Darn, I hope this doesn’t signal the beginning of a season of them…

For some time now, this space has been fielding comments from a fellow who calls himself “quick joey small,” taking to task all who think President Obama might not have the best interests of gun owners at heart.  His challenges have been met by myself and others, and he says he has read the provided links. I don’t mind his opinion, I mind his insulting, disingenuous approach.  I explained to him in earlier commentary that while adverse opinions were welcome here, trolling was not. This morning, I found the following waiting for me to moderate on this board (click to make bigger):

The record will show that over the years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve deleted damn few posts and banned fewer posters than that.

The deleted posts generally involved extreme obscenity, foaming at the mouth racism, threats, or attacks on other posters in the comments section. (I’m fair game here; the blog guests who post are not.)

In the last thirteen months, I’ve had to ban two posters.  One was a foul-mouthed (expletive deleted) who couldn’t accept being told not to do that any more, and degenerated into thinly veiled death threats. He’s gone.  Another was a young man who appeared to be emotionally disturbed, and couldn’t or wouldn’t take the well-intentioned advice given him by me and other posters. He’s gone, too.

“quick joey small” said he checked the links others and yours truly provided to answer his questions and comments, but still ignored the information therein.  While I can probably live with willful ignorance, I won’t abide outright lies.

“Joey,” you call yourself “quick,” but you apparently ain’t too swift.  You accuse me of deleting your post. That never happened.  Your posts of today are seen here above, bigger than they would have appeared in the commentary section.  Enjoy them. They’ll be your last here.

You accuse me of calling our President a Marxist, an African (as opposed to African-American), and a dictator.  You lie.  I never said that, here or anywhere else.

You implied that if I allowed someone to post here that they wanted to shoot the President it would be the same as me saying I wanted to do the same, and I replied in commentary on that post to the effect that I allow YOU to post here, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.  (Upon reflection, I may have been wrong on the latter.)

Furthermore, you claim that such statements WERE posted here.  To the best of my knowledge, you’re lying about that, too.

In your last post, you apologized. Too little, too late. If I had any reason to believe your apology was sincere, I would have respectfully accepted it…but you presented no such reason.

I am happy to host opposing viewpoints here. I will not abide lying trolls.  You now join the short list of those who are banned from this blog.

Enjoy your disengenous trolling wherever you find a place that will accept it…but that place will no longer be here.

1 COMMENT

  1. Have you worn the paint off of the “DELETE” key yet Mas? This guy alone might just do it.

  2. some things / people, I just don’t understand. Because it’s the internet I guess they feel “free speech” reigns. Unfortunatly, like most workplaces, someones comments or thoughts / blog isn’t governed by the “free speech” clause.

  3. Definiton, Troll. Very small being, that is homeless and scares people. They’re very ugly. If I’m wrong, let me know.

  4. I forget who said it originally, but my paraphrasing of the quote is: “The trouble with the internet is that there are same number of a**holes in the world, except now they’re all in my living room”

    As a fellow moderator in various venues, I know it’s not easy sometimes. Good job, Mas…you showed incredible restraint!

  5. Mr Ayoob, I didn’t know the term trolling, so I looked it up. This is for the folks that, like myself, didn’t know..

    (per the Urban Dictionary) TROLLING – Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it’s the internet and, hey, you can.

    I would say that applies to the pitiful little Joey.

  7. I worked at the local university for years, the attitude of many people who could barely tie thier shoes is amazing. They do know better… You have to let them play out some because when they do thist stuff they loose the PR war.

    It is like the classic example of two English “statesman” in a room… One lets everybody in the room know that he is smartest man in the room. The other makes -you- feel that you are the smartest person in the room.

  8. How puzzling . . . there are plenty of people out there saying the sorts of things that he incorrectly accuses you of having said. Why not go pester them?

    Mental illness has its own logic, I suppose.

  9. Take heart Mas, even my Boss had a “traitor” among His crew. And he met with the end of all those who choose that path. However, my friend we must press on to higher things. We must work while it is still light.

  10. Thanks, folks.

    Jeff, I not only haven’t worn out the delete key yet, I’m surprised it doesn’t have cobwebs on it. The moderator dashboard shows that of 7,327 comments submitted to this board, I’ve approved 7,318.

    That doesn’t count spam, of course.

  11. Mas,

    Just wanted to say that I appreciate your transparency as to “what is going on” with your administrator/moderator decisions. That a person takes the time and effort to explain himself (and even given exposition to the antagonist!) says a lot about his basic integrity and overall interest in keeping his “non-troll” readers/followers informed.

    The Obama administration could learn a lot from your actions in just this matter alone!

  13. Granted there’s no “official” definition of a troll. The accepted definition I’ve seen the most is someone who acts a certain way to elicit a response from others for their own amusement.

    Nine times out of ten, a troll intentionally antagonizes or feigns ignorance for no real purpose other than to entertain themselves and wastes everyone’s time.

    Example 1: Me being a bored XD fan, I wander over to GlockTalk and start a topic about how my Glock’s slide broke right out of the box and proceed to bash Glock.The said event never occurred and I’m only posting to get a rise out of Glock fans. I may not even care about the topic nor have any strong feelings about it. However, I make my posts with the intent of getting some kind of emotional response (usually anger).

    Example 2: Being bored, I once again head over to GlockTalk and post. This time I explain, I am the proud new owner of a Glock but I have a problem and want help. I shoved a rolled up Guns and Ammo magazine into the magwell but the gun won’t fire. I seem friendly but don’t follow any advice given because my intent is to waste as much time as I can.

    More than once, I’ve thought about posting a “Do Not Feed The Trolls” sign here hehe. Mas, you have a helluva lot of restraint. I’d probably issue bans faster than Mr. Leatham can pull a trigger. Thanks for keeping the place clean and open, Mas.

  14. Mr Ayoob
    There appears to be a lot of this type of thing happening. My guess is that the core base of progressive liberals that the President has in his camp are beginning to realize that come November we will wish mr Obama well and goodbye. They are now left with little choice but to go on the offensive…it won’t work. America is not Europe and never will be. God bless the united states of America and thank you for your service.

  17. Would I be trolling if I responded to the Glock discussion above and said: Glocks have lots of problems lately. They just hide (deny) it well. Don’t need a rolled up magazine, etc.

  18. QJS is the same kind of person that visits YouTube’s spiritual music sites, denies and bashes God with vulgar language, just to incite people. I’m sure they sit back and laugh at the responses, claiming to know all about the Bible and how to rebuke it, while probably never having set foot in a church.
    Some of the spiritual music videos have had their response forums shut down because of so many hateful comments.
    Sadly, it’s the same with just about any forum today.
    Some agreement, some controversity, some opposition, and some trolls.

  19. Mas,
    Your record of restraint with commenters speaks for itself, as so many members of the law enforcement demonstrate when dealing with the public, and we thank you for that. You could probably tolerate it forever, but your actions now are for your public’s sake, and we thank you for that, too.

  20. Thanks for being as toleant as you were! I’d have told him to get lost a long time ago.

  21. Well done, Mas. The world is full of fools and folks who have too much time to pester other people. It’s possible QJS was one of those on government assistance and has nothing else better to do than “troll” on his computer while waiting for Uncle Sam to send him his next check or maybe he’s just a troublemaker looking to get a rise by attacking others to make himself feel bigger. Maybe he is/was a community organizer/rabble rouser like our Dear Leader who he obviously adores and prays at the Obama shrine, complete with burning candles and incense, in his living room every night.

    We already have too many goblins and zombies out there, so don’t need any sleazy trolls, especially PC ones, to make things worse.

    Anyway, let’s not waste any more time on this dude and move on.

    Thanks for explaining and sharing your comments with us, Mas.

  22. There are hundreds of thousands of unbalanced people on the planet. Having been in the people business Gyms and salons, I occasionally had one wander in one of my places. It’s just the law of averages, sooner of later you will get one wandering in and you just deal with it. It’s nothing personel, they have to go someware. I found that you can’t let it upset you, just move them right along. I can remember one soldier who came in 4 years after having his hair cut, during Nam, to ask for a refund, or a credit, he was serious, as he decided he didn’t like it 4 years prior. They are out there.

  23. Mas, you were most generous to take the time to explain to QJS the reason for his expulsion. He deserved less. Good call.

  24. You have spent most of your life looking out for other people. You have taken alot of crap that most people don’t even know exist. How many years were you a cop? How many years have you sat at a typewriter or keyboard to write for someones elses benefit? I don’t know you personally but I have read alot of your books and articles. You are a people person anyone that does not see that is blind. You don’t have to take the abuse, but it bothers you when you have to take actions to stop it. You are a fighter of our freedom and I for one am thankful for people like you. Thanks Mas for the years of your life that you have work to make others wiser and safer. It is people like you that make this country a better place to live.

  25. Both sides of the “isle” have these people. There is no answer to the problem. They have been there and I guess always will be.

    One problem, however, is our “this or that” political system. I am a gun owner, gun carrier, 2nd Amendment defender/supporter, believer in the innate right to self defense – and I’ll be damned if I can find one of the two “twiddle-dee and twiddle-dum” political parties to which I can adhere. That is a very unnatural choice. To some extent, to produces the attitudes of people like “quicky”, or whatever he calls himself.

    But we should not be distracted by “trolls”. We all know that on this issue we are one. Except for the trolls.

  26. Mas, being lib/progressive is a mental disorder. These folks are to be pittied, like sick animals. You can’t fix stupid, but you can muffle it with duct tape.

    Not to worry, the “usurper in chief”, Barack Hussien O’Goebbels, loves all his useful idiots. These people don’t go totally unwanted, just un-needed. In the end, they will be cast aside by their own ilk, like Cindy Sheehan was, useless hulls for the fire truth that will consume them all.

  28. QJS’s comments seemed relatively mild compared to some I’ve come across, but OTOH hand accusing people of being liars, well unjustly accusing people of being liars, is still pretty darn low.

    Anyway . . .

    Quick Joey Small has gone over the wall . . .

    (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

  29. Mas, I do enjoy your thoughts on matters that concern firearm enthusiasts, please keep up the good work. I was surprised to see your entry concerning a troll in our midst. As I read this entry I was puzzled as to why you spent time bringing this guy to light, that surely there were better topics to discuss. But then I realized that you are showing integrity and restraint in giving this guy a chance to redeem himself; a judgment that I would hope to benefit from with any forum or blog that I frequent. I like to view many sides of a discussion and play devils advocate just to add perspective to a topic. In hindsight I believe it was necessary to bring trolling to light. Please continue your vigilance and watch out for escallating / hostile comments between subscribers. Sometimes the simplest conversations spin out of control for many reasons. We have all seen it and I know it degrades value and integrity.

  30. Good going, Mas.
    I really appreciate your Blog. On other blogs such as Glock’s and S&W’s, I always wondered how stupid some of these people are. Sometimes I wondered if the person new which end of the cartridge goes into the magazine first. I guess I was just too naive to realize what was really going on. Always a treat when I see an entry from your Blog in my e-mail.

  31. Mas,

    I’m sorry to hear that you have to put up with such bull and I appreciate your efforts to keep this forum from degenerating into a silly name-calling game of one-upmanship.

    I appreciate the privacy concerns of people who use online forums. The downside of allowing psuedonyms is having to deal with people like QSJ who take advantage of their anonominity to be jerks.

    On another more positive note, three Hillsdale students (two from my accounting class) participated in an IDPA match in Brooklyn, MI last Saturday. It was the first match for two of them and the second match for the other. They took 2nd, 4th and 6th place in SSP Unclassified.

    Also, the Hillsdale College Shotgun Team took first place in Division III of the ACUI Collegiate National Shotgun Championship. It was their first time participating in the event.

    Go Chargers!

    Sorry to go off topic, but I’m proud of “our kids”.

    Best regards,

    Mike Sweeney

  32. Mas,
    Been reading your post for some time. I find you very solid on our right to bear arms. It seems that the lawmakers continue trying to protect us by making it harder for us to protect ourselves. Our founders had to have gone through the same frustrations which is why we have a constitutional right to protect ourselves. Its hard to understand why they can’t understand that simple right. I find you defending this right. We protect ourselves by protecting our rights. Keep up the good work.

  33. Next time, use this as a going away farewell.

    “I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries! ”

    Tnx to Monty Python!

  34. Joey appears to be Canadian or English from his spelling of “apologise” with an “s”. Many of the most active anti-gun hysterics are foreigners thinking they know what Americans are like from their own biased media, worse than ours.

  35. Mas, should I ever have the need to use my firearms in self defense, I hope I encounter a LEO with your patience, integrity and self-control (and I know there are more than just a few out there – but would have trouble finding one to top you).

    Trolls are out there but you handle them well.

    It is always good to remember that we all have many of the same goals in mind, but one in particular – that of protecting our second amendment rights. I intend to keep that in mind as we banter about the upcoming election with other loyal Americans who have slightly different views than I hold, and keep my patience.

    Would be interested in your take/a new blog on Sheriff Joe in Arizona who the DOJ is now prosecuting.

    Mas – Bat-S**t crazy? never heard that but will add it to my vocabulary! Can’t remember where I saw it but rolled on the floor.

    Raoule – hilarious. thank you – needed that this AM before a sales meeting!

    FruitBat – you might be interested in the fact that D’Arenberg winery of McLaren Vale, Australia has released a Shiraz titled “Fruit Bat”. Their wines are quite stunning and thought the name might also give you a conversation piece for events.

    Best to all – I will think of doing some shooting when I get away from the drudgery of today’s meetings.

    Gary

  36. Bravo Mas for giving ‘quicky’ the boot! I appreciate your blog and the opinions. Trolls are only needed in story books. DVC Eric J

  37. Mas,
    Long time reader of your books and articles which you pretty much tell it like it is. So when I compare your credibility versus the troll’s, you obviously win hands down.

    In an ironic sidenote, I teach law classes at state university as a full-time faculty member. One of the biggest issues that many students don’t understand is that the 1st Amendment applies to government actions and not private actors for the most part. When I teach the basic U.S. government class chapters on the Bill of Rights, even more students believe that they have a right to unfettered public and private speech without consequence.
    I am always bemused as being the evil censor when students go and say ridiculous and offensive things to other classmates during class discussions and are called out for it. I also had this problem in the few online classes that I taught from a relatively few posters. If they were anonymous, I believe that the numbers would increase.

    Like you, my preferential cure to bad speech is simply more speech by the other blog commenters. However, some folks just have to be a nuisance so distracting that they simply beg to be banned (martyred in their mind) through repeated trolling behavior. Too bad you don’t have the magic software that some blogs do where the troll is banned silently so that his rancid posts aren’t visible to others but only to himself. The beauty is that the troll wastes his time trying to get a rise out of a non-existent audience instead of popping up with another user name and repeating the experience that led to banning in the first place.

  38. wg:

    “…the magic software that some blogs do where the troll is banned silently so that his rancid posts aren’t visible to others but only to himself.”

    That is an AWESOME idea for a program! Do you have an idea what the name the programs of that type are called? “Troll one-way mirror” or something like that is the name I’d use. I know of a number of bloggers who could benefit from them.

  40. Unless there’s a lot more to this whole thing, I don’t see it. He has his own opinions and asked for facts. Honestly, it makes me wonder about all the “patriots” supposedly guarding the 2A. There’s one above it called the 1st Amendment.

  42. Ol’ Joey is a prime example of the decline of rational public discourse in this country.

    I post on a few boards (all gun type), and the ones I frequent are pretty well mannered. Oh, they’ll call a fool a fool in a heartbeat, but if a rational person posts an opposing opinion, a genuine discussion usually ensues. Some may get heated, but none (or almost none) degenerate into name calling, slander or outright false allegations.

    Mas, I’m 57, and have been reading your stuff since my early 20’s. With the advent of the internet, I’ve even been able to “speak” with you directly. No one will ever convince me that you are anything but tolerant of other folks opinions, or completely honest in your statements.

    My patience has grown thinner than my hair. Don’t know how you do it.