My choice to respond to an obnoxious poster isn't limited to the single option you want to expouse.
Of course not. You have many choices. A rational person chooses the response which best enables them to achieve their goal. If your goal was to indulge yourself and vent a little then your choice accomplished that. If your goal was to discourage a troll then your choice was wrong.
I've played on usenet for more than a decade...
Well, that explains it. You're a noob. You seem sharp, though, and I'm sure you'll catch on soon.
Man, I remember when AOL opened the Usenet floodgates. Millions of flopping noobs, like fish raining down from heaven. Good times. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
You're hoisting yourself on your own petard, by feeding the troll feeder.
In a big group with a steady influx of clueless newbies, you're absolutely right. In a small group like this that's relatively closed, however, a single "Don't feed the trolls" seems like it might prevent a waterfall of "TS, you need to play nice" responses. Maybe not. Either way, the editing thing is still ridiculous.
Oh, and the greatest Monty Python bit ever can be found at this link:
