Comments on: CREEPS, TROLLS, AND WEIRDOS

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Excellent point.

Thankfully the Blogosphere tends to be more Lockean than Hobbesian.

By: John Lemon

John Lemon — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

And don't forget to thank us cowards for boldly going where only the Internet has gone before!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I think that those miscreants that would creative mischief for the sake of causing trouble are not going to take the effort to visit (dare I say) intellectually challenging sites.
The blog world tends to be self selecting. If you just want to vent, FreeRepublic or DemocraticUnderground will be the channel that you will enter the internet. If you are a jerk and younger, the direction you will go on is a 17 year old girls blog. You are guaranteed she will give you a response.
The political blog is the last place someone who is trying to stir the pot maliciously will end up. The odds of getting a fiery response are slim. If you do succeed on raising their ire, typically the person who has the page has the ability to destroy your attempt because the authors tend to be a wee bit better communicators then the common folk.
Jerks tend to follow the rule of electricity, follow the path of least resistance. Politcal blogs have a great deal of resistance...

Tom

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Makes sense.

I try to stay away from blogs run by 17-year-old girls, personally. ;)

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

A very safe bet, staying away from kiddie blogs. I went out there once after I think I read a post on this site or Glenn mentioned a drink company advertising through blogs. It reminded me of Times Square in the 70's and 80's. Interesting to look at, yet I was glad to get out as quickly as possible.

By: Roger Sweeny

Roger Sweeny — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

You know, there were a lot of 17-year-olds in Times Square in the '70s and '80s. Always alone but always VERY friendly.

By: John Lemon

John Lemon — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

"I think that those miscreants that would creative mischief for the sake of causing trouble are not going to take the effort to visit (dare I say) intellectually challenging sites. "

That's my problem. I'm not intellectually challenging. Just a jerk who knows how to type and read a few books on politics and economics. :-)

By: Little Miss Attila

Little Miss Attila — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Personally, I've been pretty shocked at some of what's happened. (I know some details on Kate's situation; I'm trying not to know details on Prof. Lemon, since the whole thing makes me sick.)

It just makes me anxious to stay as anonymous as possible, so the malicious folk out there will leave me alone (or, rather, won't have much to work with).

By: Daniel W. Drezner

Daniel W. Drezner — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Give yourselves a hand
Due perhaps to my own personality quirks, I will confess to having had some trepidation about adding a comments feature to the blog. Will Baude and Jivha (and countless others) have speculated on the reasons why top-tier bloggers don't have...

---