Ask Slashdot: Would You Pay For Websites Without Trolls? 382
First time accepted submitter carbon_tet writes I read two articles this week that made me wonder: "Would anyone actually pay for a website without trolls?" The first, was about web trolls and civility on the internet, and the second about the ad-based internet. It seems that public comments unavoidably have trolls, or they degrade very quickly until someone makes a reference to Hitler. So, is it impossible to have a substantive discussion online without trolls? Would you put your money where your mouth is to have a serious online conversation without them? Are there any topics that you would talk about (or prefer to see talked about) on a website where trolls were paywalled out?
We do not do that here? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:No real need. (Score:1, Informative)
HAHAHA Disregard that, I suck cocks
Re:Very subjective (Score:5, Informative)
I agree. I've made a few Slashdot posts that were contrary to the majority view, but meant in good faith and with the goal of advancing the discussion, which ended being modded as Trolls. Fortunately this happens to me rarely, suggesting that only a small fraction of moderators
My experience on BoingBoing was much worse. There, even after having a discussion with admins about why I made my comment, they still labelled me a troll and banned me on the site. I think any fair-minded person would have judged me to be not trolling - as far as I can tell that administrator's definition of troll included views that he/she didn't agree with.
Re:No real need. (Score:2, Informative)
Um, this problem is already fixed, you can just browse at +1 or +2. ACs already take the hit for posting at +0 even if they make reasonable comments. You won't see an AC unless they get at least one up-mod. And enough mods read at +0 that ACs get a good chance for an upvote, if they post early enough. Seems like a fair compromise. In fact you can browse at +0 and miss most of the obvious trolls, because the mods down-vote those pretty fast.
Re:Very subjective (Score:3, Informative)
Too bad he (or she) didn't create it. It was a Heinleinism [wikiquote.org].
Something Awful (Score:1, Informative)
That ten dollar charge stops a hell of a lot of trolling, so I'd say yes. You get banned you lose ten bucks.