JUST GOT HACKED

[rurpy at yahoo.com]

On 10/02/2013 01:02 AM, Ravi Sahni wrote:
> 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!!
> 
> Makes no sense
> 
> [Sorry -- old programmer (C,C++ etc) -- new to python. If there is
> some secret to this list's culture that I missed will be pleased to be
> educated!]

Actually it does make sense when one thinks of the psychology.
It is fun to bash other people on the internet.  There are few
consequences and it makes up for the lack of authority and
control we experience in our real daily lives.  

When someone like Nikos appears and irritates enough people
to exceed a critical mass, it becomes socially ok to bash
him and one gets a _Lord of the Flies_ [*1] effect.

Further it is nothing new -- this kind of spiral down
into chaos and noise of an unmoderated online community
has been happening since the earliest days of the internet.

For decades a useful way to combat this has been summarized
in the phase "don't feed the trolls".  But that only works 
when people are able sacrifice their own fun (giving up the
joy of joining in publicly bashing a scapegoat by simply not
responding to inflammatory posts) for a common good (a mailing 
list with a good signal-to-noise ratio and non-hostile atmosphere.)

It would seem that enough Python regulars here get enjoyment
from the current state of affairs that the situation is likely
to last indefinitely.

The rest of us try to make do by using restraint, filtering and 
alternate forums (Stackoverflow, etc).

----
[*1] http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l/lord-of-the-flies/lord-of-the-flies-at-a-glance