Trolls
Everyone is tempted from time to time to evangelise, to stride boldly into the enemy's camp and throw down the gauntlet. Long-time AFP regulars have lost count of the times that they've seen people boldly stride into alt.fan.pratchett and declaim, loudly, that Terry pinched all his ideas from Star Trek/Douglas Adams/J.K.Rowlings/(insert author/book/film of your choice here).
In the entire history of the AFP, no one has managed to do this without looking like a complete idiot.
Occasionally, some people post to AFP with the express intent of causing trouble. Such posters are called "trolls" and few last long.
If you believe you are the one person who will succeed where hundreds have failed, then you're ready to learn about...
Flames
First of all, you need to understand that there is nothing you can say that doesn't have the potential to offend somebody. Flames (violent verbal expressions of disapproval), misunderstandings, overreactions, and hurt feelings are par for the course on any newsgroup.
Here are some suggestions from learnt experience:
- Hedge your bets
- Rather than saying:
The Colour Of Magic sucks!
try saying:
In my opinion, The Colour Of Magic isn't one of Terry's best Discworld novels and I feel that his style has matured since this book.
- Learn to apologise gracefully
- When misunderstanding is the culprit and especially if you respect the person who misunderstood, take the blame on yourself for being unclear. Apologise. Say what you meant more clearly (if appropriate) and put it behind you. As in Real Life (remember that?) people who are quick to anger are often equally quick to forgive.
- Avoid flame bait
- Some people like nothing better than pushing your buttons. Don't let them.
- Be aware of the Respected Regulars.
- In every Usenet newsgroup there are old grey heads who have earned the respect of everyone in the group. If you are a relatively new AFPer, you may be entirely ignorant about AFP and/or it's related discussions compared to those people. For the most part, they would dearly love to help you, to answer a question but you'll always come out second best in a head-butting contest with them.
If you feel that's unfair, well you're probably right. It is. But neither is Life. If it came to an argument between a good friend of yours and a total stranger, who would you defend?
AFP is no different.
"Now wait a minute!" you say. "So something that's accepted behavior on one newsgroup will draw dozens of stinging, ridiculing comments in AFP".
Now you're getting the idea!
What can you do? Lurk before you post. Try to discover what the big 'no-nos' are. The beginning of the university term is a wonderful time to do this.