[WikiEN-l] Usernames: sense of proportion

Fri May 7 21:07:54 UTC 2004

I agree with the notion of a "sense of proportion".  "Troll" is an
ordinary word, harmless enough, and we can at least conceive of a
hypothetical in which "JRR Trollkien" is just a clever name chosen by
a clever fan of the Lord of the Rings, etc.

At the same time, though, it doesn't take very long in looking at
Trollkien's user page to recognize that he's posted the old "Legion of
Trolls" stuff, many comments supporting the idea of deliberately
disrupting work on the Wikipedia in order to foster change, etc.

That's what problematic trolling *is*.  So, it isn't just the name,
it's the fact that the name is intended as provocation.  That is, the
name is not about trolls or Tolkien, but about trolling us.  (I think
the Internet Troll concept is derived from "trolling for fish", a
method of catching fish where you drag the bait through the water to
see what bites.)

Anyone who has a beef about sysops, who thinks that Wikipedia is a
ruthless dictatorship or oligarchy, etc., is more than welcome, God
knows, to come here and argue the point and complain about it and
suggest remedies.  But what they aren't welcome to do is engage in
trolling behavior just to cause trouble.  It's juvenile and annoying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JRR_Trollkien/Troll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JRR_Trollkien/Legion_of_Trolls

Despite JRR Trollkien posturing that a ruthless cabal is out to get
him, our reponse to this has been typical, and something that I can't
quite make up my mind whether we should be globally proud of or
globally ashamed of... a long and tedious debate to try to find a
reasonable answer to the questions raised:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/JRR_Trollkien

---------

I have great sympathy for revolutions and reformers, we will always
need them, and I for one will always welcome those who come in and
challenge us to rethink our policies and procedures.  That's very
healthy.  In his response on the Reguests for arbitration page,
Trollkien uses this as a defense, claiming, "what seems to be at issue
here is _dissent_."

That's bullshit, of course, and please excuse my language.  Dissent is
not a problem, just look around, it's all we ever do, and we all seem
to enjoy it well enough.  And realistically, it isn't even _civil
disobediance_ which is at issue in any major way.

It's just behaving like a juvenile jerk, that's what's at issue.

-----

Imagine someone who shows up at wikipedia whose area of expertise
happens to be collectible dolls.  This is not an area that most of us
know much about, so of course such a contributor would be welcome, and
would likely be editing stuff that's uncontroversial and not annoying
to anyone.  The history of collectible dolls, the story of various
annual toy crazes, and so on.

http://www.trollworld.com/trtr19.html

Such a person might name themselves "Trollina", after these dolls, and
why not?

--Jimbo