accusers recently, even one who said they "saw my game and called me out" the usual vague pustule-esque crap. If this place goes the way of all others I've tried I'll be changing up.
It is frustrating to see Mastodon sliding into the same toxic discourse as characterizes other platforms. That is why posts such as this one are important. We need to build community around setting reply standards.
The idea that you have a right to establishing clear limits to what you will and will not accept in your replies is important for creating a framework where community norms can be established.
This is not to say that you can not come barging into any feed and start spouting whatever angry rant is on your mind. Provided you don't violate the use policies, no one can stop you.
However, be aware that if you cross the line of what the poster deems acceptable for their feed, you may get blocked, and blocked by others who value the integrity of that poster's contributions.
@GottaLaff
I must have missed all these "genocide Joe" promoters' lauding his pro-Palestinian actions before Hamas attacked Israel on Putin's birthday.
That sounds like MAGAts that trawl for lib accounts to taunt and then getting blocked is somehow....something to preen about? The troll "won"? Won what? Good job, no one cares? People are weird.
@birdpoof@GottaLaff given how ridiculously easy it is to banish them from your sight and they will never see your posts again, I think this "harassment" plan doesn't work, at all. They basically just get to talk to the void and the 12 people who they mutually follow who didn't block them.
On me, is trying to block them without needing to say something snide as the last word. Better to say nothing at all. Practice for me being a better person.
Oh shoot, that reminds me of a comment somewhere (maybe for one of Laffy's other threads) where someone said people who do this are also shoving their views/heckling at the account followers--since the account blocking them won't affect what the followers see. This is probably why trolls show up primarily for the big accounts.
@GottaLaff@birdpoof@Urban_Hermit That’s why I enjoy posts such as this, when the criteria are clear. The post draws trolls like flies. Super easy, if tedious, to block them. So if Laffy’s followers take the hint, we all get the benefit.
I’m getting a necessary blocking blister. What’s with the aggro today? @GottaLaff’s long and historied Twitter reign over trolls is GOAT. I literally joked that she’d had to have had Siberian containment centers built monthly.
This is penny ante for Laffy (fearless leader) but still rankles a bit, I just don’t think we are accustomed to the swarming sensation here.
@birdpoof@Urban_Hermit@GottaLaff But they will only do it once. Unless they get the big account’s followers to follow them. When Laffy blocks someone, I block them as well. She knows a troll when she sees one.
@birdpoof@GottaLaff the beautiful thing is, when GottaLaff blocks a person, they will never see any of GottaLaff's posts ever again. So they won't be leaving comments for GottaLaff and will find it difficult to find those threads, unless they are stalking somebody else individually who comments on those threads.
That, in my opinion, is why it helps us all when we individually block freely. Anybody who starts in with me, or anyone I follow, with an insult or dismissal is worth a block.
You have given me something to think about here. I am a "muter." Life is to short to take time reading someone call me (or anyone else really) names, etc. I usually mute because (and maybe my thinking is wrong here) I thought when you mute someone, the don't know. I always think, "I don't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing I blocked them."
But perhaps blocking, not muting is the way to go.
I also follow/unfollow with abandon. I will follow just about anyone who turns up on my timeline, but if I remember a couple of posts that make me cringe or just whatever, I hit that unfollow button.
@MylesRyden@birdpoof@GottaLaff from fedi.tips "People who are muted will not know they are muted, and they will still be able to follow you, see your posts and interact. Blocking does everything a mute does PLUS also prevents them from following you and hides your posts from them".
So, muting is like putting on a blindfold, but the neighbor still pisses in your garden (they're still in your threads, you just don't know it). Blocking is like they lose your address and can't see your house.
@Urban_Hermit@MylesRyden@birdpoof@GottaLaff I always thought of muting as "This content isn't for me" whereas blocking is "This content creator is actively and intentionally offensive".
@gooba42 It's basically not a judgment call on motivation, but who you want to block from seeing your posts, who you don't want to see ever again, and yes, what you said too. But some I block aren't intentionally offensive, they just ARE offensive. @Urban_Hermit@MylesRyden@birdpoof
It's not as though they're ignorant that they're causing harm, trauma and offense. Moreover trying to talk to them at any length reveals very quickly that they actively enjoy that aspect of their bullshit.
They don't want to be civil, they just know they can't admit that up front and continue their game.
Thank you. I'm going to use your first comment as boilerplate response to these idiots. I used to use David Sedaris's selection of airplane food, "Would you prefer the roasted chicken or a plate of shit with broken glass."
@GottaLaff since essentially none of this is organic, I assume the ringmasters have decided that this kind of angry disruption is useful to them. And so the instructions have gone out to the paid accounts and the bots and the useful idiots follow along ...
@GottaLaff this is a lot of why I left FB years ago. It was sad to see my acquaintances there start spouting this kind of planted nonsense.
Mastodon reminds me of FB sometimes in the degree of political naivety and thus openness to the meme purveyors and the disinformation ratfuckers. But, at least, unlike FB, these people mostly aren't nominally my "friends".
Your account is way more public than mine. I suspect I just get peripheral overflow from the attacks but you're specifically targeted.
I think #filtering them could deny them the satisfaction of distracting you. More experienced #Mastodon users might could help. I don’t use #filters because I enjoy trolling them back. #Filter
@GottaLaff The troll level on Mastodon, particularly on this issue, now meets or exceeds that on former Twitter. Can’t imagine what a cesspool X must be.
An edgelord is a person who attracts attention by saying shocking / stupid / hyperaggressive things. Sometimes harmless, always disruptive, often dangerous.
Thank you for stating this policy in clear terms. Your feed is a treasure and you have every right to spell out what types of replies cross the line. Your many followers certainly appreciate your efforts to keep the feed interesting and constructive.
@GottaLaff I call him genocide Joe because he’s trying to kill off the largest group of marginalized Americans, the disabled people. He’s fully pushing Covid to genocide all of us. And then there’s Gazza #GenocideJoe
@GottaLaff It’s your feed, so you make the rules. I do always like to hear the opinions of those closely impacted by good and bad things. It seems to me that these are the most valuable voices. And the voices that need to be heard.
@GottaLaff Opinions was not the correct word. My apology.
I am as on edge about all of this as you. I left my beautiful home of 25 years because all I heard was gunfire around me. All by myself with my two cats. Three moves so far…
Do you Block, or Block&Report? Because coming into someone's thread as a "genocide joe" reply guy is trolling. I just Block, unless the reply is to one of my own posts (still figuring out where the line is, feel like it's not my call when the troll reply is on someone else's post).
What's interesting is that this post predictably generated a slew of folks who deliberately used the subject term. Once all of them have been blocked the feed is quite reasonable and interesting. Don't be afraid to remove loud noisy nonsense from your social media experience.
What I'm finding odd is that these trolls usually have a few hundred to over a thousand followers, and most of those followers look real. So these shitbag brigaders* are at least somewhat organized, and/or have found each other organically. The good news is it implies there's only a few thousand of them, but I do wish for a megaban feature: block this asshole and everyone following them, unless that follower is someone I'm already following.
*shitbag brigader: left winger who blames everything wrong in the world and their life on the Democrats currently in power, especially those over age 60. Prone to purity posing and absolutist assertions. Typical example is a berniecrat who's still trying to rationalize their refusal to back clinton having resulted in inflicting a mangolini regime on the world.
@GottaLaff True enough. In my experience, the thing about trolls and other provocateurs is that they are playing to an audience in the same way a smart-ass kid plays to the class to embarrass a teacher. My take on it is that there is a sense of crisis and futility among progressives that tends toward a version of “If you aren’t pissed off you aren’t paying attention” that takes it to French Revolution levels of perceived purity and virtue.
@GottaLaff I reported/blocked some of these accounts yesterday. There’s also at least one using the hashtag “Bidenthebutcher.” I have no time for such idiots.
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