Comments on: Home Police Squad

By: backarch

backarch — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:28:57 +0000

heaven help you if you get ME going out there, i eat them alive. OH, and banning a whole ps3? its called bricking a system. i know of two people that have had their systems bricked. basically now as useful as a super nintendo online…..not going to happen.

By: Orion_NGC1976

Orion_NGC1976 — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:07:53 +0000

I agree with you that engaging bored trolls or new trolls calmly will more times than not result in apologies. I even mentioned that in the article. I have read DarthGranny’s excellent article describing her experience with a troll that became a friend. It is heartwarming to hear that there can be successes. I have not experienced that with hardcore trolls and it is the ones that are “bent on verbally abusing others” that I am solely referring to here that do not listen to reason and perhaps ignoring them does have an effect on them that we do not see.

By: Orion_NGC1976

Orion_NGC1976 — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:01:48 +0000

I am glad to hear that there are others that have succeed, where I have failed with hardcore trolls.

By: Godzprototype

Godzprototype — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:20:17 +0000

I have had alot of experience with all the above mentioned and I would have to agree with cthulu93. Be clever and give them something to think about or laugh about and they more than likley will calm down. If not, and it is really bothering you do what you have to do to do what you wanna do.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 05:48:34 +0000

True,there is no 1 answer that will cover all situations.However I’ve found that if you engage some trolls in an interesting convo. and try to share some laughs with them(at no one else’s expense) they will want to be your friend as you have just become the most interesting thing they’ve found that day.Once added you only have to make it clear that if they continue to troll then you’ll delete them and they can go back to being bored or they can refrain from trolling and continue to have some fun times with you,so this only works on “boredom” trolls.I believe DarthGranny already did an article that outlined most of the key points in this type of conversion but thanks for the offer anyways.For the person that is solely bent on verbally abusing others this will not work.Then you will need to decide what works best for the situation,avoidence or confrontation.Both have drawbacks and are imperfect solutions for every situation but until we are given more options these are the best things we can do.

By: Orion_NGC1976

Orion_NGC1976 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:36:26 +0000

Your experience may have differed from mine, but from my experience someone who is insistent on harassing you is not in a position to listen to reason and will not. I have tried on several occasions. It just gives the harasser more ammunition to throw back at me. From speaking with people who used to harass people, a majority of them would not listen to reason or threats of being banned. It was entertainment for them and they would not listen to reason. It wasn’t until they were tired of being alone and ignored that they decided to change their behavior on Home. They had to discover that they wanted to change on their own. It is like a drug addict that will not listen to reason until they hit rock bottom, accept that they have a problem and really want to change.

Like I said each individual is different and there is no formula for all cases. This is just from my experience. If you have had success convincing trolls to change their ways, I would very much like to hear it. I think it would also make a very excellent article.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

No “war of words” are required really,more like a “war of ideas”.If you can change 1 trolls perception about what constitutes acceptable limits of fun then you’ve prevented a 1000(or more) incidents of trolling in the future.By ignoring them you are,like you said,hoping they’ll leave Home(which would hurt Sony’s profitability in Home) or hoping they’ll use Home in more constructive ways.Now if you engage them in a conversation and show them how to actually use Home in those constructive ways I think a greater service has been done for all.It’s not an easy road nor does it have any guarantee of success,but then what does really?,but IMO it’s better than shunning an entire group of people without giving them at least a chance of changing.

By: Orion_NGC1976

Orion_NGC1976 — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:56:18 +0000

I like it. I see that you already have it copyrighted.

By: Orion_NGC1976

Orion_NGC1976 — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:55:08 +0000

I think it is great if you can convince a hardcore troll to “move on” and change their ways and it is very admirable to take the punishment to try to convince them to do so. Each individual is different and each situation is unique and approached based on that individual, so this may work for some.

From my experience, engaging a hardcore troll in a war of words is futile and akin to banging your head against the wall. Engaging them only makes them latch onto you and feeds their need to be noticed. If everyone ignored them, they would either leave Home altogether because they are bored or try to use Home in a more constructive way.

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:29:41 +0000

Agreed!

By: johneboy1970

johneboy1970 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:39:40 +0000

Around this time last year, when the old CP was blanketed in snow, I also had a run in with a self-styled Home-cop. She was running around the CP admonishing (and, perhaps, reporting)people for various misdeed, and I really wasnt paying close attention til she turned her gaze on me.

She struck up a discussion (in somewhat broken -- or simply bad -- english) and I responded conversationally. But after a minute or two of pleasantries, she began to tell me that she didn’t want sex from me and that I was being mean to her -- needless to say, neither of those topics had come up previously.

Eventually I left to either play some games or join up with friends, but I was left with the impression that she was trying (poorly) to trick me into saying something I could be reported for -- all the while portraying herself as some sort of abiter of good behavior in Home. A very strange encounter, indeed.

Many of us are annoyed at some of the miscreants which find thier way into Home who seem to have no other purpose than to try to ruin our fun…and the seeming inability for the Mods to do much about it. But on the flip side, some folks -- who may have good intentions -- risk going overboard trying to catch the ‘bad guys’. As Glow mentioned above, it may be a fine line between trolling and pa-trolling.

By: TheBrightestGlow

TheBrightestGlow — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:28:59 +0000

Reporting everyone for frivolous infractions such as saying hello more than once is merely another form of trolling. Let’s call it, PA-TROLLING (c)

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:55:26 +0000

I have run into a “Home cop” myself recently.This person reported a friend of mine for spamming awhile back for saying “Hello” a few times and told us it reported him.Sure enough he got a warning,so when I saw this person again in Singstar 1 night I asked it why it reported him for such a minor thing.Immediately I got the “Your a troll I’m reporting you” line followed by some things I’m pretty sure were profanity so I hope it really did report me because then the mods can see who the real offender was as I said nothing close to violating the TOS but merely asked a question.I usually don’t sweat the small stuff like small scale spamming or blocked words that are harmless,like the word “mickey” which used to be blocked and may still be,but when things turn really ugly it’s best to report.However I disagree somewhat with just ignoring the offender,this may work with a majority of trolls but there are a few that will continue relentlessly until you leave or you convince them that they should move on.Reporting this type of troll doesn’t do much for the immediate problem so I’ll usually try to engage them in a convo. and deflect their energies to more productive directions.Doesn’t always work but it can lead to some very entertaining conversations.

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:24:31 +0000

I agree with you Orion, reporting can get out of hand sometimes. I rarely report someone unless they have been repeatedly crude for no reason to me or another person, even after a stiff warning from me to quit or else. Basically unless they are truly asking for it.
Many times I find that the misbehavior has something to do with being new and not knowing how to interact with people. New people have a sharp learning curve in Home, and I try my very best to help them when they are floundering.”Be kind to one another” has been quoted here many times, and when it comes down to it that saying covers a multitude of sin here in Home. Guide new people, be kind to them and you will find they become better Home citizens.
The one thing that trolls do that really gets me and I always report, is when they blatantly say, “This is my other account, I don’t care if I am banned I will just go to my real account!” That to me is an offense that should be an automatic permanent ban of their ISP because they are spitting in my face and Sony’s as well. Those kinds of people we don’t need in Home at all.