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Trolls (was Re: paleonet Burgess Shale Fossil Theft)



What does a freely accessible list do about trolls?  This question always elicits a variety of opinion.

Responding to them can certainly be a fruitless and frustrating exercise and can also become a big time sink and even an obsession in itself.  This no doubt leads many to the conclusion that its best to simply ignore trolls.  I understand this position but don't quite agree.

Responding does help to sharpen how you think and helps to review your own value systems.  It is therefore marginally less pointless than not responding.  

Sure, it does occupy bandwidth that can annoy many other list dwellers, and yes it does fuel the troll ego.  As the main, and probably only, benefit of responding is a personal one, perhaps these would be better conducted off list.

nuff said?

Andrew  



Andrew Simpson
Science Museums
Division of Environmental and Life Sciences
Macquarie University NSW 2109
ph (61 2) 98508183
fax (61 2) 98509671
email: asimpson@els.mq.edu.au
http://www.museums.mq.edu.au

"The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment"

>>> pblake@dme.qld.gov.au 09/06/01 07:38am >>>


I guess this is paleonet's first major troll.  Other than one other loony
earlier this year claiming that non-science (i.e. creationism) should be taught
in science class you do not get too many losers on this list.  Troll spotting is
an aquired art and learning to ignore them takes even more practice.  ^_^

Regards
Paul Blake








Hi All,
I am really disappointed about the degree of  interest that this bit of
absurdity has generated.  The next time such nonsense comes in on the
paleonet lets have the collective good sense to hit the delete button.

Pristis@aol.com wrote:

<snip>
--
Prof. Ronald L. Parsley
Department of Geology
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Phone: (504) 862-3191
FAX: (504) 865-5199
e-mail <parsley@tulane.edu>