Friday, November 16, 2007

Troll feed

An ancient (meaning a couple decades old) axiom on the net is not to feed the trolls. Hard experience has taught me the value of the advice. If somebody's really trying to get my goat, I usually deprive them of the horned trophy. A couple laughs and a quick switch to another subject work wonders. While I've gotten into a few knockdown-dragouts, life is too short and my blood pressure too volatile for many such indulgences.

Which doesn't mean that I don't take an evil, sadistic, nasty, and truly not nice pleasure in watching others duke it. I've mentioned Wikipedia Review several times on this blog, and their staff of fully qualified and licensed provocateurs always provides not-so-family entertainment. Which wouldn't be possible without plenty of sustenance from several Wikipedia editors.

One of the Wikipedians who provides nourishment to the Reviewniks is admin JzG, who gives his real name as Guy Chapman. He's a fortyish Englishman who likes to bicycle and seems chipper and reasonable in a stereotypically British way...except when somebody whispers "wikipedia" followed by "review." Then screeds like this tumble out, prompting a weary response from a Wikipedia arbitrator: "If people are limited to 500 words in a case, I don't see that we have to read 2300 in a clarification. Could you take down this manifesto, and ask a simple question if you want a simple answer?"

And, of course, such rants prompt much joy at Wikipedia Review itself, where the merry elves have opened a section of their board dedicated exclusively to JzG. By now the fight has grown so overdone that even my evil self is getting bored. Guy and guys, can we call it off before everybody dozes off?

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