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Spammers, Trolls and Plain Bad Manners

Ah the World Wide Web, you’ve got to love it. Right? Well sometimes. I have several theories about the way human beings approach interaction with other human beings on the Web and they generally revolve around the factor of anonymity. For example, in real life, if you walk into a store and enquire about your service warranty you get a very polite conversation but try that scenario on the telephone… the response is somewhat more hostile. Anonymity (or immunity from getting socked in the face) tends to bring out the worst in humans in many instances.

Spammers… especially repeat offenders at comment spamming like ewebhostingsolutions.co.uk (no I’m not linking) who repeatedly assure me they’ve taken my domains off their spamming list. Ethically shithouse practice for a web development firm. They shamelessly respond to emails with assurances that I’ve been removed from their list. Like WTF?

Trolls and flamers… say no more. Ignore, rinse and repeat.

Plain bad manners. This usually comes around in forums with replies like read the manual. Or, looking back at the curt terminology on a recent comment from another Steven Clark, it began with the assertion edit your post… rather than a more casual hi there, you seemed to have a typo. Imagine if you walked into someone’s house and you said your introductory statement to the owner was curtly put – edit your post… seriously.

But anonymity is well known to have this effect on people so we take it in our stride. We understand, from experience, that some people will be spamming or trolling or just using bad manners when they drop by. At least I understand that… pretty well.

Why do I write this blog? To be serious, I write it for me. It’s available for you to read and play with and poke at but in the end it’s a reference that I use for myself. The same applies to nortypig. Take it our leave it I guess.

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About the Author

Steven Clark Steven Clark - the stand up guy on this site

My name is Steven Clark and my passions are business, web development, photography and writing. My current CV [PDF 775KB] discusses relevant work history and interests. Currently I'm in the second half of a post-graduate university degree of MBA (Journalism and Media Studies) at the University of Tasmania.

Social Networks

Lo and behold I now happen to inhabit the realms of Facebook and Twitter so see you over there.

Photography

My fine art photography is available online at Steven Clark Studio. You may also enjoy my photo blog Walk a Mile in my Shoes.

Recently Reviewed Books

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Hosted by Brett Drinkwater at Tashosting who is always there at the other end of my every inconvenient question and technical crisis. Brett's local community support for us over the last five years is greatly appreciated.

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Late last year I watched an address to the Australian National Press Club from counter-terrorism expert and author of The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One , David Kilcullen. In that address he mentioned the period after World War 2 when, in retrospect, we had wars against colonialisation as countries pushed back against dominating forces. Similarly, when we look back at the current wars we’ll see them as wars against globalisation – people pushing back against the tide of world wide Americanisation and globalised culture. David Kilcullen is there to inform us that what the American government are group-labeling global terrorists are more often than not local insurgents with local concerns. Understanding this crucial point and unraveling the complexity of the enemy is crucial to America's success in the field.