Trolls and flame wars are an occupational hazard at the halfbakery and we’re never going to eliminate them, no matter how hard we try. Personally, I prefer either a single pithy anno or just the silent treatment when dealing with these situations but clearly there are some of us who feel the need to vent their spleen in a public, and probably very cathartic, manner against those who offend them. Now, being of the ‘just ignore ‘em and they’ll go away’ school, I find this reaction almost more irritating than the original trolling. Almost, but not quite. After all, those who get caught up in these little spats are, in their own way, just trying to keep the ‘bakery clean for us decent folks. My, tentative, solution for this is the Rant Room. A link over there, on the left hand side under the ‘meta’ tag, that would operate in a similar way to a Guestbook. Got a problem with someone’s attitude? Post it in the Rant Room. Fed up with the latest outbreak of adolescent humour and the lack of decent ideas? Have a rant in the Rant Room. Can’t stand DrBob’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude? You know where to go. Basically, those of us who want to just log on for half an hour a day and dip our toes in the dubious and murky waters of bakerydom can avoid having to spend twenty of those precious minutes wading through an extended argument that has little to do with the purpose of this esteemed domain.-- DrBob, Jul 15 2003 Overbaked http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/overbakedBasically a rant room [RayfordSteele, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] You dweeb, how could this *possibly* work?-- DrCurry, Jul 15 2003 yeah, trouble-maker.-- po, Jul 15 2003 Fine sentiment DrBob, could we incorporate a voting/ratings system in the aforementioned room with a "number of strikes and out" scenario (after due consideration of course)?-- gnomethang, Jul 15 2003 Baked. Every single non-moderated discussion board on the web.-- kevindimie, Jul 15 2003 The trouble is that most ranters feel that, if they talk that little bit longer, and shout that liTTLE BIT LOUDER, that they will be able to draw you over you their point of view. Throw them in a locked box and they might suspect a ruse.-- st3f, Jul 15 2003 done.-- RayfordSteele, Jul 15 2003 gnomethang: Nope. The point is for people to be able to let off steam on the 'bakery. Voting would be an irrelevance. kevindimie. Err...yes. I wouldn't be proposing it otherwise. jutta: In my ignorance, I didn't see this as any great challenge. Really it would take exactly the same form as an idea except that the idea text would be an explanation of the Rant Room's purpose and the rants themselves would be posted as anno's. No moderation, anything goes. A graffitti board if you like. st3f: true, but I thought of this as more of a convenient way for regulars to express their ire, when they really feel the need to say something, without adding to the noise level and incurring the wrath of the bakesperson. Instead of an off-topic roasting followed by a dozen back and forth anno's each trying to go one up on the other, I thought that perhaps the 'bakers could just post a tag, like the <linky> one we occasionally use and then head off to the Rant Room. They get to let off steam and everyone else avoids having to read it unless they want to.-- DrBob, Jul 15 2003 I think [st3f] is probably right about the likelihood of getting this new rule followed. A bit like mice belling a cat.
But the thought is a nice one, [DrBob]. I will personally endeavor to keep your view rant free as much as possible.-- k_sra, Jul 15 2003 Ithink this idea is kewl all u naysayers must be stupid WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE WHY DONT U THINK FOR YOUR SHELVES?????????-- egbert, Jul 15 2003 Oh, [egbert]! I started snorting. At work!!!! too funny.-- k_sra, Jul 15 2003 Ray: Is there a good reason why you started the group 2 days before the good doctor posted his idea... or are you just more gifted than we thought?-- st3f, Jul 15 2003 It's more of a curse. Wha? You mean you can't predict the future? <g>
Actually, I created that group primarily to deal with threads like 'motel darwin,' but it could serve as an all-purpose rant-room as well.-- RayfordSteele, Jul 15 2003 Rest or rant, I like that, [Rods].-- k_sra, Dec 02 2003 Now I wish I would've named the group that.
If it lives, it's filled a need. If it dies, then it didn't. No harm done.-- RayfordSteele, Dec 02 2003 Have you checked it lately, Ray?-- k_sra, Dec 02 2003 random, halfbakery