Time spent in Vain?

I must be a truely stupid or something. For some odd reason I thought people might be interested in finding solutions to problems. Apparently I’m totally wrong to believe anything of the sort.

It appears no one is even interested in discussing possible solutions. Maybe solutions are no longer considered Politically Correct Thinking or something. Is it any wonder America has fallen so far from the country I use to know in my youth.

I really want to know is anyone paying attention or am I just wasting my time on people who are only interested in “complaining about everything” and never spend one minute making any attempt to discuss SOLUTIONS THAT MIGHT WORK?
What has got me really ticked off right now is a thing called “silence”.

It started yesterday when I posted a diary in response to the diary mymother posted Don’t think of a Troll which was an excellent diary about how people behave in the Blog-O-Sphere.

So today I deleted the orginal diary I posted yesterday since it received no comments. Today I want discover if anyone else might be interested in finding solutions or if I should just forget about ever writing another diary on this blog to nowhere.

Admit it! The world sucks. Why? I suspect this world sucks because everyone is so busy bitching that no one cares about finding real solutions to real problems.

It cost people nothing to bitch.

However anything that requires these same people to use the brain for something other than this form of mental mastrubation is of course rejected because it’s, “too hard”, “not enough time” or “pick any excuse that is convenient”.

So once again in an effort to suggest, share and discuss a possible solution to the topic which mymother brought up in diary I propose the following solution on how to deal with the problem of trolls and such.

I call it the Time Out System

Let’s suppose a TU has come across a comment that is rude, nasty, obnoxious, demeaning, a personal attack etc… The TU hits the “Time Out Button” which appears next to each posted comment.

What happens is that the comment is blanked out in the tread.

1. This user and his comment then becomes a “separate diary” in the “Timed Out Section” of the site. What would appears in this new diary is the TU’s reason for calling the “time out” on the offending user.
2. So when the TU hits the “Time Out Button” the TU has to add their reasons in a text box which is just another pop up reply comment box before the “timed out comment” appears in the “timed out section” of the site.
3. When the TU hits the submit button after adding their reason for the time out the following would happen.

4. The TU is automatically sent a email message containing a copy of the users name, comment, his reason for the “time out”. This email includes an “automated unblock code link” similar to the type of links that are required for software registration or email verification from a server.
5. At the same time the user who has been “timed out” is also sent an email message that his comment has been “timed out on Booman Tribune” with a link to the new diary which is created by the TU’s “time out”.
6. From this point the user who is the subject of the the time out is restricted to only posting comments to the “timed out diary” section of the site until the “reason for the time out” is resolved in a positive or negative outcome.
7. In the original diary where the offensive comment appeared the comment is replaced with the following

( “user name” : “Timed Out” : “link to the timed out diary” )

This is done so that anyone who is interested in what caused a “time out” on this comment can make comments of their own about the “time out” or just ignore getting involved in the resolution of the issue.

Users are thereby allowed to get involved the resolution process and state their reasons why or why not a user who has been “timed out” should be unblocked or lose their account.

The resolution process allows the user who is “timed out” to “stated their case” with the issues the TU found to be counter productive to the diary.

TU’s should be hesitant to use the “time out system” because they will have the responsibility to resolve the issue in a timely manner.

If for some reason the TU posts their reason for the “time out” and then does not follow up within a 24 hour period to the “user rebuttal post” the user who has been “timed out” is then automatically unblocked and allowed back into the regular section of the site.

To prevent abuse by a TU who puts the same user repeatedly into a “time out limbo”.

Any TU can request that the user should be unblocked by submitting an email request along with their reasons including the link to the “timed out diary” to site administration for review of a TU who abuses a user by “timing them out repeatedly”.

If a positive resolution or understanding is reached the TU who “timed out the user” then clicks on the unblock user link in the email that they received. This action then changes the “timed out message” in the original posted diary to state,

( “user name” : “Resolution Reached” : “link to the timed out diary” )

Note that the original comment is not restored to the discussion tread for futher comments.

If a resolution is not reached between the TU and the user who has been “timed out” after the 24 hours limit has expired the entire timed out diary is closed to futher discussion and is reviewed by the site administration.

It is at this time that site administration can determine if the user should be allowed to keep or have their account terminated. These decisions by administration are then posted to a “Rulings Section” of the site so that new users can see the type of comments that would result in a “time out”.

So were you able to follow the logic of how the troll problem could be handled in a fair, reasonable fashion on sites like Booman Tribune, Dkos and such?

Now tell me if the time I spent thinking this solution through and writing this diary was worth something or if it was time spent in vain.

UpDate 7/22/06, 1:55 CST:Thank you everyone for responding. One of the things I try to do most while blogging is post a response to diaries when I see no one has made a comment to a diary. Everyone here puts a lot of effort into the diaries they write and it’s always nice to know that at least one person spent the time to read the diary.

Another thing I try to do is answer every reply in a diary but it takes me a while since I have a very slow type speed (5-8 wpm).

Thanks again for the comments!