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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 5436256" data-attributes="member: 8158">I know from personal experience that the typical reward for a long, well-considered, and utterly nonvolatile post is ignominy. Such posts are welcome on the first page or so, but after that it's too late to offer profundity; arguments have been established, lines have been drawn, and camps have been set up. I've watched an hour or so's worth of careful articulation be obfuscated by the neverending back-and-forth nitpicking and quibbling of last-word mongers--those benighted souls who think it's a perfectly cool idea to dissect the post they're replying into a dozen quotes of one or two sentences, so as to leave no careless bit of syntax uncaviled. Such squabbling posters deserve their own label akin to troll. They're actually much more toxic to any thread, as the troll's one-off rant or snipe can be ignored, but the din of entrenched petty bickering drowns out all else. Worst of all, these little thread gremlins are ostensibly on-topic and maintain marginal civility, so they often escape the aegis offered by moderators. An artful screed is one of the few things that can rekindle the flames dampened by these pernicious little creatures. I've often taken up this thankless task, and have the (mostly misguided) moderator reprimands to prove it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felon, post: 5436256, member: 8158"] I know from personal experience that the typical reward for a long, well-considered, and utterly nonvolatile post is ignominy. Such posts are welcome on the first page or so, but after that it's too late to offer profundity; arguments have been established, lines have been drawn, and camps have been set up. I've watched an hour or so's worth of careful articulation be obfuscated by the neverending back-and-forth nitpicking and quibbling of last-word mongers--those benighted souls who think it's a perfectly cool idea to dissect the post they're replying into a dozen quotes of one or two sentences, so as to leave no careless bit of syntax uncaviled. Such squabbling posters deserve their own label akin to troll. They're actually much more toxic to any thread, as the troll's one-off rant or snipe can be ignored, but the din of entrenched petty bickering drowns out all else. Worst of all, these little thread gremlins are ostensibly on-topic and maintain marginal civility, so they often escape the aegis offered by moderators. An artful screed is one of the few things that can rekindle the flames dampened by these pernicious little creatures. I've often taken up this thankless task, and have the (mostly misguided) moderator reprimands to prove it. [/QUOTE]

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