My Little Paranoia Lesson Dr. Dr. help me please, I know you'll understand There's a time device inside of me, I'm a self-destructin' man There's a red, under my bed And there's a little green man in my head And he said, "you're not goin' crazy, you're just a bit sad 'Cause there's a man in ya, knawin' ya, tearin' ya into two." Silly boy ya' self-destroyer. Paranoia, the destroyer -- The Kinks, 1981 Given the momentous events that have occurred during the life of this board (to wit, Bobby, pulse, "The Board is Being Watched," and so many others), I think a bit of paranoia and self-protection is justified. On the other hand, we shouldn't be sloppy about it, or else a few hapless innocents will surely be falsely accused. Consider what follows to be akin to bird-watching tips. Watch out for the following signs that may help us to differentiate the deserving seekers of truth from the malevolent forces of evil, lol. Of course, these are only my opinions, and others may disagree or offer better guidelines. Trolling Possibility Tips: 1) If a person suddenly appears who believes that our collective goals are to hone our skills at being irresponsible with debt and demonstrates a desire to debate us about that mistaken conclusion, then beware their motives. 2) If a person suddenly appears with a terrible tale of self-destruction that befell him or her mostly because they attempted to exercise their federally-guaranteed civil rights in accordance with the FCRA and FDCPA, then beware their motives. 3) If a person's entire raison d'etre here seems to be to sow seeds of malcontent and dissention and manages quite quickly to turn friend against friend, brother against brother, and sister against sister, then beware their motives. 4) If a person seems to champion a single issue over and over and over and over again in a contentious, argumentative manner (for example, someone who argues viciously and insultingly with anybody who works for a credit repair firm no matter what), then beware their motives. 5) If a person just arrives but seems to know an awful lot about the history of this board, its personalities, and its goings-on dating back months or even years, then beware their motives. 6) If a person consistently and repeatedly shares stories, experiences, and timelines whose likelihood are exceedingly slim, then beware their motives. 7) If a person seems to exult in enticing board members to break the law (for example, tries to sell others here in trying "new identity/SSN" file segregation, or attempts to get big numbers of us to perpetrate prank calls to a particular collection agency), then beware their motives. Of course we need a few Anti-Paranoia Tips as well, so here they are: 1) Just because somebody shows up on Day 1 and does something that causes your paranoia antennae to raise, that doesn't automatically mean that person is a troll, nor should anyone automatically accuse them of trolling. A posting or two doesn't make a pattern. 2) Just because someone asks the world's dumbest question, that doesn't automatically mean that person is a troll. What's a dumb question to you may not be a dumb question for me. (An example: If somebody shows up and asks whether the best way to deal with a collection agency is to do it verbally, that may really be their question, and imho we should treat them with respect. Another example: If somebody asks whether a bankruptcy is discharged before it's filed, again, that should be an opportunity to educate rather than to belittle or accuse.) 3) Just because somebody firmly believes something that is patently false, that doesn't automatically mean that person is a troll. (An example: If somebody proclaims loudly and assertively that credit repair doesn't work and that we all must be just fake shills for the banner ads that grace the site, that's an opportunity to debate someone whose ignorance is obvious, but that still doesn't mean that person is a troll whose intent is to wreck the board.) 4) Just because somebody is brand new to the board and has opinions or expertise to share, that doesn't automatically mean that person is a troll or any other example of malevolence. Some of us may well believe (and I count myself among them) that the best way to join the Creditnet family is to RECEIVE rather than to DISPENSE information for the first month or two. But it's a free country, and Creditnet apparently makes this board available to the public for free discussion and debate, so not every newcomer will fit some old codger's expectation. Perhaps this fourth anti-paranoia tip should have been listed first. In the spirit of Jerry Springer, here's my Final Thought: Some may say that I'm spilling the beans and that now every troll will know how to fool us. I strongly disagree for several reasons: 1) Probably 99% of the trolls just show up and spout off. 2) The other 1% are stymied anyway because if they do the things they want to do (i.e., the things on the list above), then they're nabbed. Their only other choice is to behave like the rest of us, and that's just fine. We have no secret knowledge here; rather, we just know the ins-and-outs of our Federal rights, and so should they. Unfortunately for them, their business model can't be very easily sustained if they behave legally all the time, lol. 3) There is that other kind of troll -- what I call the "single-issue" crowd (i.e., the guy who shows up and seems to never miss an opportunity to knock a particular credit repair firm, etc.) -- and they ultimately show themselves for what they are simply as they go about doing the things they feel they must do. 4) There's far more to be gained through education of this type (for example, keeping ourselves from hurling accusations too quickly) than there is to be lost by worrying too much that some troll will somehow benefit from reading this. (Frankly, if a troll quits behaving like a troll, then are they really a troll anymore? Perhaps this posting should be REQUIRED READING for trolls, lol.) Ok, that's it. I'm sorry for this little fit of extemporaneous essaying, but it was in me, and I needed to write it out. Perhaps it will help somebody somehow sometime down the line. Doc
Wow! While reading, I found myself swaying back and forth, lighting a candle, and holding up a peace sign, humming "We are the world." LOL Great insight here! Nice job, Doc! :::::::::applause::::::::::::: (I'd give ya a standing ovation but the candle is dripping wax, teehee)
LOL!!! Maybe a meddly of your suggestion, "We Are The World" (for Bkev) with "The Greatest Love of All" (for bobbi) and, of course, "Uptown Girl" (in honor of pulse). BTW, We should always remember, in the words of Trudy, Lily Tomlin's main character in the one-woman play The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, "No matter how cynical I become, it's never enough to keep up." Kudos Doc!!!
Thanks, SisterGirl! I think NanaC, Quixote, and Hermit5 should produce a Ktel record -- Creditnet Trolls Greatest Hits, lol. Doc