Important message to the users of the message board

As many of you have noticed, DVDTOWN's message board has been plagued with trolls and shills since the beginning of the format war. DVDTOWN defines a troll as a poster whose sole mission is to incite anger and purposely disrupt the lives of others, and a shill as a poster who writes primarily for personal gain, profit, or self interest.

DVDTOWN encourages healthy debate, and we encourage you to defend your opinions vigorously. But that does give people license to willfully attack an opposing viewpoint with no other intent than to cause grief. Among the things we do not allow are the following:

1. Constant linking to articles, graphs, or charts promoting one side of a story without raising any new questions or adding any new information to a debate.

2. Posting the same messages in multiple threads and multiple posts.

3. Calling people hurtful or offensive names or using improper language against a person or a group.

4. Any other infraction of the rules posted at DVDTOWN for proper Message Board use.

We do what we can to moderate things by first warning people who are purposely trying to stir up trouble, and then by banning trolls and shills from both camps. Yet it seems that just as soon as we ban one troll or shill, another troll or shill almost immediately takes his place. This has happened time and again, leading us to believe that (1) it is all just monumental coincidence, (2) that they are all the same person posting under disguised ISPs, or (3) that they are all different people but working for the same ad agencies.

Do trolls and shills have a great inner need for attention or do their bosses instruct what to post? We don't know. What we do know is that they are a nuisance to all of us, and that we should simply ignore them. But it's hard, no matter which side of the format issue you're on, to ignore the constant taunts from the opposition.

Therefore, we do we can. We ask people not to troll or shill. We warn people not to troll or shill. And we will step up our efforts to ban people who continue to ignore our rules and troll or shill.

Editor and Staff

Great post and much needed. Hopefully things will calm down a bit.

Thanks Henning.

Henning,

Does this mean I have to stop posting funny pictures?

Tim

Henning,

I'm sure I'm not the only one here at DVD Town to feel like this is, in some ways, like a real town, and a place I like to visit friends, and discuss important issues about common interests. In that sense, there's a feeling of belonging as well as a sense of responsibility to "help out".

With that said, I'd like to help keep the Trolls & Shillers off of the boards, as they're no different than a virus. Is there anything the members here at DVD Town can do to help out?

Thanks for bringing this issue up, Henning.



- Josh

I am pretty sure I know what a TROLL is but please regale me with the definition of a shiller.

tim,

beginning today, you're only allowed to post pictures--no more words.

eddie

Quote:
beginning today, you're only allowed to post pictures--no more words.

posters5 (Eddie) said -

Quote:
"beginning today, you're only allowed to post pictures--no more words."

Oh Eddie, I'm laughing so much right now over the above - priceless!

And Tim always posts the best overall pics.

-LH (The Loverboy)

Agreed Henning. Posters on both fronts have gotten relatively out of control.