Following this advice strictly can present ethical dilemmas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Hoback
There are times when an individual deliberately posts false or misleading information. I have seen these posts damage both people and hardware reputations in spite of extraordinarily well informed and polite rebuttals.
Whether motivated by malice or ego self-stroking, these guys can cause enormous damage. The worst kind of trolls are those who crave the attention they gain thriugh rebuttals to their bait. These guys seem to be be clueless about what they do nor the damage they cause. When challenged, the tendency is to first engage in specious arguments, then personal attacks, evolving into the more subtle claim that others have poor reading skills.
I do not envy the role of moderatators in these cases. A forum must have a reasonable level of openness to allow people o test ideas, gain knowledge, and, yes, to get misinformation corrected. That means alot of these untoward posts need to be allowed so conversations can start. Their challenge is determining when the discussions cross over into ego self-stroking and othe pointless argument. Then they must have the courage and determininatiin to close threads and, more rarely, ban repeat offenders.
Not many forums have moderators possessing thesecharecteristics. Those that do tend to be very useful and can be trusted more than what one might otherwise expect.
