Preferred Method for Correcting Liars and Trolls

[Beginning of the End]

I'll be honest: I have a pet peeve. I really dislike it when people misquote me and lie about what I said.

However, this apparently poses a problem on ENWorld. The sequence of "that's not what I said" to "stop saying things that are untrue" to "you are arguing with a strawman" is apparently obnoxious behavior that results in thread-bannings while the people repeating the lies are allowed to stay and continue repeating them.

OTOH, reporting these posts merits no response for moderators.

So is the ENWorld community really supposed to be tolerant of this kind of trolling? Or is there some third response to this trolling that would be preferred by the moderators here?

 

[jaerdaph]

i'll be honest: I have a guilty pleasure. I really love it when people misquote me and lie about what i said!

b-)

Err - while funny, we really have a hate on for "FIFY" posts, especially when the other person is sensitive about it. This is the sort of joke you consider, laugh about, and then don't actually post. Yes, even when you TOTALLY crack yourself up. - PCat

 

[Piratecat]

I'll add a caution here: if someone reports a post and no action is taken, that is because the moderators don't agree that there's a problem. Multiple moderators look at every reported post.

BotE, it's possible that you're sensitive about people disagreeing with you, enough that your "this is a big problem" line is more stringent than ours. Don't expect arguments to end well in such a case. We take a dim view of people who engage in discussions without being able to tolerate other folks reasonably challenging their opinions. What you see as trolling might not be in the eyes of a neutral third party.

So what do you do if you feel someone misquotes you? Ask them politely not to and show why you're possibly being mischaracterized. Don't over-react and don't lose your temper. If it's a real problem, report it. But you don't need to "win," and in my experience it's really clear to everyone if someone else is interpreting your position incorrectly.

 

[Merkuri]

The mods would probably be the best people to answer this, but I'm guessing their answer will be, "report the post, don't respond to it" and possibly, "put the user on ignore if they do this type of thing frequently."

Edit: And a mod jumps in and posts a second before mine comes through.