Don't feed the troll...

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:18:03 -0700, rusi wrote:

> At least two people -- Alex and Antoon -- have told you that by
> supporting Nikos, when everyone else wants him off list, you are part of
> the problem.

And others have publicly thanked me for giving useful answers to Nikos, 
because they have learned from them.

You replied to Antoon, and agreed with his position that we should shun 
Nikos, then *immediately* contradicted yourself by stating that Robert 
Kern's helpful answers were "the ideal". And then, just to further 
demonstrate that your actions are at best inconsistent and at worst 
hypocritical, you have since gone on to fire barbs at Nikos instead of 
ignoring him. So please tend to the beam in your own eye before pointing 
at the mote in mine.


> Others -- Fabio -- have indicated their wish to leave the list due to
> everything becoming Nikos-tainted.

That would be disappointing, but there's nothing I can do about it.


> Everyone is exasperated and talking of kill-filing him.

Then why don't they? "Don't feed the troll" includes trying to beat him 
into submission with insults and half-witty remarks.

This is not about Nikos. It's about those who are also doing their bit to 
make this community an ugly, hostile place. I won't mention names -- you 
know who you are. Those who take it upon themselves to bait and prod and 
poke Nikos with insults and inflammatory replies. Appointing themselves 
Internet Police and making ridiculous claims that Nikos ought to be 
reported to the police. Sending bogus complaints to the domain registrar. 
There is a word for this sort of behaviour: bullying. I don't care how 
morally justified you think you are, you are now just as big a part of 
the problem as Nikos.


> Let me remind you of your post:
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2013-June/649581.html
> 
> In this post you have imputed masturbation to first-time poster for a
> quite valid question.
> [I am assuming that google is correct in informing me that choking the
> chicken means that].
> This is way beyond being rude uncalled-for and generally unacceptable.

Not as rude as making such a misleading characterisation of my post. The 
original poster's reply is one click away from that link:

"Thank you for your help and sense of humor... all the best, Buford"

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2013-June/649680.html


If you insist on taking umbrage on behalf of the OP, I can't stop you, 
but that says more about you than about me.



-- 
Steven