I’ve noticed of late that there’s a problem with Spam appearing in a lot of model train forums. It got so bad on the Bachmann board that it had to be shut down and cleaned …
By Spam, I mean communications from a source from which no one wishes to hear; either selling things we don’t want to buy, promoting websites we don’t want to visit, or for the purpose of harassing or irritating the recipient of the communication…
The problem is that folks try first to ask nicely and then to reprimand the person responsible, which results in only more harassing Spam messages, since the Spammer now knows that he has someone’s attention, and however unwilling, an audience for his unwanted verbiage. Sometimes this is because the person is simply unreasonable or malicious, and sometimes it’s because they’re someone from some formerly Communist town in the remains of the “evil empire” who thinks this is a good way to promote international communications, and sometimes its because the spammer has no mind or intellect at all, simply being the mindless zombie creation of someone out to make money the best way he can with his computer.
In any case… communicating with such an individual is fruitless, and often makes the problem worse… and besides, it’s a free country, you can pretty much say anything you like to anyone you choose with very little fear of repercussion; technically he has the right to say what he would, since e-mail and forums are the virtual form of a “Public Place”
This forum has been touted as a virtual version of the “Neighborhood Bar” (another public place, or indeed Publick House) … where folks who enjoy each other’s company go to talk, share ideas, and pass the time … and its along the lines of that enjoyable theme that I propose the following solution:
Any source of spam that rears its head on our forum should be treated in much the same way as the ravings or harassment of an unwanted visitor to your neighborhood bar. In a real bar, there’s no law to keep him out, it’s a public place, and as such he has as much right as anyone to walk in and order a beer. But… you don’t have to talk to him… you don’t have to make him feel welcome… and you don’t have to encourage him to stay and participate. Don’t laugh at his jokes, don’t be drawn into his political diatribes, and don’t respond to his “converstational kindling” in any way other than that uncomfortable silence that makes him eventually realize JUST HOW UNWELCOME HE IS … and then change the subject to something else that you DO want to talk about. That way nobody’s rights get violated, nobody has to break any laws or go to jail, and the bar won’t get closed down, and even if he’s one of the mindless cyber zombies, it won’t be worth his time to bother you.
It’s the same with Spam, of any kind. Don’t respond to it. Don’t contact the spammer and ask him to stop. Don’t disagree with him, or even engage him… eventually the silence will be infuriating, and he’ll go away. If you can, set up a rule where everything you receive from him goes into the trash bin as it’s received … and don’t even read it. Eventually he’ll get sick of listening to himself talk and go away, and you can carry on as before; he’ll discover there are more productive uses for his time than broadcasting to an audience who patently isn’t listening. It’ll be so much more effective than the invitation to do something anatomically impossible, even if such a directive would be warranted, deserved, and completely understandable as a normal human response to a deliberate assault on one’s sensibilities as some spammers can be.
In hopes of keeping the bar, and the board, free of spam, harassment, and trolls, I remain…
Matthew (OV)