PSA: DNFTT | DW Tutorial | Contest Winner

CATEGORIES: Living In Layers | RC | December 05, 2008

TROLLS: NOT THE CUTE HAIR KIND
Happy Friday everyone. You know.. this week I saw something very interesting happen on Scott Kelby’s blog concerning the announcement of Nikon’s D3X. Scott Kelby posted his usual announcement and gave a little bit of a take on the camera. When, from out of nowhere the comments started piling in about the price being very high. While this would normally be considered a good thing, and something that should normally be allowed so that a blog can really ’serve the people’, the comments just got hot - fast. Top all of that off, the comments just got hot towards individual people. It just got absolutely absurd when people started insulting teachers and making all sorts of weird accusations.

I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me sooner - what if these are just Trolls?

I don’t think it positive for me to ponder whether or not each individual post was troll-ish, nor do I think it beneficial for me to give my opinions on a matter that has been totally debated to death already. It did make me go “hmm” when I was talking to someone about the trolls over the phone, and they said “you know.. I never even knew people had a word for trolls.”

Now, while I completely appreciate the comments that come through on the site, I feel like I am thankfully isolated from the scenario in that the people who come here to read what I say are usually the “Get the Info/Ask The Question and Go” types. I did think however it would be a good idea to talk about the concept of “trolling” in very general terms and offer a couple of links on the subject.

Click on the Read More button to see the rest of this post, a cool DW tutorial, and this weeks contest winner!

Attack Of The Trolls
In short, Trolls can be individuals that come onto a blog (or forum) and just post mean spirited comments - explicitly designed to tick people off. The more you get ticked off at the comment, the more they are happier with what they posted. The internet being anonymous allows people to just come up with really really bad ways to incite anger in other - they do it for the lulz. Mattathias Scwartz has got a really cool New York Times Piece talking about the process as a whole. Click on this link to go to the article.

So.. Onto my PSA: The best thing that we can do in a scenario like this is “Do Not Feed The Trolls”. As readers of blogs, become aware that there are people out there that will make comments on posts for the purpose of getting people angry and starting a Flamewar. The best thing that you can do in this scenario is to realize this is happening, ignore it, and stick to the topic at hand. Usually, this will just make someone walk away from the argument and not take away the value of the blog you catch up with.

Your time with me is really precious - and I do appreciate it when you guys do read what I have to say. I just want to save you a couple of headaches out there. So remember, DNFTT!

Geoff Blake On CSS in Dreamweaver
Geoff Blake talks to us today on how to center a web page using a CSS based layout. Aside from the Canadian-esque “About” (I kid.. cause I love), Geoff does a wonderful job of explaining how to take a layout and center it. It’s definitely worth a mention.

Click here to go to the Tutorial - Geoff Blake on CSS (Sorry for the Omit here! - RC )

Contest Winner
Finally, congratulations to Joshua Deivert for winning this week’s contest. It was me! I reviewed it! (Though I have to say, I am totally digging the new HF10.. but more on that one later!)

OK.. I hope the info helped. Make sure you get out there and do something cool for the weekend.. Then come back and tell me all about it! Have a wonderful weekend!

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