To Register or Not to Register
We’ve been grappling with the issue of registration on the site. After a particularly frustrating few weeks at the beginning of the summer handling some aggressive troll activity, we began requiring registration in order to post comments on the site. We’ve had mixed feelings about that decision from the beginning. Is the increased civility worth…
We’ve been grappling with the issue of registration on the site. After a particularly frustrating few weeks at the beginning of the summer handling some aggressive troll activity, we began requiring registration in order to post comments on the site. We’ve had mixed feelings about that decision from the beginning. Is the increased civility worth the foregone informational exchange and sense of community? Last week we solicited reader feedback on the topic and the majority of readers who commented were in favor of keeping it. Of course, this isn’t too surprising given that you had to register in order to comment! Anyway, we are very sensitive to readers who had their online identities appropriated and to those who prefer the greater accountability that comes with the consistent use of recurring handles. However, on balance, we don’t think it’s worth it.
We were interviewed last week by a local paper and were asked what the most positive surprise had been for us since starting the blog. As we were giving our answer–the incredible diversity of the readership and the frankness of the discussions on such issues as race and class–we realized that this is precisely what we had sacrificed in starting to require registration. Brownstoner.com would not be the site it is without its core group of readers and commenters, most of whom readily signed up for the registration process and continued to post regularly. However, the lack of interplay with less frequent contributors changed the energy of the site in recent weeks. To any of you who have been following the reviews of the new book called The Long Tail, this should not be a surprise.
We hope that those who have registered already will continue to sign in and use their regular handles; what will naturally happen, we think, is that those comments from people who are logged in will carry greater weight in the dialogue and that anonymous comments of a dubious nature will be taken less seriously. Plus, anyone who’s logged in cannot have his/her handle “stolen”. It’s rare that we’re away from the site for more than an hour during the day, so if you see a comment from a troll, rather than giving him the satisfaction of responding, just ignore it: We’ll be deleting it soon.
We hope everyone can respect this decision and try to do everything possible to create a courteous and constructive atmosphere on the site.
Respect,
Brownstoner
anon 6:02- I guess because once registration was stopped, guess who came back and started the same old bs again. Once again, he’s taken over and in case most of you didn’t realize it, most of the anonymous posts and some of the names are him. So if the nastiness and the racism ( which is not a substitute for frank and honest discussion by the way), are what you want, you have it.
FYI- the brownstonertroll blog is of course the troll. He has been posting about me (giving CHP a much needed rest, I guess). I’m sure he will of course claim it’s all me- alas. Would that my mind could be so evil. So the bx2bklyn name is no longer going to be in use. I don’t care when he posts stupidity, I do care when he uses my handle to post links to truly disgusting photos, as he has done again. It’s not me folks.
So if you see bx2bklyn being used, it’s the troll. I’m done with it.
“If you recall, when we had registration, no one missed the unmentionable one.”
Alas. I would like to believe this. But then, why have we been talking about Him, and pretty much only Him, for the last two days? The people who want registration are of course complaining about the Unmentionable One, but they protest too much, it seems. Request after request has been posted for people to ignore Him, including one from Brownstoner himself. Nevertheless, here we are, still thinking about Him, and only Him. I’m afraid that He was missed when registration was in effect. And he was probably missed the most by the people who now complain most bitterly about him.
Methinks the reference to troll bespeaks of fishing lore, whereby the angler drags along a temptingly flickering lure that, alas, is no tasty tidbit, rather a trap that will lead to the untimely demise of the sorry fish that has not the experience to eschew it.
Ah, no. They would be for those who don’t want registration because it cramps their trolling style. If you recall, when we had registration, no one missed the unmentionable one.
After all, what is he but a 43 year old pimpled-faced virgin, living in his mother’s basement, unable to get a job, a date or a degree. Still believing Thunderbird is a fine wine and potato chips a gourmet food. Who else has the time to post under so many handles, so many times? Only that lowlife loser.
And once the troll is disposed of, be sure to have a bevy of psychiatrists on hand to help those who no longer have the troll to complain about. They’ll be in a bad way, having lost the only thing that appears to give their lives some faint trace of meaning.
I weep. I wail. I mourn the death of the King’s English for verily Mssr. Villiard, whilst having powerful command of his thoughts, when dost come to spelling…not so much.
From a philosophical standpoint I can conclude that since the troll is ugly, hairy and brutish, the rest of us are the screaming blonde maidens who upon being abducted to aforementioned troll’s cave will not wait to be rescued by yonder handsome prince. (Knight’s work for me too).
By the way, trial by breadcrumbs does not work. (and a trail of ’em only gets you Hansel and Gretel- faugh!). You will need heavy duty cranes and an operating engineer (call the union for referrals). Once dead please dispose of troll’s body in the appropriate way (garbage bag, in a dump). Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Good idea I think.
Ah, Ye Olde Storee Teller hath arrived in the Guise of Mssr. Villiard. Methinks he doth not be of Serious Vein, as his Folkelore may be correct, but his spelling of the King’s Tongue lacketh accuracy. I did laugheth most loudly, and didst findeth him passing, nay, profoundly amusing.
I hope most heartily that was, indeed, his most fervent intent. Verily.