[Air-l] Doctorow on Dealing With Trolls

[Suzana Sukovic]

Aggression seems to be defined by other list members based on someone's 
expressions of views (not only on views). The norms are defined by the 
majority and/or the most vocal members. For research, it is important to 
take into account that 'lurkers' and 'trolls' are words with strong 
connotation. They may describe some behaviours, but what else is in it, 
needs to be unpacked and probably labeled differently. Otherwise, we may 
keep using the same word when talking about different things. I apologise 
if I repeated what someone already said. I haven't read the whole thread 
(one of the benign reasons for lurkers to remain in the shade).

Mary-Helen sent her response while I was writing this. Verb or noun? Maybe 
being a 'troll' means that's who you are, 'trolling' is something you've 
done, maybe once. It's like saying to children that something was 
unacceptable behaviour, not that they are unacceptable people.
Suzana

At 01:21 PM 17/05/2007, you wrote:
>Suzana,
>
>   Ah! You encounter the same paradox. Aggression as defined by who? 
> Invariably you wrap back to the speaker/actor diad. The only resolution, 
> for a scholar, is to reject the jargon and to operationally describe the 
> behavior. Fact, premise, conclusion. Then you can test the fact/claim.
>
>   IMHO, the fear of being labeled is greater that the fear of 
> disputation. A classic "avoidance/avoidance conflict" that resolves to 
> "lurking or leaving" in listserv behavior.
>
>   This sounds like a hypothesis for a research project.
>
>   James