Goodness me Na, you must be angry - I've never seen you swear like that before! Please don't leave though. Yours is one of the most calming, rational and, in general, pleasant voices on the site.

I belong to a few other entirely unrelated internet sites where registration is essential for anyone wishing to participate. In the main, everybody gets along politely and respectfully and there's always room for good-natured leg-pulling which is accepted for what it is and everyone has a good laugh. Inevitably there are the occasional hot-heads and things can get a bit ugly, but they're quickly told to pull their heads in and if they don't, then they get banned for a while, sometimes permanently.

I don't think there's any simple solution to the problems we're seeing here. It's unfortunate, but we do live in a world that gets ruder and less considerate every day. The rot has well and truly set in and it isn't likely to be reversed any time soon.

Registration as a prerequisite to being allowed to participate would seem to be a step in the right direction but, as you've said yourself, it won't completely stop the trolls who can register under any aliases they choose. I'm still very much a novice with computers and the internet, so I've got no idea how to set up multiple e-mail accounts and identities, but it's always struck me as odd that any old Tom, Dick or Harriet should be allowed to run riot without being required to register as members of the site beforehand.

So what do we do? Require registration of EVERYONE, or just try not to get dragged into unpleasantness sparked by these anonymous trouble-makers - which, admittedly, is not always easy?

I'm inclined to say yes, make registration a prerequisite. I think it will make a big difference, or at least reduce the problem to manageable proportions. But then, I don't know how these things work, so maybe I don't know what the heck I'm talking about!

Don't leave us, Na - we'll all miss you too much!

Best wishes,

Tim.

Compulsory registration.

Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing.
www.tonymoore.id.au

Don't leave. You will look stupid when you come back

I am glad you're finally agreeing with the sentiments of my Bycott post 6 months ago. No one else has! haha.

I agree - compulsory regristration may not help a lot, but it surely can't make it any worse. It's definitely worth a try.
You don't look stupid Daniel, we're all just glad to see you back.

Have a cuppa, a Bex & a good lie down NA - it works wonders, so I'm led to believe?

Me being a very sensitive techie & I'm shocked rather easily!

This is getting serious, when the forum could loose an obviously valued member - Though more importantly a skilled techie & just keep pittling around only  complaining about these wasters!

Also I have never understood why, this is not a compulsory registration 'n even moderated forum?

I think a lot of us here are members of other sites, which don't suffer unto these yoyo's lightly.

In the words of that ol' school song;-

 "Up girls 'n at em - is our battle cry!"

{ gâ€fa's gannen yem anaal!}

....when you vent, you vent.
I have to agree. I find the trolls to be mean-spirited, sad little gnome-like creatures who I would probably be tempted to physically crush if I met them off-site. Sadly, that's not an option because they adopt anonymity (and I'm a pacifist and a coward). Putting my hand up as a vote for compulsory registration.

I seem to have had a couple of posts "spammed" lately. I put one on the tattooed young lady's thread and one on the thread about courses in the UK that have both totally dissappeared. I wouldn't have though either of them were in anyway offensive. One was about specialist agencies in the UK and the other about a course in London. They've both vanished. Am I being got at.

Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing.
www.tonymoore.id.au

I'll put my hand up (again) for members only being allowed to post or vote.
No membership required to read though.

It won't stop the trolls.........

I suddenly have a flashback to the scene in Blazing Saddles, where Bart and the Waco Kid put the toll gate in the middle of the desert to slow down the bad guys.

"Now we gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes"

www.meltheco.org.au

Im all for registration on the site to be able to post. Who knows - it could be the beginning of a better forum space for all.

When talented and experienced people offer goood advice and inspiration,When they share knowledge,experience and love for the theatre with others we have a great website. When these same people are demoralised and driven away by the destructive comments of those that are driven by hate and the need to demean then it is time to change.
Compulsory registration will make it more difficult for those who like to snipe from behind the cover of anonymity.The downside of course is that many valuable and constructive contributors choose not to register for there own reasons.We should not let a few unpleasant anonymous comments turn into a general Plinge cringe. If we realise that these negative and deflamatory comments are taken seriously by no one except the author then we can ignore them, thereby denying the wtiter both credibility and fuel for his anger.
Na has much experience and expertise within the industry and is always happy to share this with others,she is always one of the first to offer encouragement and advice to bewildered newcomers.She deserves praise not abuse.
When respected contributors post positive comments, as above, about a maligned member they they further reduce credibility of the attacker.
This site is about sharing information and ideas and celebrating our common interest,it is about communicating.

"Being gracious to others is a prerequisite to sustaining mutually beneficial communication.Having an attitude that says ,no matter what you think I respect you and your opinion,creates the climate for the effective sharing of ideas."

Quote from "Getting Real" by Greg Vance

I agree with registered posters only - that's why I signed up. Been to many forums and I can't believe this site allows anonymous posts - especially given the obviously fragile egos involved.

No register - No post.

I think Don's comments are a true reflection of what I want and expect from this website, "good advice and inspiration from experienced people".

There is no value in allowing anonymous contributors post venomous crap, it serves no useful purpose and antagonises me.

I would support the notion of compulsory registration in the hope that it weeds out some of the junk that we are compelled to read.

I would not post anything that I wasn't game to put my name to.

Sean Byrne

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've considerably calmed down, but still think we need some sort of change.

Perhaps this is the point at which we ask Grant to come in and discuss what we can do to make some changes.

Finger puppet pattern for under $4 at
Puppets in Melbourne

I have to say, I still have a leaning toward keeping it open. One of the main aspects of enforced registration that I have noticed through many other forums is the cultivation of a 'clique' of sorts. In some cases this become insidious and just as nasty as letting in any anon person. That is not to say that that would happen here on this site. Maybe it wont, most of the registered users seem nice enough he says with fingers crossed and a cheeky grin.

It also shuts outs a large market of users out there who for what-ever reason, technophobia, fear of exposure, don't like remembering all those passwords, etc, etc, will not register and yet have just as much to offer.

I will admit, registration gives the following benefits - controlled access, the ability to boot off users who abuse their access or others, a virtual controlled and safe space to communicate, reduced anonymity and so on. There's no denying that.

Maybe a compromise (ewww the "C" word which usually means WORK) - some groups have a number of forums which are available to guests and users alike along with forums that are read-only or hidden from guests. Now, I have no idea as to this sites ability to handle such a configuration nor to the amount of work required if it could so this may be pie-hi dream stuff. Still, the idea is now there.

Finally, remember that this site was initially developed as a side project by a member (or members) of the ITA Organisation in WA to help promote WA Theatre. It's popularity has seen it now cover the entire country as well as crossing international boarders, yet it is still very much an associated ITA service and I think they would have a view as to what direction registration will take.

Also, it is not in the nature of theatre in general, as far as I am aware, to be exclusionist. While registration is a mind numbingly simple process, having enforced registration to post could present an incorrect image of the theatrical community in Australia as being a closed community.

Yes, we get the odd troll who kicks up a storm, turns the house upside down and musses up your hair. You also get the occasional shining pearls who might otherwise look the other way if they felt, in any slight way, they were not invited.

This may be somewhat ethereal for some. I personally don't care. I'm an ethereal kind-a-guy. I can see the pros for enforced registration and yet I still think that there are not enough to overcome my belief in the open approach.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

Finding an Agent - ITA

Do you know it's not so much the Trolls as the idiot's. The ones who get sarky because they just don't understand and can't grasp what the site is about. I've been the victim of a couple of those lately as has Na.
I almost did a repeat of my earlier departure but I know I'll just come back like I did before and like Daniel has.
I may be pretentious but .... No I got nothing.

Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing.
www.tonymoore.id.au

I've taken quite a while to respond.

Some people will know what my position has been - I've restated it many times over the last ten years:

http://www.theatre.asn.au/comment/reply/31187/37988#comment-37988

When several members of some standing in this community profess a
common view contrary to my own, I'm looking very hard at my own views and ideas to see
whether I should be changing my own position.

I hope people appreciate that I do take my custodianship very seriously. You may have noticed that over the last week, while I may not have responded to this thread, I have returned time after time to this and other related threads to read and re-read the views expressed and take stock of my own position.

While I hear the frustration and hurt expressed in response to trolls (and idiots - thanks Logos), with all respect to the people concerned, I don't believe the arguments offered for compulsory registration are strong. Nor do I fancy copulating with anything hairier than me.

Nothing is sooner felt or longer remembered than an imputation against your honour - I can still quote word for word portions of a scathing critique of one of my productions from seventeen years ago! Sadly my memories of the production are possibly now less vivid. It may be natural to respond to hurt by focusing on the pain and those causing it but, as others have suggested above, this shouldn't blind us to the overwhelming good that we are creating here.

(Have you all read this thread through to the end? http://www.theatre.asn.au/blog/dazzab/whats_the_point Bravo DazzaB and our anonoymous wolf!)

I ticked off an anonymous observer for mis-characterising this
community in milder terms than "constant bitching, backstabbing and
trolling" but I for one feel that Na has made such a huge contribution over several years and was the target of such a clear, sustained attack that I can't possibly do anything but support her in letting rip with this cry of despair.

However it doesn't mean that the picture painted is accurate or fair, or that the solution offered is warranted or right. 

That said, I do accept that we can't afford to stand by and watch as a very few trolls (yes, and the odd idiot - thanks again Logos!) distract us from our otherwise worthwhile endeavours.

So, will compulsory registration help?

Reduce participation and contributions? You betcha.

Stop trolling? Nope.

Reduce trolling? Maybe marginally - and only in proportion with an overall reduction in participation and contributions.

Remember, registration does not equate with identity. Registration only means that if I see a registered name next to two or more contributions, then there is a fair chance that they were made by the same person. There is nothing preventing a person from registering any number of times with several different names and email addresses - it's happened several times already.

But if we require registration to post, won't we be able to ban the trolls?

If we require registration it will be possible to seek retribution by banning members and deleting accounts, but

• how will we decide who should be banned? - good luck to anyone who thinks they can answer this one
• who will decide who should be banned? - ultimately this power will need to be vested in a very, very few individuals
• in the end it will prove a pointless and futile exercise as nothing will prevent the aggrieved troll registering again and again, continuing to cause trouble - don't doubt for a moment that they will do it - remember we have examples already of people registering with several different names and email addresses all in the space of an hour 

So, do we give up and go home?

No way.

I've been surprised that some of the people that have spoken out against moderation - voting down comments after they've been posted - and labelled this practice "censorship", now appear to be arguing that some people should be banned and not allowed to post at all!

Comment moderation is one of the most effective ways we have of dealing with trolls (and those blithering idiots):

• how do we decide what is removed from display? - we collectively decide by moderating things up or down according to our own personal standards
• who decides what is removed from display? - all registered members can participate
• won't the troll just respond by posting again? - yes, but with more and more members actively moderating, they won't be able to keep up with people moderating them down

Didn't I suggest in an earlier post the moderation would only enrage and encourage the trolls?  Yes, but at that time Labrug and I were practically the only people moderating anything on the siteon a regular basis! Now, so many more members are moderating that I'm making weekly adjustments to the moderation formulae to try and keep things broadly representative. Chances are a piece of flamebait will be voted down within a matter of hours of appearing, if not sooner.

So, am I going to implement compulsory registration?

No.

1. Don't feed the trolls. Don't respond to flamebait. Ignore them.
2. If you find a post too offensive to ignore, moderate it down.
3. Please remember that if you don't also moderate up what you like, others may moderate it down.
   
4. If you find other people's standards don't match your own and too many offensive comments are appearing, adjust your comment viewing options to Good or Best of the Best
   

I am interested in Labrug and Na's suggestions regarding a separate, closed area for members only and will look into this and report back.

Cheers
Grant

--
Director, actor and administrator of this website

As always...the voice of reason.

www.meltheco.org.au

Agreed, the voice of god! Gosh reading Grants post changes the mood/feel of the situation - but my view really remains the same. I just feel that there is too much "personal slander"

I have been struggling to compose, without rancour, a post that says exactly what you have just said. Thank you my friend for expressing dispassionately something that I have been trying to say.

Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing.
www.tonymoore.id.au

Surely, if we are refering to the written form, we are talking about 'libel', not 'slander'.

www.meltheco.org.au

Registration only. what if someone unregistered logged on under my name and then just started saying stuff to get me in trouble? REGISTRATION ONLY! if you want a valid opinion, lets see who you are hehehey.

"Either be groovy or leave man!" -Bob Dylan