How to deal with Internet trolls.

Everyone has them. Trolls (on a blog) are those commenters who consistently post comments with the sole purpose of being annoying and inciting a reaction. I have two regular trolls on my blog. Every comment they post is in some way insulting, irritating, rude, obnoxious or otherwise unwelcome. At first, I puzzled as to why they read my blog since they are always attacking me for what I write. After a while, I realized, however, that they get some kind of personal pleasure out of being hostile. They seem to have fulfilment in attempting to provoke an offended reaction.

At first, I read their comments, sometimes posted them (the less offensive ones) and replied. After awhile, however, I simply stopped posting their comments since they added nothing to the blog, but detracted from its overall friendly tone.

Recently, however, I have come up with a new plan of approach to those posters I know to be trolls. I simply DON’T READ THEM. When I see their name on the headline to a comment post in my email, I just don’t open it.

I think this is funny and most appropriate. Now, when these trolls post their bile, I am sure they imagine that somewhere, far away, I am annoyed by what they have written. However, in truth, I have not even read what they have written. They have now selected themselves out of my consciousness, because of their habitual offensiveness.

So, if you are suffering from an attack of the trolls – do what I do – and refuse to read what they write. Furthermore, don’t post it. In time, they will probably give up posting.

Does anyone else have a solution to the problem of Internet trolls?

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

The new silence in the world.

There is a new silence in my blogging world - and, in a way, it is a good silence. Ever since I implemented the "no anonymity for commenters" policy, there has been a notable reduction in the number of comments. Though this might seem like an unwelcome development, in a way it is not - for it tells me something. It tells me that a significant proportion of commenters do not have the courage to stand by their words and put their name to them. That is fine by me - for I have no wish to converse with someone who has no wish to let me know who they are. How often do we stand for conversations in real life, without some kind of introduction? So, too, should it be on the net: it should be basic courtesy to provide a name and an identification, before beginning a conversation. Now, of course, I have required such an identification it is very interesting to see who and how many people are willing to stand by their own words. Not as many as one would think...

So, I would like to thank those who have the courage and decency to identify themselves before they write comments...that, to me, shows a certain worthy character. As for those who no longer comment: they fall into three camps. Firstly, those whose comments were extremely unpleasant, and for whom identifying themselves could lead to negative consequences in their own lives; secondly, those who feel unable to stand revealed as authors of their words, perhaps because they don't wish to be known for certain opinions, even if they don't fall into the third category - and lastly, those who do not have any form of online ID and either do not know how to get one or do not wish to get one.

Whatever is the case, however, I am much more comfortable corresponding with people willing to let me know who they are. It always seemed strange to me that the net was full of people who wanted to say something, but who didn't want you to know that they were saying it. It seemed, somehow, abusive of the basic laws of human conduct. So, I am pleased, at the change, even though it is quieter on the blog. That quietness signifies an improvement in the QUALITY of discourse, since, now, those who know that they could not possibly leave a clue as to their identities without finding trouble for their words, have ceased to write. That is good.

So here is a thank you to those who remain to comment: it is good to see some who are willing to put a name to their own words. It is a pleasure to read them. Cheers.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The perils of online plagiarism.

To write is to be read and, often, quoted. However, in the modern world, that "quotation" can take the form of out and out plagiarism.

Not infrequently, I have noticed odd searches arriving on my blog. They are odd because the searcher clearly knows the contents of the post they are searching for, since they are using a long quotation of the post, as a search term. Now, I find this strange. We don't live in an oral tradition in which people have great memories for what they hear, and pass on large chunks of words verbatim to each other, for later recall. We live in a written culture. So, rather than be impressed by people's memories when I see wholesale quotation of my blog, I think it is much more likely to be an indicator that they have seen its contents written down somewhere other than on my blog. The question is: where?

Sometimes, someone copies and pastes my entire article to another site, usually a forum. This, whether they know it or not, is an act of plagiarism, for it is in breach of copyright. Usually, they copy the entire article. However, courtesy would require that they only quote a few lines, then link to the blog. Generally, they don't do that. Often, they don't even link to the blog at all. I have even seen a blog post of mine CREDITED to someone else, before. I wrote to the owner of the site and they neither replied to me, nor changed the attribution. So, there is little respect out there for the origin of written work, these days.

On other occasions, not knowing of any forum in which my article has been posted I wonder at the source of a quotation. I surmise that someone, somewhere, has turned my post into an essay for some school project, or something of the kind. It seems likely that they have written down my posts word for word and handed them as their own work. This, in the age of the internet, is a foolish thing to do. You see, a teacher, reading a work that is unusually coherent or polished, for a particular student will do what I have often seen done: type a fair sized quotation into Google and search for it. That will bring them to my blog and the true source of the article.

Today, for instance, two different people quoted my article on Lee Kuan Yew and Assortative Mating, one quote being twenty-four words long: "a graduate is just someone who has conformed to an education system long enough to actually be given a piece of paper by it". Such a quote is a little too long for many people to remember, directly, so it is probably from an "essay". The fact that two different people searched for the same quote tells me that there is likely to be one new source of this awareness - and that it is probably not my blog, otherwise they would be searching directly for that.

Teachers, in particular, should stand against this kind of plagiarism. The internet is a wonderful tool for allowing everyone broad access to knowledge, but it can also make some students very lazy: they can just cut and paste someone else's thoughts and avoid thinking, altogether. All a teacher has to do to fight this is to use search engines to find the original source of an essay or quotation. Students should be taught to attribute all their work. If they quote someone, they should state who they are quoting and give the source. This is common academic courtesy and also allows the context of a particular thought to be understood, which gives insight into the true significance of the remark/essay they have quoted.

I think this practice is becoming increasingly commonplace, because I have noticed this kind of quotation of my work, in search engines, quite a lot over the past couple of years. If my work had been attributed, the searcher would not have had to search in that way - thus the fact that they are, is an indication there is unattributed imitation of my written work, going on. This is kind of sad, given the consistent, long-term effort needed to create this blog and its 950 posts.

Creators of any kind, should not be predated upon. Their work should be respected and credited at all times. To do otherwise, is to discourage the very act of creation - which ultimately impoverishes and weakens the culture, for all.

So, the next time you see a remark, or an idea, in a student's essay (or indeed a fully-formed adult's work) - just Google it and see who was really the author of that idea. Then, I suggest you confront the culprit and instruct them in how they should go about respecting the authors of any future works, they refer to.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Racism at Nebraska Office of the CIO

I was rather surprised at the comment written by a searcher from the Office of the CIO, at the State of Nebraska, two days ago. I didn't print the comment because of its racism.

It began: "Hey hoe hey hoe wats up my black friend..."

I thought this rather telling of the attention with which the person concerned gave the facts and the blog he was visiting. As any reader would know who actually READ a page or two of my blog would know, I am of Irish origin and therefore Caucasian. This State employee presumably thought me "black" because of my name.

He then went onto laugh maniacally for over a line of "hahahahaha..." and so on, before accusing me, in CAPS, of having no information on my blog. It is instructive that the searcher in question looked at precisely one post.

I found the tone of the comment quite disturbing. His IP address began: 205.202.36, in case the State of Nebraska wishes to follow up on it.

The United States is a diverse and multicultural society. Personally, I don't think it is appropriate that an employee of the Office of the Chief Information Officer should be nursing any racism at all - and certainly not posting racially offensive comments across the internet, from the vantage of his (or her) desk at their office.

Even though the poster was wrong about my race, I was offended that he or she should attempt to express racism in my blog comments. Perhaps the State of Nebraska would like to have a word with him or her.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)