JUST GOT HACKED

[Antoon Pardon]

Op 02-10-13 09:02, Ravi Sahni schreef:
> On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 12:19 PM, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
>> Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon at rece.vub.ac.be> writes:
>>
>>> Op 02-10-13 00:06, Ben Finney schreef:
>>>> This is an unmoderated forum, so we have occasional spates of
>>>> persistent nuisances, and those who respond with the maturity level
>>>> and impulse control of an average six-year-old.
>> […]
>>>
>>> And what about the impuls control and the maturity of people who can't
>>> stop answering [a nuisance], knowing they contribute to the nuisance
>>> to the group?
>>
>> Yes, we are in firm agreement here.
> 
> So Ben,Antoon you are saying that Nikos is a minor problem -- spam-like --
> Whereas people answering him are a bigger problem??!
> 
> I find this real confused!! Why they are answering then?!?!
> As far as I can make out everyone who is answering (helping!) doing it
> frustratation and disgust.  But still they keep answering and
> answering!!

You should understand that what is a bigger problem and what is a minor
problem is a personal, subjective judgement and people come to different
conclusions.

So group1 finds Nikos a minor nuisance and is willing to answer him.
Probably because it gives them warm fuzzy feelings knowing they tried
to help someone or because they found the problem interresting to solve.

Now group2 may find Nikos himself not that big a nuisance but they
certainly find Nikos in combination with group1 a major nuisance.
Because it keeps the cycle going and even if they kill file Nikos,
they keep being confronted with his contributions through the responses
of group1.

So frustration builds for those in group2, until it reaches a level
that some of them feel the need to vent that frustration. That can
sometimes be rather ugly to observe and I am sure that some venters
weren't that happy with their own reaction afterwards, but I think
it is an understandable, human reaction.

Now for a number of people in group1, the venting of group2 is a
major nuisance and they start venting their own frustration with that.
Unfortunately, their own need for venting doesn't create any empathy
for the need of group2 for venting. They only see groups2 as the
cause for their own frustration with very little willingness to see
their own contribution to the original built up.

-- 
Antoon Pardon