Skip to content or view screen version

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Crackpots and Trolls

underclassrising | 05.01.2010 22:14 | Indymedia | Sheffield

There are many questions to be asked, but it seems Indymedia has become infested by trolls and conspiracy crackpots.

We should start by asking who are they and why are they here?
What exactly do they want?

Rather than punishing them I believe we can reform these individuals with logic and reason.

underclassrising

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

pardon us, but

05.01.2010 23:10

dont these words mean anything to you: A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

notice the words, IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES.

dont we all have a "right" to access this site and use it within the above "statement"?

dont those, even those we sometimes disagree with or "react" to quickly without waiting and asking yourself how much trolling you yourself have done. your user name is all over this site?

just wondering wou you think you are to try and dominate users and their interaction. that in itself is trollish, dont ya think?

confused

What we can do about it..

05.01.2010 23:27

Some indymedia collectives are adopting policies of "content approval". This means that nothing is posted until it is read by one of the main collective people, whose responsibility is to verify if the content is true if it is about an actual event, check if the sources cited are there and only then approve the article for publishing. Comments follow a similar procedure, where apart from the above, the other requirement is that these comments are necessary as an ADDITION or CORRECTION of the main content.

I do not agree with turning the main indymedia articles into forums to discuss everybody's political views. This ends up being very distracting from the main point, which is the availability of uncensored information. Comments should only be used to add to or correct the main article. Comments such as "you're stupid" or "my mummy told me that the government would never lie" do not belong here. There are several other forums on the internet for people to discuss these matters all they like. Indymedia should be kept serious and should serve to inform.

We are feeding the trolls at the moment. Lets make some effective changes to the way the content is managed. I would also propose different categories of articles.

For instance, we could have an "Actual Events/News" category where articles would aim to inform about events that have happened. Then an "Analysis" category where articles would analyze ideas, phrases, theory in general. An "Event Calls" section for event calls. Maybe even an "Opinions" section where people could publish their opinions in great detail, with no comments allowed.

Generally, if comments cannot be "authorized", then we should disable them. They are absolutely useless in their current form.

Wenn