Attack of the Nazi Trolls: A Lesson for Message Board Moderators

Richardpoe.com ^ | 10-27-03 | Richard Poe

[SJackson]

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at 13:41

Attack of the Nazi Trolls: A Lesson for Message Board Moderators

In a recent blog entry titled, "I've Been Red-Baited!", I wrote, "I'm not familiar with LibertyForum.org, but it appears to be an anti-Bush, anti-war message board with a distinctly anti-Jewish undertone."

A member of LibertyForum.org named Max Soldo (aka "thoughtcriminal") has responded by e-mail and provided further clarification of LibertyForum's political orientation. He writes:

This forum is a libertarian forum, and is devoted to the libertarian concept of unabashed free speech. With that principle in mind, most posters aren't libertarian as many fringe types have taken advantage of this policy (which includes a no-banning policy) to run amok...hence the preponderance of anti-Jewish posts on this forum.

All of this raises interesting questions for any message board moderator -- such as myself -- who has tried his best to allow a relatively high level of free expression. Inevitably, Nazi trolls find your forum and begin probing your defenses. If you allow them to post messages, they immediately spread the word to other Nazi trolls and soon your message board is infested.

At that point, all the normal people stop posting. It's a bit like when a fight breaks out in a bar and everyone stops talking and turns to watch the fight, transfixed. Suddenly, your message board becomes an arena for Nazi trolls and people arguing with Nazi trolls.

This is called "free speech."

I decided long ago that allowing Nazi trolls to occupy my message board and drive off everyone who does not share their idiosyncratic obsessions is a very poor method for encouraging "free speech." Therefore, I make frequent and forceful use of such allegedly un-libertarian methods as censoring and, when necessary, banning troublemakers, brownshirted or otherwise.

Apparently, the decision-makers at LibertyForum.org have adopted a different approach. As a result, their self-styled "libertarian" message board has become, by Mr. Soldo's description, a playground for non-libertarian "fringe types" to "run amok."

"It does get quite ugly at times, but that's the price one pays for sticking to one's principles," writes Mr. Soldo in a subsequent e-mail.

Well, if that's the price, I don't think I'm willing to pay it. I will add the sad fate of LibertyForum.org to my growing list of reasons for rethinking whether or not I wish to continue calling myself a "libertarian."

 

[tpaine]

That certainly explains everything.. What a relief.

[Jim Robinson]

Buh, bye.

[Cultural Jihad]

I always wondered about that "jihad" in your handle!

Ask me about it sometime.

[Romulus]

I hope you’re not suggesting there’s Jew hatred under that veneer of “anti-zionism” at the forum.

Let's not be disingenuous. We both know there's plenty of Jew hatred at that forum. It's one of the deplorable consequences of the abuse of free speech. But that Jew hatred isn't forum policy, official or otherwise. I don't recall any instance of it from the forum's owner or moderators.

As for my own record, it's on display for all to read. If I had ever posted anything approaching Jew hatred, it would've been well publicised by those who make it their business to watch for such things. To the contrary you know very well that I've repeatedly condemned Jew hatred on that very site -- and never been thanked for it.

Perhaps you'd like to remedy that lamentable ingratitude here and now.

[Luis Gonzalez]

So you didn't have a lick of trouble with skinheads until they actually got there...

Now, there's an intelligent comment.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Darn it. I miss all the good stuff...

[rmlew]

What did she say?

[OWK]

So you didn't have a lick of trouble with skinheads until they actually got there...

You really are an idiot, aren't you.

[snopercod]

Several years ago - before Free Republic was split up into several fora - traffic statistics used to show a 75% drop on weekends. Maybe 90%.

On the news/activism forum, traffic still drops severely, although I can't prove it with numbers. All I know is that very few articles are posted there on weekends, and even good ones get less than a handful of comments. The sidebars are mostly the same on Sunday evening as they were at quitting time on Friday.

[Lead Moderator]

Just a guess, but that graph is based on ranking, so if traffic is down all over the net on weekends, there would not necessarily be dips on the weekend.

[snopercod]

That makes sense. Thanks.

I guess I'm going to actually get a life on weekends ;-)

[veronica]

Yes I suppoert the US law that sent Zundel back to jail to jail in Canada, as well as the Canadian law that keeps him in jail in Canada. Further, I support Canada's deporting him to Germany to face trial for the laws he's broken there. AND finally, I support his spending a good long time in a German prison. I hope I have covered everything. :)

I would like to see Canada do a better job of nailing illegals there too, and preventing terrorists from entering the US across the Canadian border. They are pretty wimpy up there. Maybe when PM Cretin retires Canada will regain it's former cache among nations. Until then, it remains second class.

[veronica]

Are you implying that even posting an article like that implies the Jews have taken over FR?

Only by proxy. ;)

[Lead Moderator]

We have about 30% fewer posters on the weekends than during the week. There are about 35% fewer articles posted, but only about 25% fewer replies posted.

[Moby Grape]

I always find it interesting that the definition of "sticking to one's principles" means that you will end with no rules at all, and label it as free speech...in the principled world of Libertarians, one finds company with every fringe hate group, UFO cultists, conspiracy theory devotees, and anti-government extremists, so that you can climb atop a soap box, beat one's chest and proclaim to be the true champions of freedom.....

This small experience is so-called free speech, is just a peek into the world of legalized drugs....no restraints and the dregs rule to streets.

[snopercod]

Those numbers are for all fora - not just News/Activism, correct?

[Lead Moderator]

For all. Doing just an eyeball check on the number of threads and replies over the past few weeks, it's clear that the other forums are a very small portion of the overall traffic. If you are trying to suggest that while overall FR traffic is up, News/Activism traffic is down, then I am pretty sure that is not the case. I don't think it is even close. However, it might not be a bad idea to see if we can get the stats to be broken down by forum in the future.

That's one of the ironies of the GI forum. People complain that we move all of the fun stuff there, yet no one goes there. I would think that if that is where all the fun stuff is, there would be more traffic there, but there isn't.

[nickcarraway]

ping