Anyone else wish this?

I have noticed a lot of this going on lately, too. I really thought it would stop or at least slow down after the election. It hasn’t though. Maybe if people quit answering the questions that are obviously meant to get a rise out of people, the stupid questions would stop.

Are there that many questions trolling for the right wing? I’m on here multiple times each day, and I notice questions from only one user who consistently trolls. I don’t even open his questions any more. I completely ignore him. I think @chyna is right. If we stop feeding the trolls, he will get bored and go away.

Am I missing something?

No, to me it’s like social media, don’t like it, keep scrolling.

Although if we were to debate the merits of a site without ANY politics, I could possibly be persuaded to agree.

Kind of like the Not Interested button in the Just For You section?

Nothing more hurtfull than opening your window and getting a couple of down rates to start the day.

I’ve mentioned in one other question that it would be nice to have a category for such questions. It could be a “Black Spot” category, like the black spot mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, to keep in tune with Fluther.

There’s one user who seems to like to try to troll. His questions are right wing – leaning and his comments are often insulting to the community and to individuals in the community.

Yes !

No because some one in the 20k mansion would be kicked out if they get enough stars taken away.

No, because I’m not toxic & filled with pointless negative energy.
A trait found all to readily on sites like this, enjoy the place for what it is, ignore what’s not to your taste!

@ucancallme_Al Agreed. If you don’t like a question, ignore it and move on. Or ask a question yourself. I’ve always been more of an answerer than an asker, but it would be nice if those who find the questions here sub-par could ask some better ones of their own. I’m all for more questions. If you think a question is asked in bad faith, the best thing to do is to avoid it and not give the asker any undue attention.

I agree with @Demosthenes and @ucancallme_Al.

An upvote button is good because it people from littering threads with answers that just say “I agree” or “great answer” or “me too.” A downvote button is bad because it allows people to express their disagreement or disapproval without having to think about why they disagree or disapprove. Making people express their objections in the form of an answer requires them to provide some sort of reason, which is always a good thing.

Does such reasoning apply to our mods?

The reasoning concerns site design, so it’s sort of an odd question. In any case, the mods regularly provide answers to people’s questions about moderation decisions. Whether or not you like their reasons is up to you, but that’s another matter entirely.

Lately, it’s not about political agendas or particular members with known viewpoints. Like I said, maybe it’s just me, but I’m talking about questions asked by regulars which seem out of character. Questions which are truly nonsensical or which are so far-fetched as to have no real answer. I have been ignoring questions and moving on, but it gets old when there’s 15–20 or more that I have to bypass. It takes the fun out of fluther. Maybe if this kind of mindless question did get downvoted people would ask questions which required true thought and intelligence.

Can you give an example (not an existing one, from a member, but one made up by you, in the style of such questions)?

Yeah, also curious to hear an example or if not a specific question, then a description of the type of question you’re talking about.

@smudges Some people don’t take this site as seriously right now and we’ve encouraged that to a degree during Covid, since so many are shut in still. Some of us are a dysfunctional ‘family’ more than anything.

I couldn’t figure out how to write an example question so I did this:

Starting May 2nd, under the Social category, I count 7 that imo, are just asinine. Under General, I count 12; 6 of those people under General are newbies. I flagged one question and person under General, but the mods have decided to let it stay. There’s at least 2 questions that I can’t understand (written poorly) even if I wanted to answer them. And one is a homework question which, upon reading the details, isn’t looking for ‘help’ at all – it flat out wants fluther to give the answer.

Maybe I just needed to bitch. I did feel some support/commiseration in most of your answers, so thank you for that. As time passes questions will fluctuate in subject matter and my frustration will pass. I suspect many of you have felt similarly at times. Plus, it’s part and parcel of what we get on sites that ask for questions and opinions.

@smudges I think all of us get tired of stupid questions from time to time, but those questions are often asked sincerely, and there is usually a back story that’s impossible to decipher here. We have one member who’s been here a very long time who asks questions that can be very difficult to understand. Those still get a few real attempts to answer.

Overall, the quality here is good. I’ve asked some questions needing real help and received it. I’ve answered some questions from members in dire straits and been thanked. Those are occasional instances. The average is much more mundane.

@smudges As a reminder, homework questions are allowed on Fluther. When we pull them, it is to tell the asker exactly what the first person to answer that question already said; so there wasn’t really a point to saying it again—especially since there were already several helpful hints posted that would potentially be lost. As for the question you flagged, it doesn’t actually break any of the rules (regardless of any personal distaste you or I might have for it). Nevertheless, I understand that it can be frustrating to see an upswing in content that is substandard but not bad enough to be pulled.

@SavoirFaire Yes, I know homework questions are allowed, but according to the guidelines, it’s frowned upon to just post your homework and expect an answer, which was, imo, exactly what that person had done. And they never said thanks or asked any follow-up questions, which might indicate that they were actually thinking and engaging the posters. Of course they don’t have to do that, but it would have changed my opinion. I’m not arguing, just explaining my position.

Thank you for your response. I do appreciate it. I feel heard, and sometimes that’s all we humans need. 8^)

Life is good when you don’t care about these things.

This is why it is assumed that cows lead lives of contentment. That idea in itself is worthy of a question.

A down vote would be a cool way to start a race to the bottom.
It would only work if you could go negative.

@TJFKAJ LOL You’re on! On your mark… get set… gooOOOOO!!

Returning your total lurve to 0 could be seen as a major achievement! ;-D

I’m new here. The site seems to turn a blind eye to sealioning, which is weird to me. A bad faith question is essentially trolling.

Oh wow! I’d never heard of sealioning so I looked it up. That’s exactly what goes on here on a regular basis, at least that’s what it appears to be. And by some of the same people. Yes, it would be nice if someone stepped in and stopped the incessant questions in the guise of answers after the original question has been reasonably replied to. Nice to know there’s a term for it; I always just thought of it as the person being an asshole. >8^)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning

@smudges I tried to ask a question about it meta and it’s disappeared. They had me re edit it, so it did and it never reappeared. I guess that tells me a great deal as well.

I just looked at the definition of sealioning and it’s spot on. PERFECT!

@sorry “The site seems to turn a blind eye to sealioning, which is weird to me.”

I don’t think this is true. We do tend to err on the side of leaving things up and assuming good faith, which I understand can be frustrating to people who would prefer us to be more aggressive. But drawing the line differently than you would is not the same thing as turning a blind eye, and people who engage in sealioning and similar behaviors here are heavily moderated. That said, the team has been working on a policy to address the recent upswing of bad faith behavior.

I also think that some of the people who get accused of sealioning here are being given credit they don’t deserve since they don’t even pretend to be polite.

“I tried to ask a question about it meta and it’s disappeared. They had me re edit it, so it did and it never reappeared.”

And this is most certainly untrue. As of this moment, your question is still in editing.

@SavoirFaire I am now getting a message to reedit the question. A day later.

@sorry Your question was sent to editing because you asked people to name names, which is against the rules here. So you’d have to take that part out to get it reposted (and yes sometimes they do take a while; there are only a few mods here).

@SavoirFaire I’m very interested to see a policy on trolling or sealioning that is fair and impartial for all jellies.

@sorry And now your question is up—minutes after you edited it.

@KNOWITALL Indeed. We are trying to make sure that what we come up with addresses the broader problem rather than just a specific instance of the problem. We don’t want to have policies that only apply to one or two jellies.

@Demosthenes Early yesterday morning (my time) I did re edit the question and it disappeared. I just figured you only got one chance and if it didn’t cut the mustard, out it went. When I saw it today, I had another message to edit because my question was to to much like poll taking. So, I edited it again, and voila, here it is. Now that I know a human has to edit these and they’re not hooked into algorithm bots, it all makes more sense.

@sorry Fluther is an old site that is not being upgraded by the owners. It’s really only left running out of the kindness of the heart of one originator who comes by when important things break and the whole site crashes.

There are a core group of regulars who have become a genuine community. We have become a bit incestuous. We know each other well and know how most will respond to questions asking for opinions.

We have a few genuine experts in some technical fields, and our questions calling for definitive solutions can often get surprisingly good answers. Sometimes we all need a hive mind to come up with the right search term that unlocks the genius of the internet. My search may lead nowhere, but yours might hit gold.

We do like newcomers, but we get so few that we may seem insular. Please stick around. We warm up eventually.

And we have occasional pancake parties that are good for a laugh.

Any newer users who feel like sticking around and hanging out with the regulars should pay attention to @Hawaii_Jake‘s answer. ^^^^

Also what mod @SavoirFaire wrote.