I know, I know – “don’t feed the troll.” But – I think we have the tools now so that if we want to really engage a troll we can – video, video video. This is an experiment to find out.
UPDATE: I successfully made contact with the person in question. We had some respectful emails back and forth. My goal was to get them to engage with me in video. His response so far has been “I have no interest in doing video at this time.” Adding: “If I decide I want to practice some stuff on-camera — and right now I don’t — I might respond to this. But it won’t happen tomorrow.”
From what I can tell the lesson here is: Find a way to engage with somebody in a meaningful way and if they can’t then at least you’ll have found a way to shut them up.
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Trolls spawned online because people could remain anonymous and use that safety to get a rise out of people. Video sites like Seesmic diminish that. They also add to the conversation. Whereas I’ve had email and comment fights, taking the conversation to Seesmic could have diffused those situations because face-to-face (even through a screen) communication allows people to really get a sense of what the other person is talking about.
Recently journalism blogs have merited their own troll. From what I can tell this individual started appearing after the “infamous comment thread” on Jessica DaSilva‘s blog, but I’ve also seen the individual comment on other blogs.
Now I’d like to invite this individual to talk with me on Seesmic or forever hold his/her peace.
I DO NOT intend to engage this person in comments. This will be a one-time rule here at my blog: No comments allowed on this post, at least, not from this individual (constructive comments welcome). I think the nature of what I intend to accomplish explains why.
Why should this person engage with me?
I represent something they dislike: A young journalist who isn’t afraid to use the word curmudgeon.
From here on out – I’m giving this individual the benefit of the doubt. They are no longer a “troll” in my mind. Just a person who disagrees with people whom I respect – and that’s okay. Perhaps we can even learn from this person. So – either come chat or forever hold your peace (because you’ll no longer hold my attention).
