Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Trolling- Purposefully antagonizing other people on the Internet,

I've sat back this entire week dumbfounded that certain people can occupy such a large portion of their time writing a bunch of drivel, for the sole reason that they can get it published.

For myself,  a believer in free speech it's a hard decison to limit their access to this blog but I'm afraid it has come to that.

Purposefully antagonizing other people on the Internet, is known as TROLLING and I am reluctantly informing everyone that as of midnight tonight it will no longer be tolerated.

I would much rather have five or ten interesting and thoughtful comments from people with real ideas and the ability to put them into print than a hundred stupid and hurtful comments.

I encourage everyone of all opinion ranges to continue making their views known. You don't have to agree with myself or other posters. You can post in French as well.

BUT NO MORE STUPID PERSONAL ATTACKS.

I believe that some of this trolling has been done to get people off this blog and I notice that some of the regular posters are shying away.

So for all you trollers out there, take advantage of the next few hours to launch your best zingers, because as of midnight -HASTA LA VISTA!



43 comments:

  1. This is good news. I don't mind acerbic commentary, but the trolling has become excessive. On a positive note, the increase in trolls does mean that your blog is more popular than ever. :)

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  2. Excellent ! Par contre, les propos disgracieux à l'endroit du Québec sont-ils encore permis ?

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  3. Bien souvent je note que les commentaires n'ont rien à voir avec le sujet de l'éditorial et ne sont que du Québec bashing, quand ce n'est pas simplement des mensonges éhontés.

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  4. Is this kind of comments is find : Anonymous said... August 11, 2010 3:35 PM :
    '' J'aimerais bien que chaque petit Québécois reçût "a one-way ticket" pour Vladivostok et qu'il y restât jusqu'à la fin des temps ! (pour mes ennemies : oui, je suis capable d'écrire en français et même d'utiliser le subjective.'' It's sound interesting to your ears or not ?

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  5. ''BUT NO MORE STUPID PERSONAL ATTACKS.'' Vos attaques ne concernent que les Québécois ou les francophones, donc elles sont personnelles, non ? Sinon, j'ai mal saisi le but de votre blogue de droite ?

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  6. It's not personnal attacks, it's collective attacks agains Québec and francophones. By the way, most of the comments and the Editor are ANONYMOUS (The antonym is personnal).

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  7. AIDE-MÉMOIRE: Ce qui (n)'est (pas) acceptable ?

    To anonymous August 11, 2010 1:37 PM ''There is no censorship on this blog, which is more than can be said for the Quebec nationalist/separatist blogs...as adski stated. The separatists are not open to any contrary opinions, like fanatical extremists elsewhere. '' Justement je vous copie les plus croustillants (crispy)'' Anonymous August 10, 2010 2:08 PM ''Arrogance? Don't you know that the French are called "the arrogant race." Anonymous: August 10, 2010 5:58 PM ''The assimilation is well underway. Montreal is well on its way to more english speakers. Hell, when you order some food in downtown Montreal they look at you like a lizard if you order in french as they expect anglais. ..so goes Montreal...so goes Quebec. Just a matter of time.'', Anonymous August 11, 2010 2:00 PM ''You stupid f'king frog. I would estimate that 95% of people here already can understand your joual writing. So, the point is, why write in french. It is, after all, basically an anglo blog. Vous ne parlez pas français, vous parlez joual, un faiblesse de tout des Quebecois.'' et finalement, la cerise sur le gâteau, du très joli pseudonyme de EyeWitness August 8, 2010 7:13 PM : ''Does Englishs Zealots exist ?

    Fuck ya, they’re the ones that want to see Franco-zealots like you hanged, drawn, and quartered. But they don’t represent the majority, who simply want the Franco-zealots to check their belligerent ambitions and back off, before they provoke a regrettable and irreversible event.'' De si profondes réflexions valent bien quelques railleries... Mauvais joueurs...

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  8. @4:44 PM,

    "By the way, most of the comments and the Editor are ANONYMOUS (The antonym is personnal)."

    WHY DON'T YOU USE YOUR NAME, HYPOCRITE?

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  9. "It's not personnal attacks, it's collective attacks agains Québec and francophones."

    There have been plenty of attacks on Canada and anglophones...we're just giving you some of your own medicine.

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  10. I wish there were no anonymous commenting. Not because I want to out anybody, it's just easier to have a conversation when I don't have to refer to everyone as "Anon".

    That's just my preference.

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  11. Anonymous said...August 11, 2010 4:47 PM

    "AIDE-MÉMOIRE: Ce qui (n)'est (pas) acceptable?"

    If I read our editor correctly, all of it except
    for stupid " " (which is a personal attack). The
    rest is opinion. Je pense.

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  12. This blog was doing fine up until the past week or so. It tackled pertinent issues regarding politics and language relations in Quebec. Most of the comments were reasonable...the only exceptions were the stupid comments posted by the Columbian Francophone wannabe. What really sent the comments section of this blog into a tailspin was the arrival of the idiot or two posting exclusively in French. No doubt it was their intention to sabotage the blog. They should have stayed on the blogs of the JPQ, MMF, SJB or the RRQ, with the rest of their ilk.

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  13. Mississauga Guy here!

    Editor, thanks for listening. I'm as much a believer in free speech as anyone else, but there are laws against slander and libel. Free speech in the most democratic environment is NOT absolute! There is something to be said for maintaining public order.

    I liked living in Chomedey Laval growing up, and had it not been for the anti-minority rhetoric tolerated and promoted by separatist governments, and promoted just as zealously by so-called federalist governments in Quebec, I, and probably most of the other 300,000+ who left Quebec over the politics, may have stayed.

    I've been in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) for half my life after spending the first half in Montréal et les environs. I'm still a Habs fan, I unfortunately gave up on the Expos in exchange for the Jays because they're a more enjoyable team to watch, and Claude Brochu didn't have a clue what he was doing. I've never been a big fan of football, but the Alouettes of the last ten years or so have been the most enjoyable to watch since the Als of the early 1970s. I never though much of the Argos except for Mike "Pinball" Clemons. He's absolutely a terrific, wonderful, positive, energetic and generous human being!

    I think restaurants are a better deal in Montreal as opposed to Toronto. T.O. has good ones, but they're costlier. Schwartz's, Marathon's, and the two most famous bagel places in Park Ex are still a hit with me when I'm in town.

    Being the son of a Townshipper, I still happily make occasional pilgrimmages to Estrie, and certainly to the Laurentians if I'm there for the Fall colours.

    It took me a long time to allow myself to become part of the furniture here in T.O. For a long time, I felt like a displaced person in MY OWN country, worst of all, in the city where I was born. I still pronounce the city as "Ron between the toes", i.e., none of this T'ronn-o stuff for me (it's still "toe-RON-toe"!)

    I actually live in Mississauga as every regular reader knows by now. The parks are kept immaculately here, esp. the ones touching the shoreline of Lake Ontario. It's in a lot of ways like Laval, mixing residential and commercial sections, but it's almost three times the population. The mayor here is almost 90 years old, has been mayor for 32 years, wins elections now without campaigning and intends to run for four more years next year. Oh, and she was born in the Gaspé region (Port Daniel). Best of all, Mississauga is debt-free. Taxes are based on need, not grandiose pet projects.

    While Laval has expanded since I moved away in the mid-1980s, the parks as I remember them are shadows of their former selves. The Centre de la Nature is well-kept. Too, the parks in the City of Montreal are not what the used to be. I'm not out to knock Montreal, but these are observations from decades of living. Hampstead and some of the other suburbs are keeping neat public properties, but Montreal.... Roads conditions in Montreal and much of Quebec are a calamity.

    My home street in Chomedey hasn't been paved since its original paving in the early 1960s, just old patchwork where necessary. My street in Mississauga was just completely resurfaced this past week. A small bridge over a ravine around the corner was completely refurbished about 4-5 years ago. The water pipes (source and wastewater) were redone last year, and the drain gutters were redone with the new pavement. Things here are getting done! Sorry, old troll! You can diss Miss all you like, but we're happy with Hazel in North America's largest suburb (Surrey, BC is #2; Mesa, AZ #3 and Laval, QC #4).

    I hope the individuals who are trolling will now contribute more constructively to the conversation. Happy reading and writing, everybody! Editor, thanks again for listening!

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  14. To the Colombian guy (you know who I mean):

    For months you have been trolling this blog and attacking just about every comment that has been posted. It would be acceptable if you were providing intelligent arguments, but you have been making mostly one line statements (i.e. Mississauga this and that) that have nothing to do with the topic being discussed. And you post quotations from QC nationalists that have no bearing on the subject at hand. And you copy and paste the same comments in different threads. The editor should have dealt with you a long time ago.

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  15. "There have been plenty of attacks on Canada and anglophones...we're just giving you some of your own medicine."

    Yes, as a matter of fact they have laws which discriminate agaist anglos and the english language. Wonder what would happened if we banned french immersion and franco initiatives in the ROC. I would imagine we would hear the screams emanating from Quebec. Lets try it and see what happens.

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  16. In the interest in preserving the quality and integrity of your blog, I think you made a wise albeit difficult decision. I find it sad how quickly civility can evaporate and the conversation can descend to the lowest common denominator. Judging from the responses to your post about your decision, I think the problem stems in part from the fact that some people don’t understand the difference between constructive criticism and destructive insults. Unfortunately, Anglo dissent is routinely dismissed and cast off as unjustified, unprovoked ‘Quebec bashing’. This has been one of the nationalist’s long standing tactics to deflect disapproval. They can dish it out, better than they can take it. So thanks for getting the stories out, many of us appreciate your effort and dedication. The nationalist Quebecois will probably persecute and marginalize the Anglos community until the bitter end, but at least there will be a record of their reprehensible deeds for posterity.

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  17. Since this is the last time we'll be allowed to post without being censored (and it's my first time posting), I figured I'd go all out and let it all rip, as per your invitation.

    A wise person famously said "there's a sucker born every minute." The sad thing about freedom of expression is that it allows everyone, from the most inspired, to the most moronic, to the least informed, to voice their opinion.

    The Internet was presented to the masses a decade and a half ago with such lofty ideals as universal accessibility and the potential to realistically deliver limitless information. By and large, the Web has delivered on such promises (at least until now), at least on a technical level.

    Absent from that utopian universality was the equally plausible eventuality that once we built a better idiot-proofing network/service/technology, supposedly to inform ourselves, the basest of humans, regardless of political stripe, would only respond by becoming more sophisticated idiots.

    Anglomontreal (I'm new here; author, can we call you that directly?), I respect and share the spirit of the frustration that led you to this decision. Rather than descend into childish name-calling, I would much rather attack your positions when I think they're wrong using what I hope are enlightening counterexamples — or even emotional appeals, if it's not a purely factual argument.

    But if the law of averages and democratic participation are correct, the fact is, for better or for worse, that the comments posted are a (somewhat) representative cross-section of the readership here. You might just have to consider the fact that a portion of the visitors *are* trolls hell bent on wreaking havoc and (in)flaming everyone else. For better or for worse, childishly inflaming passions are a sad byproduct of a good portion of the separatist-federalist dynamic and its predecessors — and it cuts both ways. That dynamic, if you think about it, has been plaguing this country ever since it became clear that two arrogant colonizing European peoples couldn't agree on precisely how they'd continue controlling the land after they had both stolen it from the Indians.

    The nice part about living in a Western democracy is that there are comparatively few unjustifiable limits on freedom of expression. The nice part about having your own blog is that you are God and literally have power of life and death over all the pixels on the page.

    Give a second thought to your comment censorship/banning idea. As unlikely as it sounds even to me, you might be alienating a key demographic that just might stumble upon some greater truth that could potentially enlighten us all. Let's not forget that "out of the mouths of fools sometimes cometh wisdom."

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  18. I fucking love living in Montreal and I'm not going anywhere, neither are the dozens of anglophone newcomers I know. And yes, to the Klingons of the SSJB and their other weird sci-fi factions, there are anglophones who speak French already and there are those who learn French. So you're offended by hearing English when I sail by you on the sidewalk (because let's face it francophones have shorter average measurement from hip to sole of foot, therefore walk slower). Fucking grow up. At least I'm not speaking Chinese. Now that's an annoying language to have to listen to. Every been to Toronto? You francophones don't know how good you have it. Yes, I know, you're jealous because we're taller than you and we have better jawlines, but just think of all those old Chinese ladies pushing you out of the way to get on the streetcar. I just wish francophones would travel more, you know, get out and see the world. A few English people isn't killing you and some of us really fucking like your beautiful city and the great traditions of your province/nation/whatever. Even if we keep hitting our heads on the low doorways. Peace.

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  19. EyeWitness: Mississauga Guy here!

    Very eloquently written, and sadly, all too true.

    If the posting at 7:28PM is correct about who is trolling, and you're not a Quebec-born Francophone of several generations (and are from Colombia), BEWARE! You're not Québécois «pur laine», and YOU will be labelled, too! You already are.

    I've written previously about Franco Ontarians and Acadians who have been clearly told "they" are not one of "us" ("us" meaning Québécois «pur laine»). If they haven't let you know it by now, rest assured that how day follows night and night follows day, they will. It's as certain as death and taxes. I knew a Franco Ontarian from North Bay who used to get into fistfights with his neighbours across the Ottawa River over this. Michel Gratton, a former press secretary in the PMO, syndicated columnist and author wrote a book about French Canadians for the "rest of us" outside of the realm of that community, and some of what he wrote was not pretty. He was born in the Ottawa suburb of Vanier, just east of the Rideau River, was sent as a teen-ager to a distant seminary boarding school on the Quebec side and faced awful ridicule and disdain not only from fellow students, but the brothers as well!

    There is a distinct difference to the «pur laine» faction between being Québécois and "French Canadian", and they're neither shy nor hesitant to let you know where you stand in THEIR minds! If you're not one of "them" you're simply amongst "les autres", just line this Quebec-born Anglophone. Bottom line!

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  20. Here's another idea. Let's try and invent some jokes.

    Q: What do you call a francophone that can't get a girlfriend?

    A: Mario Beaulieu.

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  21. To Mississauga guy here: ''and had it not been for the anti-minority rhetoric tolerated'' Who think it's anti-minority rhetoric, you ? Your friends ? That's an exemple of non useful sentence...

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  22. ''This has been one of the nationalist’s long standing tactics to deflect disapproval. They can dish it out, better than they can take it.'' Again a case of generalization ? Who told you that, do you have sources ? It's a personnal opinion or you represent a group of interest ? Vous voyez, les choses sont beaucoup plus grises que vous le pensez. Vos commentaires, je les trouvent méprisant et prétentieux, quelqu'un pour les arrêter ? Dear Mr. Editor ?

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  23. Mississauga: Where freedom of speech is like bungee, sometimes the elastic just break.

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  24. This one is clearly racist: ''Anonymous said...

    What do you call the species of frog that is covered in black hair?

    ...a Quebecois
    August 11, 2010 4:53 PM ''

    Someone to cry for justice ? Bunch of geeks !

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  25. Apparatchik, it's the Mississauga Guy here again. Welcome to the language jungle! Also, this addresses the anonymous blogger immediately preceding my post at 10:39.

    Apparatchik, unfortunately some censoring will be necessary as a fellow calling himself Steve posted a response on the Census subject immediately following this one below. He made it abundantly clear he will not visit this blog anymore in light of obnoxious drivel, esp. the anti-Mississauga one-liners that have been appearing since I started to identify myself as a resident of Mississauga. They are nothing but insults and don't contribute in any way, shape or form to the discussion of the topics presented by the creator and editor of this blog. As I write, I see our resident troll is getting in his last licks before the rooster crows at midnight. OK with me.

    I mentioned in the Census subject written earlier this date with a heavy heart some censoring will be necessary, and I sensed readers would be turned off if too much of these senseless noncontributory one-liners continued. They're very off-putting, and cause more harm than good. Steve was honest and forthright enough to advise the editor of this blog that he is tuning out. Hopefully Steve will have caught this thread, and will return to the fold.

    To you trolls out there, you have 30 minutes left to live on this blog. Knock yourselves out!

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  26. Mississauga Guy (j'espère avoir bien prononcé ton nom... en français, bien sûr),

    D'abord merci pour ta cordialité hors pair! Bien qu'il s'agisse de la loi de la jungle pendant quelques minutes encore, je me permets d'exercer mon droit de m'exprimer dans les deux langues officielles et de répliquer à ton commentaire de 23h29.

    Tout établissement, tôt ou tard, et nonobstant son niveau de prestige, aura à composer avec sa propre racaille. Ce qui importe, c'est de faire progresser le vrai débat et de susciter un échange d'idées qui soit enrichissant. Quoiqu'il en soit des spammeurs et des flingueurs, le vrai débat aura lieu avec ou sans eux. À mon avis, la meilleure façon de réopondre à une provocation maladroite, c'est de bien se retenir. Par contraste, une réponse moindrement réfléchie vaut son pesant d'or. Inutile de faire couler davantage d'encre pour (devrais-je dire plutôt contre) des voyous qui n'ont rien à foutre au vrai débat national pourtant si important, que l'on soit du côté indépendantiste ou bien celui fédéraliste.

    Mais comme je suis bien chez Anglomontreal, je me dois de me plier à ses règles.

    tic-tic-tic...

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  27. 'Again a case of generalization ? Who told you that, do you have sources ? It's a personnal opinion or you represent a group of interest ?'

    Get serious...I've read it, I've heard it, I've lived it...the misrepresentations and accusations of ‘Quebec bashing’ are common knowledge in the outside world. Avoidance will get you know where. You can run but you can’t hide.

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  28. As we all believe in free speech, we also want to be able to speak our mind without it being censored. Otherwise, we no longer have free speech. Free speech is very important to us all. However, when you have a few adolescent deviants hell bent on an endless inundation of disruptive, deflective or vile comments and posts, whose goal is to prevent communication and collaboration, our freedom of speech is being infringed upon. It is therefore necessary to reign in the deviants for their purposeful disruptive, inconsiderate, antisocial posts verging on inappropriately vulgar and abusive.

    The French trolls who inundated the blogs with disruptive drivel displayed Quebec behavior at its best, an intrusion into our lives trying to prevent communication and understanding. Your behavior tarnished the image of Quebec with your inflammatory insults and remarks. It is all there in black and white for the whole world to see on the servers of cyberspace…forever. The one dimensional mind set of a people, who only know one side of the story, because they choose to not listen and only try to disrupt the communications of others to advance their plot towards the destruction of Canada. You bash Quebec yourselves with your negative disruptive, destructive posts. As Editor of the blog, it is in your best interest to reign in the abuses that have crossed the line of appropriateness. It was detracting from the quality of your blog, as well as negating all the efforts you put in to searching content for the daily blogs. Keep blogging No Dogs or Anglos… because you’re getting the message out there, much to the chagrin of the deviant detractors.

    MtlQCAngloFranco

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  29. " into a tailspin was the arrival of the idiot or two posting exclusively in French. No doubt it was their intention to sabotage the blog."

    Monsieur L'éditeur:

    Avons nous le droit oui ou non de poster nos commentaires en Français sur ce blogue?
    J'aimerais que vous clarifiez votre position une fois pour toute a ce sujet.

    Merci!

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  30. Oui, Monsieur l'Éditeur, puis-je être en désaccord avec vous ? Être indépendantiste est-il permis sur ce blogue ? Le français a-t-il la même valeur que l'anglais ? Pouvez-vous clarifier votre position ? S.V.P. ! Merci à l'avance

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  31. "Avons nous le droit oui ou non de poster nos commentaires en Français sur ce blogue?J'aimerais que vous clarifiez votre position une fois pour toute a ce sujet."

    He already did. Loudly and clearly. Read the post again.

    And he always allowed it. Posting in French isn't an issue here. Something else is, and you know exactly what it is.

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  32. "Être indépendantiste est-il permis sur ce blogue ? "

    It is, and you know it. Defending your separatist views, and in French, is allowed - and I'm actually looking forward to a coherent argument in favor of Quebec's separation from Canada that would go beyond the ethno-linguistic babble. I’ve been waiting for some argument for the past 20 years, and I haven’t heard one yet.

    I personally consider the separatist view indefensible because a separation of a region from a state – a frequent occurrence in history – usually proceeds for 2 reasons: 1. casting off the shackles of an oppressor and/or 2. being on your own improves your economy and your standard of living. In the case of Quebec, none of the 2 apply - Quebec is part of the most liberal democracy in the world and left alone to self-govern for the most part, AND, separation from Canada would NOT bring about an improvement in the standard of living – au contraire - it would likely degrade it.

    So your reasons for separation are purely emotional, and not rational.

    Can you argue with this with something more sophisticated than an ad hominem one liner? You can do it in French, if you want.

    “Le français a-t-il la même valeur que l'anglais ? “

    You just can’t resist trolling, can you? I would be rather upset if Editor responded to these kinds of jibes.

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  33. Je voulais seulement qu'il confirme clairement sa position afin que TOUS comprennent.Ceci contribura peut-être a faire cesser les attaques inutiles,agressives et régulières.Aussi,Je propose a l'auteur de ce blogue, de mettre au panier des trolls,ces commentaires désobligeants.

    Merci!

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  34. For the Anonymous at 09.49 and 09.56:

    You can write whatever your opinion is and whether it is in English or in French as long as there is a content to your opinion, constructive to the discussion.

    Unfortunately, the same can not be said to the sites of MMF, Imperatif francais or Vigile. Try to post anything that deviates from their nationalist agenda, and it will not be posted, even in French.

    As it is, I am still waiting for Vigile to post my question that if Quebec is considered the last haven for North American Francophones, why there is no significant influx of Francophones from the rest of North America to Quebec since Bill 101. And I am not holding my breath for them.

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  35. "Je voulais seulement qu'il confirme clairement sa position afin que TOUS comprennent"

    No, you don't. You want him (and us) to get bogged down in useless exchanges, and to defend ourselves against baseless accusations that you constantly invent. When did Editor say that English is more valuable than French? When did he say that you can't post in French? When did he say that you can't present your views even if they deviate from his own? He actually implied and said the oppsite, and in this very post he spelled it out. Read it again. It's very clear.

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  36. J'ai reçu au moins 4 commentaires semblables:

    "...Very ridiculous just as your convulated thinking and commnets. Why doh't you post in english so would understand all your caustic comments. I think it is..."

    "...here already can understand your joual writing. So, the point is, why write in french. It is, after all, basically an anglo blog."

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  37. Except that:

    1. These comments were not made by Editor, yet you were posing your questions to him directly ("Monsieur l'Éditeur"), and not to whoever wrote them.

    2. The lines that you quote are harsh, but they were addressed specifically to you, and you DID provoke them. These weren't spontaneous, out-of-nowhere outbursts or blanket statements towards Francophones in general or the French language. These words were spoken to you and to you only, and only after your incessant trolling lasting a few days. So please, if you rattle someone's cage, get ready for the consequences. Don't be like all these other separatists - annoying as hell, and then when an appropriate reaction comes, playing an innocent victim and saying s**t like: "so much aggression is coming from the Anglos". Live with the consequences of your actions.

    3. If you weren't addressing Editor directly, but rather wanted him to denounce some "troll-like" reactions to your trolling, first - you need to be clearer, and second - he doesn't have to do that for one precise reason - you started this whole thing with your 50 abrasive troll comments per post, so in the end you got the response that you asked for.

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  38. Le ''trolling'', je veux bien par contre si les opinions sont sans cesse utilisées afin de les ridiculiser, il y a un pas. Lorsqu'on attaque de façon virulente, il faut s'attendre à se faire servir la même médecine ! Non à la médecine à deux vitesses (pour utiliser une expression dans le vent)!

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  39. Bixi said: Mieux vaut rouler vers l'indépendance que faire du surplace !

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  40. "Bixi said: Mieux vaut rouler vers l'indépendance que faire du surplace !"

    What does this quotation have to do with the topic being discussed?

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