cee Finds Refuge at Greg's Blog

[Greg Auman]

Oh, hey, and as far as me "sacrificing integrity for traffic." C'mon, guys. I'm not the one who brought up the traffic -- it was suggested to me that allowing the commenter in question to continue would eventually drive people away from my site. That introduces the idea of censoring comments for self-interest.

I don't get a dime for doing the blog, and I certainly don't get anything extra for extra traffic. I like the blog, I like that readers can comment on it, and if preserving those things is a factor in my decision-making, I can go ahead and apologize for that. I merely stated that his posts often generate more comments than my news does, so an effective way to curb his efforts would be to for you guys to stop responding like mad to his every post. Creating an entire thread to discuss it only validates what I'm saying.

[Guest]

Just for clarification -- and this is a great explanation of people like "cee" (and a few others here...)

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts messages about sensitive topics constructed to cause controversy in an online community such as an online discussion forum or USENET groups in order to bait users into responding. They may also plant images and data on networks that others may find disturbing in order to cause confrontation.

More specifically a troll is an insult or accusation made against a poster. It would be highly unusual for any internet poster to claim the title of troll, rather a community member may try to deflate a post that is controversial or thought provoking by referring to it as a “trollâ€Â. In usage troll is more of an insult like "jerk".

To call someone a troll is to say that any dispute over a post is not valid not because the issues raised are not valid, but to claim the intent of the poster invalidates the post. As a speech act the term troll is generally used as an ad hominem argument, attacking the poster rather than the content or issues of the post.

From Wikipedia[/url

[Brad]

I have other things to do today, so I'll close with responding to your last comment with this - the post by cee should never have been defended in the first place. 

Secondly, I'm disappointed that you would take this as an opportunity to address the "inappropriateness' of those who have described your poster as a troll, an internet term defined by Wikipedia as "someone who intentionally posts messages about sensitive topics constructed to cause controversy in an online community".  That sounds close to accurate, even nice compared to what his true intent might be.  I (nor anyone else) was referring to your poster as a pink-haired plastic doll or a being that dwelled beneath a bridge.  In fact, "troll" could actually be a compliment to one who might better be described as a slanderer or a defamer.

[E.T.]

Cee is an "energy feeder"  don't give him any response and he'll lose interest eventually.

Agree ... and BULLieve cee will not be as much as pain on Greg's blog as he was here. There is more conversation here instead of comments on blogs.

[Greg Auman]

I really don't need this to be a pissing match. I, too, have better things to do than publicly defend my integrity in the grand occupation of blog comment filtering. The Wikipedia entry you mentioned likens a common usage of troll as "jerk" -- I'd just as soon not have one commenter calling another one that on my blog, however accurate they might think the description to be. That's all I'm saying, and sorry if that got lost in a silly parenthetical comment I made.

You guys have a great message board here, with a lot of great information exchanged. I wouldn't have 700-some posts here if that weren't the case. (I know that's a slow month for some of you, so please don't think I'm bragging on the number.) It's more than I have on any other message board, that's all I'm saying. I'm not trying to harbor infidels or cultivate misinformation on my blog; I'm trying to post information about USF and let people comment on it. I understand that it's never that simple, but don't think I need it to be any more than that.

[Brad]

Cee is an "energy feeder"  don't give him any response and he'll lose interest eventually.

Agree ... and BULLieve cee will not be as much as pain on Greg's blog as he was here. There is more conversation here instead of comments on blogs.

But when the suggested solution is to only ignore him (and others), it fails all of us as USF fans and our school and its programs, players (their families) and coaches.

Why should he have a soapbox to spew factless hate?

Much like I have learned over the years, you can't just ignore defamatory remarks and claim "free speech" in an internet society.  One has a responsibility to police the material being presented to the public.

[USFMikeB]

Much like I have learned over the years, you can't just ignore defamatory remarks and claim "free speech" in an internet society.  One has a responsibility to police the material being presented to the public.

I completely agree.  Since this is in regards to a newspaper, I would think that a parallel could be drawn between what kind of content they allow on a message board to what sort of content they would publish from the community in their opinion section of the printed paper.  Clearly, cee crosses the line in a multitude of his posts, and the staff would never think of publishing his comments in the opinion section.

[nukebull]

Cee is an "energy feeder"  don't give him any response and he'll lose interest eventually.

Agree ... and BULLieve cee will not be as much as pain on Greg's blog as he was here. There is more conversation here instead of comments on blogs.

But when the suggested solution is to only ignore him (and others), it fails all of us as USF fans and our school and its programs, players (their families) and coaches.

Why should he have a soapbox to spew factless hate?

Much like I have learned over the years, you can't just ignore defamatory remarks and claim "free speech" in an internet society.  One has a responsibility to police the material being presented to the public.

No disrespect to your board but why do we have a place that is a forum for people who do more damage to USF than CEE ever could. like posting that USF stole money from the Government and doing letter writing campaigns to the NCAA and so on and so on. These people and you know who they are post all of this stuff on every message board they can find. Some have even been banned from their own teams site.

I would assume that most readers of Gregs blog so not read the comments section that much. Compared to the amount that come to this board and to other football boards. Taking away the other board will not silence them but at least it will take away a forum and may possibly lead to their finally giving up.

[BullyPulpit]

Brad,

I love and appreciate your board here. Just like I respect your decisions realizing that this is your board, I think you should give Greg that same discretion. I agree that cee's comments serve no purpose and do no good. I do think the best mothod to take, and the method that Greg is suggesting, is to complain about individual posts so that they can be removed. After 5 to 6 posts that have to be removed, I am sure that Greg will ban him. We all know cee can't help himself.

[ToeJam]

I've have only read Greg's blog a few times when I see stuff that concerns UCF, but I will tell you that the UCF blog on the Sentinal can't have one post without a USF poster going to town under some BS name.  It is always allowed and I really could care less.  If that moron wants to spend his time writing crap about USF or UCF for whatever reason, so be it.  It does not appear that there is much of a separation between this board and Greg's blog.  Sorry Greg, nothing personal as I envy what you do for USF, and wish the Orlando Sentinal would commit half as much energy to UCF.  That being said, I think you are too concerned about peoples feelings on this board.  I see Brad's point of view because this is a USF website, but you are an independent paper that reports for the community, not this message board.