Pushing buttons

There's been a lot of button pushing going on over at Head Heritage lately.

Flame wars seem to be the order of the day, and a whole loads of threads have turned into shitfests.

Most of this centres around one poster. In the past this wouldn't have happened for very long, but this time, for whatever reason, when it's turned to personal abuse, the perpetrator has been allowed to remain as part of the community.

That may even be in part down to me. I asked for a previous troll not to be banned, although he was, and I was critical of the site's policy of removing the comments of banned posters. Perhaps they've decided to show us what happens when you allow a disruptive individual to continue to ply their trade without censure. Or, as one person put it. "Maybe Holy doesn't give a fuck about this place any more."

Anyway, there's trouble at 'mill, and no sign of it stopping any time soon.

I made a decision not to respond directly to this particular poster, although I have added my weight to the criticism of others occasionaslly. Mainly I've stood to one side and watched the shit fly.

That's a bit passive though, isn't it? Why let the bullies win? But if you're going to respond, how can you do it without getting emotionally embroiled and tarred with the same brush as the person you're swearing at?

Well, I thought I'd go at a tangent. I created a poll asking respondents if they thought dodge one should be banned from Head heritage. Two simple options - yes or no. Nothing serious. Just a way of venting my own frustrations as much as anything else. I'm certainly not going to send an indignant e-mail off to Head Heritage showing the results, and demanding that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!

A couple of people responded on Head Heritage to say they found it a bit creepy but quite funny. And that was about it.

But...

Someone has spent hours trying to take the poll down. The comments page has become a steady stream of abuse, from all kinds of user names. From canvassing for votes to personal abuse. I think one or two of the comments were genuinely from people interested in the poll, but most followed the same near-identical formats. He's tried lots of different ways of getting me to close the poll down, and is still trying now. Hours later.

There's ego for you. That's half the trouble with this person. He just has to win. And he can't. So he throws a big tantrum and everyone runs away or has a tantrum of their own.

Hours! The man has spent hours concentrating on little else but spamming a meaningless poll! I'm starting to think we're dealing with someone with a genuine mental illness here.

The funny thing is, when the poll opened, I voted against his expulsion. I thought I'd give the silly bugger a fighting chance since he seemed to have made so many enemies over the last few days. But unexpectedly, most people voted no.

We're a tolerant lot at Head Heritage. We value our freedom even in the face of such abuse. So votes came in at about 2-1 in favour of not banning him. The actual result was about 6-3 at that point.

So I changed the "Yes" into "No" and the "No" into "Yes"

Instantly, the guy was losing the battle. How would this change things?

Not at all! He was an obnoxious pillock when he was winning. He's an obnoxious pillock now that he's losing. He's now posting messages in my name, and trying to post links to pictures on porn sites.

But enough! I'm actually quite enjoying this, which is a bit immature of me. I'm shooting fish in a barrel since I'm dealing with someone that has no imagination and has to win, or think he's winning. Isn't that something not a million miles from being a psychopath?

More than that. I've engaged with Mr Troll over the last few minutes, and rubbed his ego in it. He reckons I'm paranoid and that he's not Dodge One.

So someone who's not even directly involved is spending hours on his behalf?

Really?

Occam's razor says he's lying. But again, why bother? The more I think about it, the more I think I'm dealing with someone that has a mental illness. That makes me ashamed of what I've done. But only a little bit. Just because someone is fucked up, doesn't mean you should allow them to rule the world.

But wait...! What's this????

Another insight!

If you're a Man. If you're own perception of Yourself as a Man is of a strong, capable entity, that can be a hugely powerful force. I'm generally fairly self-effacing, and in touch with my feminine side and all that, but I wouldn't be comfortable crying in front of a stranger, for example. That's exactly what happened last year when I underwent counselling as part of my attempt to stop smoking cannabis. The counsellor somehow got through the wall I'd built around myself, and I really let go. Not for long though. It was enough though.

So if you're that kind of Man, you're not allowed to get it wrong, or to be seen to be weak, or to be beaten either mentally or physically.

Now I do feel ashamed. I've taken the poll down.