Okay - you know things are bad when you stop yourself in the midst of writing 2 diaries, one on Darfur and Electric Cars to write about trolls, MyDD and the latest round of GBCW diaries.
Seriously guys the only reason trolling and flaming is happening is because - you are participating! Many incredible diaries go unnoticed because they - shall we say - have no flavour....
Not only are there McBloggers taking over, but also the Purity Trolls are out in full force - policing everyone's motives. Stop the insanity!
The site owners and administrators have promised site updates and clearly this is an acknowledgment that there is some work necessary here. That said - I want to nip this in the bud by proposing a few things...
1. No more flame wars.
If a diary is particularly enticing make a personal commitment to only respond to another user who commented to whom's opinion your respect. That way - even though the diary may be a 'turd sandwich' (thanks thepurplestuff) you may participate in elevating the discussion.
2. Stop complaining about MyDD in your comments.
If you are aggravated with the situation - email the admins. And I mean - every time you see something 'trollish'
3. Be intellectually honest.
There tends to be a double-standard applied here by many whereby opinions they share deserve respect and general politeness - whereas opinion's they don't share - deserve snarky and rude receptions.
4. Kindness is a very underrated value in the Blogosphere.
Some people's hate-spewed speech is shocking. I cannot imagine many speaking to others this way in real life. But guess what folks - this is real life. A good general rule of thumb is speak as you would hope to be spoken to.
5. Contribute.
Hunting trolls or adding smart-ass commentary is not contributing - sorry. Write diaries, think about your 'progressive' ideals - and suggest ways to applying it to better the world.
I think that's a good starting off point for ways in which to make our little community better and hope that you guys can share with me your suggestions and enthusiasm for making MyDD a better place.
Please excuse any grammar and typos - this one was done on the fly!
1 comment:
This is actually a very good post, and the sensibility of your suggestions I think is what sometimes boggles people. They think it needs to be more complex.
I don't know if you've seen the mentioned article here , but it's on that topic, and while it comes to some conclusions, I think yours are actually better. Kudos!
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