Battle of the Trolls 4/4/10 Revision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o76WQzVJ434

I spent a long time playing the online game Everquest on first the Tallon Zek and then the Sullon Zek servers. Each 'server' is a different but identical world with different players in it. The first server I played on was the Nameless server, which was a standard 'blue' or 'carebear' server in which players could not fight one another directly except in extremely controlled circumstances. Still, griefers found ways, like luring powerful monsters to weak or vulnerable players and then using magic powers to escape somehow, whether the Bard's super speed, the Monk's playing dead, or the Wizard's teleportation. This was "against the rules". There were "GMs", or paid employees with godlike powers who would investigate and prosecute these crimes.

Once I got fairly good at the game I transferred to Tallon Zek. This server permitted players to fight much more freely, ambushing one another in dungeons, assassinations, pitched battles to hold territory, etc. Still, there were rules, hardcoded and not, which existed to keep things civilized, and there were GMs. It all felt artifical to me...immersion was impossible.

So, when Sullon Zek opened as the garbage pit for all the griefers to go so they'd stop bothering the general populace, I leapt in feet first and immediately joined the weakest team - the Good Team, the team of legendary hero Fansy the Famous, who challenged the gods themselves (no, I don't mean Cazic-Thule or Inoruuk - I mean the GMs):

http://www.notaddicted.com/fansythefamous.php

I joined the most aggressive fanatics, so I didn't have to pretend to want to be nice to the Neutrals, who denied Good and were supposed to be a rival team. Those who followed the Sullon Zek scoreboards may recognize one of my guildmates; another famous character (though less than Fansy) , long time #1 killer on Sullon Zek; Laurana the Druidess.

Sanctus Lumen represent!

I was never a griefer, but the fact that there were no rules and no GMs drew me in like a cathode draws in cupric ions.

On the unmoderated forums in which the Sullon Zek community interacted when not playing the game, I learned through immersion the methods of and the defenses against master trolls. Now, not being a professional troll myself, I am not a master; I'm more of a journeyman.

Now the present situation. A troll on the mostly conservative military forum Armchair General decided to throw out the "Obama is not a natural born citizen" meme, and I challenged him, leading to all his troll buddies in his troll pack to leap in to support him.

As a result, I have declared to the administration and all the forum readers, and now the two or three people who read my blog, a Troll War. I've started by taking aim at the first troll's culture - the Maori.

I will now state that I have nothing against the Maori. I have chosen my stance because of one trolling poster. However the negative memes I create may spread; I apologize to all Maori and any other group I insult in the course of my trolling for that.

It's just the way I fight fire with fire. I don't like censorship, so I countertroll instead of crying to the moderators unless I am forced to.

EDIT - I have promised to stop trolling on ACG, so I cancel my request to have people troll the forum. I'll leave the text up for posterity:

I invite all trolls young and old alike to join this battle as my ally, my enemy or simply a free agent wreaking havoc wherever the opportunity lay. Of course personal details about either party in real life should be kept out of it; that's going too far. However I think I've protected myself on that front for the most part with this anonymous identity.

EDIT - Again - I have promised to stop trolling on ACG, so I cancel my request to have people troll the forum.

Click the title of this post to go to the thread or go here:

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85373&page=2

See you on the field of battle! XD

EDIT - Added 11/18/09

The trolling technique that started this was "troll baiting" in which I posted that I was outraged a foreigner would dare accuse Obama of not being natural born American despite his birth certificate and the courts' repeated decisions.

I posted this meaning it, but knowing that it was troll bait.

Later I posted this in another thread:

"I'm using a trolling technique where you say something obnoxious and thought provoking and then flee like a coward while other people rant.

Then, someday, I'll go look and see what happened with that thread."

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1359326#post1359326

EDIT - 11/19/09

My opponent earned himself a ban.

1,2,3,4 I declared a Troll War!

5,6,7,8 Victory was mine before...ummm...it was too late!

I have promised not to troll ACG again. I deeply apologize to any Maori I insulted.

11/26/09

More drama at ACG! I've been banned and I wasn't even trolling! If I'm trolling I admit it, and there is always a very good reason for it. I do not troll for entertainment.

That's what you get when you don't kiss moderator butt I guess. I can hold my head high and know that I was honest and open and was banned because a moderator got offended at my rational arguments which disagreed with his "thought terminating cliche" as Lifton put it when he analyzed the Groupthink aspect of cults.

I guess it's time to start a Banned list! I am not upset to be banned from a control freakish website that displays cult behavior in it's administration. Admiral refused to tell me what I was doing wrong, kept violating his own list of rules as he accused me of the same...

I recommend any readers take a look at the thread in question and then study up on Lifton's idea of "thought terminating cliches". You'll see that this is exactly what Admiral was using to challenge my well thought out argument. He decided it was trolling to point it out, which apparently is a crime that deserves public instead of the customary private notification and gets no warnings. That's not in the Rules and Enforcement FAQ, but hey, it's not my site. They can throw me off for stupid reasons if they like.

But I know I've earned enough respect and made strong enough arguments there that others will no longer respect the website and administration quite as much. Well, except for those who have his political beliefs who will cheer him on I suspect.

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85684&page=7

I guess I need to find another military forum that isn't run by irrational control freaks. I'm looking at this:

http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/

But I don't think it's the one for me; no signatures without special permission, no links to outside webpages (like this blog)...

Anyone know of any others?

EDIT -

The post immediately after my ban:


On the contrary, ATY, you admitted previously - on more than one occasion in other forums & your own blog - your intent to actively Troll in ACG Forums...
You were 1st privately warned 'not' "to even consider it"...
Then, as you admittedly did exactly what you publicly admitted in these forums - on more than one occasion - that you would (Read: Troll), you were openly warned again! You not only ignored it, but admitted to trolling, as well, in your continuing blog! Your publicly expressed boast of "Counter-trolling" expertise certainly doesn't help much - not to mention that it is proof beyond all doubt that your expertise is non-existent... a Troll is a Troll... & proscribed!
You seem to think that you are the only individual within this community to "report" your Trolls errand of a post... You weren't! And you were warned by private means before you were publicly warned - long before you reported but one of your trolls errands.
You also seem quite intent to use ACG Forums as fuel for your own personal blog fodder. This, in itself is not proscribed... until you made obvious that you were daring to be banned for your bloggish fodder - as if this amounts to any serious threat as so expressed.
Respect for your views on this topic is not at issue in any regard. Every topical statement I have made - even when directed specifically to some comment you have made - is, by no stretch of imagination - proscribed... nor does it indicate any degree of respect/disrespect of you in personally directed, proscribed fashion. In fact, I have disputed none of your specific arguments... rather, I have expressed my own point & it is you that deflectively adds "cultish" insult to your displeasure with it.
In regards to Staff, nothing happens here in a vacuum... You were/are wrong in your trollish intents... something I have abided long after others - which have had no public differences with you - had considered your admitted & exhibited intents & activities well over the line. Lets just say that I optimistically like to think that some folks can be given the chance to change.In this case, I was wrong!Wrong in that I let it go on long after you were warned that there would be "No More Warnings!"And finally: If you had argued in such fashion with any other member of Staff as I allowed you to repeatedly argue with me, you would have been gone long ago.I could easily go even further, but it's Thanksgiving & I have much more positive things to be doing than entertaining a Troll that just don't get it...
AThousandYoung, You're Done!ACG Staff



Now, I shall respond. I openly said when I would troll, and when I would stop. If I was to be believed the first time why not the second?

The communications I was given prior to this event were ambiguous and I thought supportive of my trolling, as can see by my next post in the original troll thread, which went uncorrected. In fact a Reputation for that post was positive and said "as for getting in trouble for trolling, don't even think of it!" followed by a "laugh" - "har!" I can't get the actual quote because of the ban, but that was basically it. Apparently this was supposed to be a warning, but I thought at the time it was encouragement.

As far as I am concerned I was never warned for anything, never asked to stop anything, and the administration is petty and highly ambiguous about the rules and consequences of breaking them. Which, of course, they are perfectly entitled to be. It's not the kind of environment I can respect though.

I never tried not to get banned from ACG, so bragging that I "failed at countertrolling" is odd. In fact I was told very quickly by the administration that Maori Warrior got banned after I went after him with TWO trolling posts - the entire extent of any trolling I ever did on that site, and I declared I would do it ahead of time.

I respectfully recommend that ACG develop a more clear and consistent system of rules, warnings and punishments. Apparently ACG and I are not a nice fit, and you won't be bothered by me any more; but you really should clear up your disciplinary system, because right now it sucks.

I really did not think I'd ever been warned. You at ACG (if you bother to read this, which you probably won't) can believe me or not.

Be well, ACG!

P.S. To armchairgeneral's credit, my actual posts were not censored, I was just banned. People can still read what I had to say. I respect that ACG.

P.P.S. A mostly irrelevant but interesting thought just went through my mind - I approached this like the rules were dominant, as in the USA where the Constitution is dominant, while the administrators approached this as though the people in power are dominant over the rules, as in the British Empire we rebelled against.

EDIT - 4/4/10 More fun with trolls:

http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=128625&page=5