Comments on: Hostile HugNation 12/1/09

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:14:13 +0000

“we’ll do the best we can with all who are here” … i love it … that sums up life perfectly … its really all we can do

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:35:34 +0000

Destin

Again, I reiterate, Im on the fence about the best way to deal. So far, my experience has been with getting comments like this on blog posts and other mediums where it is not “live”. Chatrooms could indeed be another matter. Thats why I had suggested to Halcyon in room (but of course he couldnt see it since the room was getting more FAG FAG FAG flooding) that a boot feature is long overdue. In the past, the malicious activity has always been on the Stickam side and thats easy to moderate (they do have a boot feature). This time the *channers chose to come in the chat.hugnation.com room and they were far more disruptive than anything I have ever seen before.

When it comes to chat rooms, he more than likely will have to have someone else be the person doing the booting. Having dealt with *channers for a good while, any sort of attention that you give them (even a booting from the room) gives them fuel. Not sure how it does, but it does. So, the person Halcyon has as a “mod” would be booting left and right, for everytime a troll got himself booted he would just re-enter and continue on.

Trolls take any small footstep on their bridge as encouragement. Thats why it can just be an endless cycle. I dont think Halcyon handled it completely wrong, but I do think that trolls are beyond a point of “innocent” ignorance. Rather, they wallow in it. So, any addressing that he did to them only gives them incentive to “make more war”.

By: Destin Gerek

Destin Gerek — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:50:19 +0000

I gotta disagree with Kat.
I think you handled it perfectly.
You used it as a “teachable moment”, so to speak.
I am not convinced that ignoring and pretending that hate and negativity is occurring is always the best way of dealing with it (tho perhaps sometimes it is). Rather confront hate with love. Perhaps, you left some mark on the ppl who were posting, perhaps not. But you also set an example for all those present in the chatroom, and those who will later come across this (like myself), of just how it is possible to respond to hate not by matching it with hate, but rather to shine love onto it.

By: Halcyon

Halcyon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:44:12 +0000

Thanks, Justin! Man, it would be great to see you soon. ((HUG))

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:42:44 +0000

Good for you to greet the angry comments with inclusion. No easy task. I love listening to your show. I rarely sign in, because I listen to it while I am doing yoga, which is a nice change from having music on while practicing. Thanks for having the courage to move through the changes, fears, egos, desires, etc. to illicit more light then give in to the status quo.

Still laughing about you and Jim leaving Santa some lines of sugar comedy. Thinking on new ideas for X-Mas eve tokens to keep Santa ‘nourished’ throughout his marathon night! Great stuff. Mush love bro.

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:16:33 +0000

Yeah, Im on the fence about getting a mod feature. Even if you had the ability to ban a user (esp. those with guest____ names), it still gives them reason to feel that they managed to irrate you and they will just re-log in again. ITs a real shame it wasnt just offhand comments on your blog or other non-live media (youtube comments, etc…). Then you could easily delete the post and keep going.

By: Halcyon

Halcyon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:11:13 +0000

Good points. Since I try to follow the chat while doing the show, it is hard to ignore entirely. Plus, since I had no topic for the day, it gave me a starting point. I’ve been doing this for almost a decade and still have lots to learn!

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:06:59 +0000

I have never had my own show on the internet so I imagine that it distracted you more because it was affecting an overall place (the chatroom) as they filled a positive based digital refuge with negativity, affecting your Hugnation chatters. Sadly, it gave these people one new thing to egg them on–the fact that it affected you (since you couldnt totally ignore it and addressed them) That is what they wanted in the first place. Simply put, it makes them think you are just as an insipid as they are for caring and making some sort of reaction. Having seen that blood, trolls usually will continue periodically to illicit the same reaction (or a close second)

My approach is only somewhat similar to your way of dealing with it. I dont even acknowledge them. Every so often, a particular YouTube vid made by a dear friend gets targeted on these boards for something even more shallow than what they went after you for — my overall looks and choice of a skimpy dressed character to cosplay as. Silly, huh? Of course in your case, with a room full of other chatters, someone could give the trolls attention even if you dont.

An endless cycle if you let it.