This is going to be an unusually busy day for me, so I must limit myself to one brief but important observation.
The aim is to disrupt the process by which persons in the Right are finding and reinforcing one another via the Net. As a side effect, it tempts conservatives to abandon civility.
The tactic is based on Disqus, the popular commenting system in use at the Breitbart sites and several others. Disqus supports a mechanism it calls following, which permits any member of its large user community to be notified of activity by another, named user.
Individual left-wing activists have begun using the "following" capability to harass individual conservatives.
I can't swear to the details of this campaign, but it appears that these leftists are being dispatched by some coordinating agency to:
- Pick a rightist commenter to a Disqus-equipped site, preferably an intelligent and knowledgeable one;
- Follow that rightist;
- Harass the rightist by "replying" to his comments, whether with leftist drivel, personal insults, or reams of irrelevancies.
If the rightist reacts discourteously, that's a victory for the leftist.
If he reacts by marking his activity private, that's a bigger victory.
If he ceases to contribute at Disqus-based sites, that's the biggest victory of all.
The whole point is to disrupt the process by which we pool our ideas and reassure one another that we're not isolated cranks that decent people would cross the street to avoid.
There is no perfect countermeasure. Here's Disqus's note on preventing such harassment:
How do I block people from following me?While the functionality to block followers doesn't currently exist within Disqus, you do have the option of making your activity on Disqus private.
Of course, making your activity private prevents other conservatives from following you just as effectively as the harassing leftist troll you've attracted. However, no better solution exists at this time.
Sigh. The interactive Web, which seemed entirely positive at first, is steadily being reduced to the level of a kindergarten playground where the biggest and most obnoxious spratlings are free to harass and terrorize the rest. Those who wish to enjoy their recess undisturbed are forced to stay inside. I suppose it was inevitable; we're dealing with the sort of creeps who can't argue, lie and insult by preference, regard freedom of expression as the exclusive property of the Left, and dismiss fair play as something for others to bother themselves about.
Enjoy your Sunday.
7 comments:
Many years ago, when Craigs List was just powering, their political forum was kinda afun place to go back and forth with REgressives. Just about everyone used a handle, the discussions at times were pretty potty mouthed but both sides were making their case(however irrational the left's were) in pretty much their own words.
Now? Furgetaboutit. Easily 9 of 10 posts are weird sexual innuendos. Or cut and paste jobs. Sadly, both sides are guilty but REgressives far more so.
It seems rather than have a place where fallacies can be pointed out, history discussed and viable remedies put forth, REgressives would rather trash the whole forum with constant reposting of the same garbage day after day.
It's just too toxic to bother now and that's what they wanted.
MM
I can't imagine why Breitbart continues to use Disqus. There are other comments systems.
Interestingly, a long time ago Blogger wanted to give all commenters the power to vote on comments and force their removal by blog owners if there were enough negative responses. The ensuing rage at that idea caused them to drop it.
Discus-powered comments are very slow to load. Their software must have been made to minimize comments.
The trick is to never-ever allow actual personal information to leak out onto the web. Everything leads back to a gmail account that has no personal outgoing or incoming mail, accessed on a netbook used on public access points.
Law enforcement will have no problem with this, or knocking on your door if they wish, but it will slightly slow down bad children.
Can't comment on or read the comments on most discrap using sites.
Something I've been experimenting with of late, for this kind of leftist tactic, is explaining that, by any objective measure that isn't mere appearances, the modern leftist is subhuman, that besides being subhuman, hence without any rights I am morally obligated to respect, he or she is not in commity with me, social contract-wise and may therefore be morally killed or enslaved, that though the legal inconveniences associated with that may protect them for the nonce, when those legal protections go under it's zombie hunting time, no license needed and no bag limit. And that I can hardly wait. On the few occasions I've used that technique, it seems to have worked.
(chuckle) Well, Tom, as charming as it is, I think that tactic would work better in your hands than mine. I can hardly even swear without feeling an immediate and near to overpowering need to go to Confession. Though I must say, the "license not required / no bag limit" part does gladden my Second-Amendment-fanatic heart.
Mr. Kratman -
I beg to differ, Sir.
There is, in fact a bag limit.
1. Disposal. Leaving deceased liberals lying around is both unhygenic, and unsportsmanlike. It fouls the field. There are only so many you can bury in a day, even with earthmoving equipment.
2. Cost. What, did you think ammunition was -free-? Sooner or later, you will run out.
3. Fatigue. Enjoyable as it may be, everyone has to sleep sometime.
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