In rec.aviation.student gatt wrote:
Michael Ash wrote:
In rec.aviation.student gatt wrote:

Congratulations, now you look like an arrogant asshole.

Of course so does MX, but at least he's an *entertaining* arrogant
asshole.

Sometimes you have to speak their language.

I've seen no evidence that "his language" consists of all-caps yelling
about piloting. Quite the opposite, actually.

My purpose wasn't to
entertain people. If you want, however, I'll tell you some knock-knock
jokes.

I don't think your purpose *should* be to entertain people. Obviously
that's not why this group is here, at least not primarily. But at least
it's a redeeming feature of his posts, something that many of the
responses don't have.

I'm sure everybody appreciates your encouragement of his
behavior, by the way. Nice job, Ash.

Oh please. If he hasn't responded to years of strong, frequently abusive
*dis*couragement of his behavior, what makes you think he'll respond to
*en*couragement? It should be blindingly obvious that he'll do what he
wishes and will not change his habits just because of what someone says.

I find it to be tremendously ironic that these recent monster threads
revolving around MX have led me to killfile several people who respond to
him but not to killfile him.

That's your choice. Different people come to the forum for different
reasons. I'm here to share my experience and learn from the experience
of others, and I read a whole lot more than I post.

Same here.

If you get to the point where you're typing in all caps, or having to wave
your certificates in his face, take a moment to step back and think about
whether your reply adds any value to the group.

He came out here, asked the pilots a question then proceeded to refute
every single thing they said. Not just me ASEL pilots like me, but just
about everybody.

I answered his question initially because the question had value to the
student pilots in the student group. His utter nonsense that followed
merely adds misinformation and, perhaps, satisfies your entertainment
needs.

As to whether "waving certificates" in people's faces adds value, it's
not much different than sourcing an official or authoritative reference,
is it? If we were talking about combat it would be relevant for the
readers to understand that the people in the discussion are a video game
geek versus a combat veteran.

It's relevant to the discussion, sure, when you present it as backing for
your opinion or for facts. But when you come straight out and shout
someone dow, saying that they're not allowed to disagree with you because
you have credentials and they don't, that's just bad taste.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying all this because I think you're
worse than MX. Quite the contrary. MX is beyond hope, and thus isn't worth
trying to correct. The rest of you, however, ought to be able to modify
your behavior to make things better.

MX is a troll. Whether he is this way because he intends to be or simply
because his personality causes him to be this way is irrelevant. Trolls
destroy groups by spawning massive threads that drown out all the useful
bits of the group. And of course it takes two to tango; a troll works by
getting people to reply to him. If nobody replied to MX he would merely be
obnoxious, not group-destroying.

It's tough, and annoying, but to stop a troll you *must* be willing to let
him have the last word.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon