Jimquisition: The Wacky Harassment Blame Parade

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wulf3n

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Ultratwinkie said:
The biggest one is the persecution complex and gamers taking everything personally on issues they aren't even a part of. If you aren't the problem, don't worry about it. You don't need to constantly think of yourself as the problem.
If you say "Group has problem" then of course people that are a part of that group are going to take it personally. Just because you say "Well if you don't do that I'm not referring to you" and expect people to be fine with it. If people weren't referring to all gamers they shouldn't have used the global term gamers.

The headlines should have read: Female dev harassed by people on the internet who happen to be gamers.
not: Female dev harassed by gamers
 

Fireaxe

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erttheking said:
Is that why Jim when out of his way to make a video about the whole mess around him?
Jim did make a video -- which isn't really going out of his way, seeing as he is paid to do it. But it was nowhere near as much blaming the entire gaming community.


erttheking said:
And why are you wording it as if whether or not a person should be defended from harassment online depends on the quality of the games they've made are?
I'd suggest that gamers would be more motivated to defend someone who made a game they enjoyed playing than.
 

Erttheking

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Fireaxe said:
erttheking said:
Is that why Jim when out of his way to make a video about the whole mess around him?
Jim did make a video -- which isn't really going out of his way, seeing as he is paid to do it. But it was nowhere near as much blaming the entire gaming community.


erttheking said:
And why are you wording it as if whether or not a person should be defended from harassment online depends on the quality of the games they've made are?
I'd suggest that gamers would be more motivated to defend someone who made a game they enjoyed playing than.
Considering he made an extra video, I'd say it is. And he isn't blaming the entire community, I have no idea where people keep getting that idea.

Frankly I just like to defend people, regardless of how good what they make is. I still feel bad for Gearbox and how they can't make a single announcement without someone making a snarky comment about Colonial Marines.
 

Erttheking

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randomthefox said:
Victim blaming is such a funny word. It's like "rape culture", or "white knighting" in that it seems like a term made up and used souly as a "you disagree with me therefore you are part of the problem and your opinion doesn't count and you should be castrated" short hand.

I mean, when someone gets an internet virus, and they tell you they got it because they went to some porn website, what do you say? "Yup, that shit'll happen, you need to be more careful about what sites you chose to go on because that danger is out there, and at the very least try to get an anti virus program that can help." anyone who has spent more then five minutes on the internet would agree that's simply sound advice plain and simple.

But when someone says they went on a message board and got harassed for being different, suddenly it's victim blaming to go "well yeah, weren't you paying attention to the whole Brony controversy? If you're different in a place that exists souly for people to circle jerk each other about how great they are and shitty everyone else is, you're gonna get sticky. Don't put your personal information out there for them to find and exploit, and just ignore em when blocking isn't an option."

If you go to the Bronx after midnight and get mugged, sorry, but it's your fucking fault for being a naive ignorant putz who expects the world to spin the other way just because you couldn't be bothered to take preventative measures, plain and simple. I like musing about how I wish the world should be just as much as everyone else, but you also need to realize and deal with the fact the world as it is doesn't care about you and you need to learn how to survive in it instead of longing for someone else to come along and make it better for you.
You know what the problem is? It's a lack of empathy. If someone went out at night and got mugged, when he staggers home I would've comforted him if I had known him, not have told him that he could've avoided it if he had just done things differently, because when something bad happens to someone, the last thing they want to hear is someone tell them what they could've done to avoid it. It's not a matter of them expecting the world to revolve around them, it's simple human decency.
 

wulf3n

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Ultratwinkie said:
And here's the problem: people put too much stock in the global label.

American is a global label.

Yet I don't see Americans say "I don't run around with a gun shooting people." They don't need to. That doesn't stop Americans from complaining about gun crime. Or any other kind of crime.

Because Americans complain about American crime. Just because they are both American doesn't mean they are the same. Its the same thing as asking "Is American crime getting too high?"

Same thing when black friday profits go down:

"Are Americans getting stingy this holiday season?"

That doesn't mean every American spent their christmas at a dollar store, it means there is a pervasive trend for cheapness.
What If we were to say "Americans are gun-toting rednecks"? generally you get a pretty big response from Americans saying otherwise.

Hell, why don't we take this to the ridiculous extreme. If someone was to say "Black people are criminals" would you really tell those who take exception

Ultratwinkie said:
If you aren't the problem, don't worry about it. You don't need to constantly think of yourself as the problem. That is a very disturbing mentality if you constantly apply every criticism to yourself regardless of what it is.

That is not healthy or sustainable. I don't need a degree in psychology to tell you that.
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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Jimothy Sterling said:
The Wacky Harassment Blame Parade

A bunch of game enthusiasts harass a woman online. Everybody starts blaming people. The victim, mostly. That, and alien creatures who are totally not real gamers.

Watch Video
Hi. What has happened to her seems absolutely awful. However, there are a number of quietist gamers that are not at all interested in politics in or through gaming (except maybe laughing at the latest big flare up and how moronic a side is) or joining in to defend one side or the other. That is not a sickening craven position, that is just a section of gamers uninterested in the latest bloody argument. Some of us don't care very much (we have games to play, jobs, other interests) and we are backing neither side. Why? Because being truly informed on what is going on is a number of hours researching both sides.

Who has the bloody time?

The answer is you Jim, you and other gaming journalists. Not everyone has your time in the medium and the latest debates. Thanks for the video, no thanks for calling gamers cowards that don't get involved in this latest issue.
 

Rebel_Raven

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Coreless said:
Rebel_Raven said:
"As much as I hate to say it, you're not being neutral in this matter saying "the hell with both sides" because one side definitely benefits from having a person decide to not get involved"
Why should I help any of you? Give me a good reason why I should get involved at all? So every random person who gets insulted can feel better about jumping into a den of lions? If you can't handle the heat then stay off the freaking internet. By not doing anything I am staying neutral, of course its not neutral to you because you have a hand in the game and quite frankly I don't give a damn about either so neither you or they will gain any benefit but nice try. Trolls need attention and you seem to be providing them with every reason to continue so please don't start passing the buck off to everyone else thank you, if you want to continue fanning the flames don't get mad when the fire never dies out.

Rebel_Raven said:
"I'm not saying police the whole internet, or even really go out of your way, but doing nothing, saying it's not your problem, it's basically letting the trolls, and haters win"
But that is precisely what you are saying, stop trying to beat around the bush and just come out and say it, "you're either with us... or you're with them". You're trying to force these issues upon everyone and I am not going to be told what I should be doing, who I should be doing it for and why I should be doing it.

Rebel_Raven said:
People wouldn't have to "crusade" against injustices if they weren't so rampant, and shrugged off, and allowed to be. Doesn't matter how big, or little the injustices are, it's just more weight added to the camel's back.
If they weren't so rampant...lol yea ok, look how quickly Jim and the whole internet came to her rescue and your claiming there is so much injustice lol...what tosh. These trolls have about the same power as an ant does on the earth's gravity and by that I mean absolutely none, zip, zilch, nada.
Why should you help? I'm not trying to recruit you, here, but what goes around comes around. Cleaning up helps everyone. The less people around harassing people will generally lead to less threads like these.

Trolls aren't in it just for the attention, they're in it to see what screws with you, and the lengths they'll go to knows no limits, it seems. They'll harass you IRL if given the chance, and they'll likely get their buddies in on it, too. And odds are they can bend the law just enough to not break it. I gotta wonder how many of the phonecalls Zoe got were reported to the police who did fuck all about it? You'd think with real repercussions like police intervention would dissuade these people quickly.

I gotta wonder, if you don't care about these issues, why are you even in this thread? Seriously.
It kinda puzzles me, all these people who just don't care that go out of their way to care enough to announce they don't care when there's thousands of others on this site who's stance is unknown, likely because they don't care enough to announce they don't care.

I'm just being reminded about the adage "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing" here. What you do is up to you, but posting something generally opens you up to receiving opinions.

Yeah, rampant. You've noticed how often Movie Bob, Grey, and Jim make videos/comics like these, right? And pretty much every time, there's a new story added to the list of injustices. Rampant.
And that's not even factoring in websites that generally catch these incidents faster.

If we stopped caring about each other, and left everyone to fend for themselves, I'm sure this world would have more dead people, IMO. People thinking no one cares about them getting pushed to the edge, and shedding blood that may not always be their own.
As unpleasant as it might sound, giving a damn about one another can make things better for you. It makes people more inclined to return the favor, IMO, even if it's just to keep you giving a damn about them.

Trolls have plenty of power. If they didn't there wouldn't be trolls, obviously. They exist to play games with you, and find your weaknesses. The more challenging you are, the more they'll up their game until they break you. Psychological warfare works.
 

Karadalis

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Rebel_Raven said:
MPgmr said:
Rebel_Raven said:
As much as I hate to say it, you're not being neutral in this matter saying "the hell with both sides" because one side definitely benefits from having a person decide to not get involved, and that's the trolls, and haters. You're not doing anything about them, are you? You're letting them run free without repercussion even right under your nose. That's pretty much exactly what they want.
No. Just...no.

The one objective of a troll is get a rise out of others. Ignoring and reporting them is the ideal way to deprive them of that satisfaction. It's one of the basic rules of the internet: "DO NOT FEED THE TROLL".

People like you are the ones giving trolls exactly what they want: a reaction.
You can't ignore -and- report them. You acknowledge their existence when you report them, you see. They get their reaction when you report them. Considering all the new accounts I see soon after someone gets banned expertly making hot topics to get a badge back, it doesn't really help, so much as tests them if they can be arsed to make a new account, and they generally can be.

If you ignore them, well, the old adage comes to mind, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing" pretty much for the exact reasons I laid out. They don't want you against them. They want to harass people freely without repercussion.

Karadalis said:
Rebel_Raven said:
Coreless said:
You know... I used to remember when the gaming community was about enjoying games and not crusading against every injustice that flies out of the aether. I say to hell with both sides of this nonsense, to hell with Jim and his crusaders and to hell with the anonymous trolls on 4chan, I'm not going to be held responsible for any of it and I am definitely not going to play this "your either with us or against us" bullshit. You guys want to start drawing red lines and building trenches then I will fight against both sides adamantly and make sure none of you get what you want.
I'd say the lines were drawn, and the trenches dug for a very long time.
As much as I hate to say it, you're not being neutral in this matter saying "the hell with both sides" because one side definitely benefits from having a person decide to not get involved, and that's the trolls, and haters. You're not doing anything about them, are you? You're letting them run free without repercussion even right under your nose. That's pretty much exactly what they want. Less opposition while they make people miserable. And if you fight both sides, you're just adding misery by fighting the people the trolls are making miserable which kinda offsets what you do against the trolls.

I'm not saying police the whole internet, or even really go out of your way, but doing nothing, saying it's not your problem, it's basically letting the trolls, and haters win. They don't want you against them. They want you with them, or at least working towards a similar goal which would likely be fighting the victims, and the people trying to defend the victims.

What, exactly, is wrong with trying to make a place more civil, anyhow?

People wouldn't have to "crusade" against injustices if they weren't so rampant, and shrugged off, and allowed to be. Doesn't matter how big, or little the injustices are, it's just more weight added to the camel's back.
Quite the contrary.. shrugging it off is exactly the way to go. Anything else just gives the trolls and haters a feel of accomplishment.. heck this video i promise you will have several of those low lifes giggle with glee.

As i said before.. he (or any other mere user) does neither have the tools, the rights or actual influence to change their behavior.. all he would do by oposing those trolls is adding more fuel to the fire.

Oposing trolls is what they want.. they want you to fight them..

Why do you think the phrase "Dont feed the trolls" has been created in the first place and has never lost its meaningfullness?

The only way to win against trolls is to completly ignore them and remove any plattform they stand on to spread their bile from underneath them. And the only ones who can remove that plattform isnt you or me but the people in charge of the plattforms.

"Actively" fighting trolls only has the oposite effect. So ignoring them is the best course of action anyone can take.

Jims little video here does nothing to solve anything and only creates more conflict and reinforces the opinions and glee of those hatefull no livers.

So if youre fighting trolls "actively" youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem.
And not fighting trolls means they work harder to get a reaction. They don't know where the lines are drawn until they cross them, and they're eager to find those lines. They'll get more and more obnoxious until they get the reaction they want, and even then that might not stop them from getting worse. Due to that it's generally impossible to ignore them because part of their joy is figuring out what, exactly, is the ***** in your armor.

"Don't feed the trolls" is a failure, you see. For as long as it's existed, for all the sense it might make, it's failed as it hasn't stopped trolling, and likely never will. All it did was let trolling get more and more obnoxious by not giving repercussions to trolling.
Being "banned" or suspended, or whatever doesn't stop trolls. It doesn't hurt them. When they're driven to make people miserable, nothing's really going to stop them. They'll just make new accounts.
They might work "harder"

But in the end they are just as powerless as anyone else. Tell me.. what can one of these trolls do that i cant? Nothing. When you boil it down its all just words.. you can choose to ignore them or to aknowledge them. What youre suposed to do is work together with the authorities if things get out of hand. Thats all.. no one else not involved can change anything about that.

Think about it: They work harder and harder but no matter how hard they work they get ignored.

At one point even they give up and thats the moment when you won over the troll. Does it make them disapear? No.. but it also doesnt give them any form of satisfaction.

Dont feed the trolls is not a failure if you follow through with it, but as people like Jim proove it is to juicy of a topic and creates way to much attention to let it be. More attention = more money.

I might have to point out thought that i absolutely agree with your argument to report these trolls. No discussion there. But you are not suposed to engage in forum combat to defend the person whos being harassed either. Youre doing them no favour and instead only attract more hatefull people.

They are like vultures and youre throwing out more meat for them to gobble up.

Also it hasnt stopped trolling because it does not and can not get rid of the people who troll. Nor does any other attempt at fixing the problem.

Haters gonna hate... that is a fundamental truth of this world. They are not going away EVER aslong as humanity exist. Blaming everyone else for their existance thought isnt helping either and is rather insulting if you think about it.

Its like blaming all muslims for 9/11

Or that im to blame that hooligans are beating people up and sometimes kill them because i also happen to like soccer? Because that is what Jim is saying in his video.

Guilty by association and everyone who distances him or herselfe from those people is suddenly an asshole and a lesser person?

Should every trollpost now be met with millions of counterposts? People dont have time for that.. people have their own problems and own lives without making someone elses problem their own just because they both happen to be involved in the same hobby.

Work with the authorities who have the power to actually remove the bile, but dont try to make your problem everyones else who isnt directly involved with whats going on. Especialy when it comes down to internet harassment. No matter of raising attention to this problem is going to stop hatefull people unless the internet stops being anonymous.

And i cant imagine anyone wants that to happen either. Yes im being very harsh to the victims here but that is the cold truth. Rallying support from the powerless is not going to help you because by definition they are powerless.

Or does anyone really believe me posting in support of that Game dev is going to change anything? Or 100 people? Or 1000? or 10.000s? Or millions? The number doesnt matter, they are still powerless and can easaly be ignored by the haters or rather become fuel for their hate.
 

spartenX

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randomthefox said:
Victim blaming is such a funny word. It's like "rape culture", or "white knighting" in that it seems like a term made up and used souly as a "you disagree with me therefore you are part of the problem and your opinion doesn't count and you should be castrated" short hand.

I mean, when someone gets an internet virus, and they tell you they got it because they went to some porn website, what do you say? "Yup, that shit'll happen, you need to be more careful about what sites you chose to go on because that danger is out there, and at the very least try to get an anti virus program that can help." anyone who has spent more then five minutes on the internet would agree that's simply sound advice plain and simple.

But when someone says they went on a message board and got harassed for being different, suddenly it's victim blaming to go "well yeah, weren't you paying attention to the whole Brony controversy? If you're different in a place that exists souly for people to circle jerk each other about how great they are and shitty everyone else is, you're gonna get sticky. Don't put your personal information out there for them to find and exploit, and just ignore em when blocking isn't an option."

If you go to the Bronx after midnight and get mugged, sorry, but it's your fucking fault for being a naive ignorant putz who expects the world to spin the other way just because you couldn't be bothered to take preventative measures, plain and simple.
except the reason it's stupid to go into the Bronx at night is because of the mugger. your basically shifting the blame from the guy who mugged someone to the guy who was mugged. Should people enter internet forums where they aren't welcomed? no. should that make all the insults and death threats thrown their way OK? Hell no, and all victim blaming does it make it seem like it is OK.
Victim blaming is when you treat the victim as though they were the reason this all happened. when you act like they are the problem, instead of the harasser of the mugger. at best, the real bad guy will have one less victim. at worse, he'll get worse because he knows he won't be considered at fault for his actions
 

wulf3n

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Ultratwinkie said:
They can be, yes. I know a lot of Americans own guns, the only thing left is to define redneck. If its means someone with no fancy etiquette or doesn't care for culture I would agree. American culture doesn't care for the arts. If its means poor in general I would also have to agree because of how big the income inequality is.

But that all depends on what you define a redneck as.

As for "black people are criminals," that's a much more problematic because that isn't really a global label. Its much more specific than Americans are Gamers.

Gamers have no actual personal definition, same as Americans. Americans are citizens in America, there is no race or any other qualifier. Gamers have no race or platform qualifiers. Black is not global, that is specific.
Sure it's not exactly the same, Gamers are a self identified group, but I don't think many refer to themselves as gamers so they can abuse the womanz.

I suppose it's like when Fox news makes grandiose statements regarding gamers[though I don't think they use that term]. Most take exception and no one tries to defend Fox with "they're talking about other gamers, not us".
 

Aardvaarkman

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anth5 said:
so what? you must have witnessed some form of bullying in your life right? and if not, then imagine your coming across a case of bullying. you do know what imagine means right?
Absolutely. I have experienced bullying, and I know what "imagine" means. This, however, does not make your analogy apt, because Jim is essentially asking every gamer to intervene in this situation, even if they did not witness it, or are not a part of that particular community.

anth5 said:
mods and admins
Do you really think that the 4chan admins are going to do anything about this?

anth5 said:
mods and admins banning the abusers. In fact some jerk in this thread got banned just a few posts ago
Yeah, because The Escapist isn't 4chan. I reported that jerk within minutes of the post. My reporting him might have been the first one the mods responded to.

Yet I don't think that my reporting him on this thread is going to actually have any effect on the issue.



anth5 said:
and since you missed it the first time, let me make it clear. you should be doing this stuff when your around it,
Which I do, and just did earlier today.

anth5 said:
not jumping into other communities and going on some sort of anti-bullying crusade. the video, and the point of my analogy, was to try and get people to stop victim blaming, or just saying that it isn't their problem because they aren't directly involved...
So, what are we supposed to do? Jim says that we're somehow part of the problem, even though I report this kind of stuff in any communities I'm involved with, and don't blame victims in any way.

anth5 said:
when the events are happening around them.
None of these events happened "around me" - the only connection is that I watched Jim's video, which mentioned it. But it did not happen on The Escapist.

anth5 said:
high school=website
hall way=forum thread
bullies=shouldn't have to explain
victim=see previous
insults, and threats of violence=the insults and threats of violence in the forum posts
teachers and staff=admins and mods
Again, this didn't happen on any forums I use, so it's essentially the same as a high school in another country. Also, these trolls come from places that either don't have moderators, or have moderators who support their trolling. So, what exactly am I supposed to do about it?
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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You know what? I do a bit of that second thing. I tell myself it's people's choice to behave how they want and I'm not responsible for them, and furthermore that some of it isn't even truthful abuse, because being an asshole for the sake of it as opposed to converying hatred that you actually have is a thing on the internet. I think I'm somewhat justified in that because of what I just said (some people are trolls and we have no way of knowing how many), but at the same time I've probably been giving a bit too much leniency on the side of "they're probably just being dicks and don't actually mean it".

But as for acting in the interests of the affected parties, what the fuck am I meant to do? I'm a forum-dwelling gaming male and I've never even been close to an incident like this. In the cases of Hepler and Sarkeesian most of what I saw was disagreement with what they said or thought as opposed to just abuse for being female, which is much more the case here.
 

Aardvaarkman

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Rebel_Raven said:
"Don't feed the trolls" is a failure, you see. For as long as it's existed, for all the sense it might make, it's failed as it hasn't stopped trolling, and likely never will.
No, it works. I've seen it work plenty of times. The problem is that it needs to be taken seriously. The reason trolls still exist is because people keep feeding them.

While some people don't feed the trolls, there are still plenty who do, particularly people in high-visibility positions. Hell, just look at the current state of journalism. Major TV news shows, websites and newspapers are practically devoted to feeding trolls, to the point where a huge portion of the news we see, hear and read is driven by trolling and sensationalism.
 

wulf3n

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Ultratwinkie said:
The issue here is that people equate gamers with a specific image. Even when its much more vague.

Basically a console gamer playing a "hardcore" console game.

However that is not all a gamer can be. In fact, even board gamers can be a gamer thing. Even phone gamers are gamers. It became exclusionary and in the minds of people into something needlessly specific.

Gaming became preoccupied with who is a "true" gamer. Casual vs hardcore. Console vs PC. Handheld vs phone. How many games one has. How much they completed those games. The list goes on.

The thing is that yes gamers aren't the only one harassing women, but they do have a huge problem with them. Women haven't been integrated into the mainstream gamer psyche, so they are "fake" or "harmful" even though the exclusionary attitude is whats really harmful. We have seen this effect this whole year.

Usually with fear that everything is changing and getting taken away.

But the longer we exclude newcomers, the more likely the cultural depiction of us won't change. Which feeds back into getting less newcomers and stunts the maturity and respect gaming should deserve.

Which is why we should put our best face to the public instead of being overly defensive, and try to reign in on the vocal minority. Its what Atheist groups have been doing for years, and their PR improved big time when they were calm and friendly rather than angry and confrontational.

We can't expect to sit back and hope the truth wins out without any help from the community,tech companies tried that and now people still think we use 1990s technology with 1990s limitations with the perpetual fear of the blue screen. DC tried that too but now people think its still using 1990s continuity, and now can't sell their new stories to the public. If we want something that badly, we sadly have to work a little to get it.

If we just do nothing, nothing will change.
Different approaches I guess. To me treating these people as though they are representative of the community is as damaging if not more so than ignoring them which is why is say this isn't an issue with gaming culture but rather an issue with people who happen to be gamers.

The big issue here is being called cowardly and selfish for wanting a group of trolls to be to considered as such and not called gamers.
 

Bruce

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I am seeing a lot of people saying Jim said you have to act - and that's not actually what he said. What he said is that if you choose not to act on the issue - which is 100% your right - don't then go online and whine at those who do.

If a topic doesn't interest you - don't post on it. You don't have to give your two cents, and doing so just makes you look bad.

And this covers more than feminism really, if all you have to contribute to any discussion about bad behaviour is how you aren't in the class being criticised, or how bored you are of the discussion, or how "it is the Internet" or something like that, it just means you are really part of the problem.

You don't have to participate in the discussion, but that you choose to, and you do so in a manner which is more about dismissing complaints rather than dealing with them, shows you are part of the issue that is being complained about.
 

Rebel_Raven

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Karadalis said:
Rebel_Raven said:
And not fighting trolls means they work harder to get a reaction. They don't know where the lines are drawn until they cross them, and they're eager to find those lines. They'll get more and more obnoxious until they get the reaction they want, and even then that might not stop them from getting worse. Due to that it's generally impossible to ignore them because part of their joy is figuring out what, exactly, is the ***** in your armor.

"Don't feed the trolls" is a failure, you see. For as long as it's existed, for all the sense it might make, it's failed as it hasn't stopped trolling, and likely never will. All it did was let trolling get more and more obnoxious by not giving repercussions to trolling.
Being "banned" or suspended, or whatever doesn't stop trolls. It doesn't hurt them. When they're driven to make people miserable, nothing's really going to stop them. They'll just make new accounts.
They might work "harder"

But in the end they are just as powerless as anyone else. Tell me.. what can one of these trolls do that i cant? Nothing. When you boil it down its all just words.. you can choose to ignore them or to aknowledge them. What youre suposed to do is work together with the authorities if things get out of hand. Thats all.. no one else not involved can change anything about that.

Think about it: They work harder and harder but no matter how hard they work they get ignored.

At one point even they give up and thats the moment when you won over the troll. Does it make them disapear? No.. but it also doesnt give them any form of satisfaction.

Dont feed the trolls is not a failure if you follow through with it, but as people like Jim proove it is to joice of a topic and creates way to much attention to let it be. More attention = more money.

I might have to point out thought that i absolutely agree with your argument to report these trolls. No discussion there. But you are not suposed to engage in forum combat to defend the person whos being harassed either. Youre doing them no favour and instead only attract more hatefull people.

They are like vultures and youre throwing out more meat for them to gobble up.

Also it hasnt stopped trolling because it does not and can not get rid of the people who troll. Nor does any other attempt at fixing the problem.

Haters gonna hate... that is a fundamental truth of this world. They are not going away EVER aslong as humanity exist. Blaming everyone else for their existance thought isnt helping either and is rather insulting if you think about it.

Its like blaming all muslims for 9/11

Or that im to blame that hooligans are beating people up and sometimes kill them because i also happen to like soccer? Because that is what Jim is saying in his video.

Guilty by association and everyone who distances him or herselfe from those people is suddenly an asshole and a lesser person?

Should every trollpost now be met with millions of counterposts? People dont have time for that.. people have their own problems and own lives without making someone elses problem their own just because they both happen to be involved in the same hobby.

Work with the authorities who have the power to actually remove the bile, but dont try to make your problem everyones else who isnt directly involved with whats going on. Especialy when it comes down to internet harassment. No matter of raising attention to this problem is going to stop hatefull people unless the internet stops being anonymous.

And i cant imagine anyone wants that to happen either. Yes im being very harsh to the victims here but that is the cold truth. Rallying support from the powerless is not going to help you because by definition they are powerless.

Or does anyone really believe me posting in support of that Game dev is going to change anything? Or 100 people? Or 1000? or 10.000s? Or millions? The number doesnt matter, they are still powerless and can easaly be ignored by the haters or rather become fuel for their hate.
Yeah. See, they want to get a rise out of you, see. And if they don't get one, they'll decide that you're a target and keep trying until they do because you challenge them. They want to get you mad, remember?

Granted, a troll is only human, same as you, and I, but it's not that they can do things we can't, it's what they chose to do.

See, the contradiction arises again. You can't ignore something, yet acknowledge it exists.
Ignoring something means to deny it exists. You can't report something you deny exists. :p
If you're open to constructive criticism, I'd say more along the lines of "report them, and do not reply to them" or some such. Unfortunately that only works when there's people to make reports to, and even if there are people to make reports to, they might not get as offended as you are, so the troll stands unpunished. With my battlegrounds being in gender issues among gaming, I've seen a lot of abrasive posts that stand.

They work harder, and harder until they're ringing your telephone. It's the thrill of the hunt for some of them. Sure, call the police, but what if the trolls are 12 yearolds? They'll likely just get slapped on the wrist, and the thrill of their lives that they got attention.

Ignoring them just lets them move the lines they have to cross to get to you. When you want gold/silver/what have you, do you stop using your pick just because there's some rock in your way? The rewards are worth it.
think about the scenario of a child calling their parent over, and over, and over again, not because they're hungry, or in danger, they want to make their parent mad. When the parent finally snaps, the reaction is far greater the longer they've been annoyed.
It's the same way with trolls. They're the kid trying to annoy you, the parent, until you snap, and they want you to explode big time.

Don't feed the trolls is a failure because you said it yourself. Haters are going to hate. It doesn't make the trolls go away, it just makes you a bigger challenge, and gets you more attention. You're pretty damned either way unless you luck out, and the only trolls you come up against are not really devoted to trolling.
Statistically it's impossible for everyone to ignore them all on top of that. Sooner or later, a troll will say the right thing to make you mad.
Sooner or later all the people trying to make you mad will become too much. What are you supposed to do? Become a hermit? A person's skin can only get so thick.
Don't feed the trolls sounds great on paper until you're faced with a troll. Especially faced with a smart troll that knows how to skirt the rules, and continually annoy you.

Well, I'm not terribly up to date on the Muslims. Have there been protests against 9/11 from them? Have they showed large scale, or organized outrage against the people that did 9/11?
I'm not saying I blame them all, mind you. I handle people on a case by case basis, frankly.
On that note, when was the last time -gamers- made any sort of organized outrage against the trolls?
Sure it might give the trolls attention, but it'd also show the world that not everyone agrees with them, or are like them. The trolls are winning. People outside looking in think we're all trolls. The trolls are getting attention.

Soccer? When was the last time you protested the hooligans?

Innocent until proven guilty isn't a universal thing. People get hurt by a group, word spreads, the group looks bad. If they rarely, if ever look good, then what the heck are people supposed to think? Humanity is pretty hard wired to think in terms of tribes, grouping people into like people and thinking of people as a group. When that group seems full of assholes, they're a group of assholes until they show otherwise. It's like those alien invasion movies where the aliens see humanity as irredeemable scum until some humans show the aliens that humanity has potential, and aren't all scum. This moral isn't taken for granted. It's not always imprinted upon people. People will get conditioned to see a group of people a certain way. Again, if that certain way is "asshole" then that's the way it is until enough non-assholes show otherwise.

Trollposts should be met with moderation. If that's not possible, then, well, something has to be done. Enough disdain shown towards them until the troll's feelings are hurt enough until they stop might work. We have to show they're not welcome, don't we? Coz until we do, they'll make themselves at home, the way I see it.
People don't have to make time to find these posts, mind you. Just do what needs to be done when you can do it. Is that reasonable?

If you don't give a damn about other people, how can you expect people to give a damn about you? Their problems are problems, and problems are made to be solved. Solutions are easier with many people involved so long as they're on the same page.
But the problem arises again, haters gunna hate. It won't make them all go away either.
Still, it is so terrible to exercise some empathy, and sympathy?
The -real- problem, IMO, is people are afraid to rely on one another, and have to fix their own problems.

the problem with leaving it to the authorities is that people can just make another account. There's no authorities over the internet. Some sites have authorities, but not all of them. Trolls can't be stopped either way. Trolls get banned, they make new accounts, and resume trying to burn the planet for the view.

Real life authorities can't act until certain things happen, and if a troll stays petty enough, real life authority tends not to do a damn thing.
I mean, all these harassing phone calls. Why aren't there followup articles stating these people got put in jail, juvy (likely there, I'd imagine), sued, or otherwise punished? The trolls see the other trolls don't get punished, then copy cat.

Being harsh to the victims? I don't really see that. Being harsh to the victims is trolling them. Especially until they break.
Leaving the victims to their own devices isn't going to help. They're going to reach a breaking point all the faster without support, and frankly I figure that leads to pain, and bloodshed.

So it's a no win situation, isn't it? Haters gunna hate. Still, they're going to make themselves at home until we kick them out, and show them they aren't wanted sufficiently that they go away.