in reply to A modest request of Merlyn

delirium,

I do not have any substantive reply to your node, but the following makes me slightly nervous:

I enjoy heated arguments, and I think people screaming at each other in their posts over trifles is high comedy. That's what make Slashdot and Fark fun

To me, this makes you sound suspiciously like a troll. Or at least a person exhibiting troll-like behavior. Your behavior in this thread certainly reinforces that, in my mind.

Heated arguments on Slashdot and Fark may be fun for you, but for me (and others I know), they are anything but. In the very least, I think we can agree that certain communities tend to be overrun by such, and I can't imagine that's a good thing. I hope your love of argument is tempered by a desire to maintain a useful community.

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Re^2: A modest request of Merlyn
by jryan (Vicar) on Jul 13, 2004 at 23:12 UTC

    I agree with you. Trolling Slashdot-ers are pretty low, but a Farker? Might as well glue a "I am the white trash of the Internet" bumpersticker to your forehead. Hell, probably should staple it.

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Re^2: A modest request of Merlyn
by delirium (Chaplain) on Jul 13, 2004 at 19:16 UTC
    Please let me know what behavior of mine in this thread seems troll-like. I attempted to make very clear that I was not offended by anything said to me, and that a disclaimer linked to in a signature was untruthful and should be removed.

    If you would like to search through some of my other posts, you will see that I am a regular contributor to this community, that I am not a troublemaker, and that I attempt to help people with the perl problems they present here.

    Here are a few examples:

    A number of people are disagreeing with me in this thread. This does not make me a troll. This area of the site is for non-perl problems, and topics like this frequently come up here.

    I imagine some members here are assuming that I am trying to be a troll because the object of this post is a valued community member. I value Merlyn as much as the next member, just look at my profile.

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      Please let me know what behavior of mine in this thread seems troll-like.

      These are the behaviors I consider troll-like:

      • You took a relatively obscure post of yours (which merlyn failed to reply to) and elevated it to a whole top-level node.
      • You have insistently replied to many nodes in this thread. Granted, you started it to engage in a discussion, but there is a point where you should just let the comments stand (e.g. posting 8 levels deep seems a bit excessive to dwell on one minor point).
      • In your own words, you described your enjoyment of "heated discussions."

      If you would like to search through some of my other posts, you will see that I am a regular contributor to this community

      This is why I hesitated to call you an outright troll, and added the caveat that it might just be "troll-like behavior." I have not reviewed your entire post history, and am not prepared to completely write you off. I hope my post wasn't read in that way.

      I imagine some members here are assuming that I am trying to be a troll because the object of this post is a valued community member.

      Please do not consider me in that group. As I stated, my post had no substantive reply. I do not think merlyn is particularly mean-spirited, but I'm not in any position to defend or condemn his behavior. I was simply commenting on yours.

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