Recently, I observed a thread at a Christian apologetics site, CARM, “Francis *******g Beckwith”/”most snaky Christian theologian,” which really did not reflect well on the site’s goals.
jpark320, a thoughtful CARM volunteer, wrote to point out that
First the link to the “trolled’ CARM site is on their forums, not an official article that was posted from the staff.Second there is not enough manpower to keep watch over every single forum people can make. It is the double of sword of allowing people to freely express their thoughts (the side of the sword that hurts…)
So it should be easy to monitor “flame wars” and “trolling” here given the limited number of post and that only official UD people can make those posts.
I replied at 5:
jpark320, thanks for clarification. However, I am not sure that the service CARM is providing in hosting “FB/snaky” needs doing.
Anyone can start a blog at Blogger for free in five minutes and start trashing just about anyone from there, and get all their friends to do it too.
So why facilitate – and in some measure, take responsibility for – what happens anyway with no intervention?
Incidentally, one needn’t be “official UD people” to post here, just someone who has signed in and is the kind of person who would be welcome at the summer block party. = any civilized planetary neighbour
For the record, I am a (minor) free speech journalist in my own country, and I like the freedom of the Internet. But that freedom changes a lot of things.
For one thing, as above, it is no longer necessary to make special arrangements for people who have free access to the Internet to express their views. If their self-expression is a problem, one can export the moral responsibility back to them by cutting them loose, without actually stifling them.
Many persons “banninated” by a troll monitor or site owner simply go off and start a blog to carry on about it for a while. And if they feel good about that, so do the rest of us.
Only a big and ambitious government could wreck a system like that, which is how I became a free speech journalist.