1.Expire all the cookies preset on this forum. 2.Don't allow new ones to be set.

This would make the disrupters have to retype all of their blah,blah, EVERY TIME they want to post. They would get tired of it after a short time. We are all tired of the repeat,repeat,repea..........

-- Scotty (blehman202@aol.com), January 02, 2000

Answers

Unfortunately, it would also require everyone elswe to re-type their name and email address each time they post. And it's something that would have to be changed in the forum software created by Phil Greenspun. As you can imagine, he would probably be reluctant to impose such a draconian measure on all of the other dozens of forums that operate on his server. As it is, our rowdy Y2K bunch has already caused more than enough trouble for Phil (e.g., with the robot attacks on the forum a few days ago) ...

Thus far, the volunteer group of sysops has been able to keep up with the trolls by manually deleting their trash relatively quickly after they post it.

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), January 02, 2000.

I'm glad to see that everyone is managing to maintain their sense of humor -- that was one of the first things that started to disappear when things got so crazy last week. I very much agree with Diane's point: there are so many valuable postings from the Homer Beanfangs and Linkmeisters of the world, that we sysops (yes, I'm one of them) are willing to devote the time to manually delete the trolls postings.

Cheers, Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), January 02, 2000.

Thank you, Scotty. I am sure Diane will pass on your suggestion to Phil Greenspun. The sysops team deleted close to 200 repeat posts last evening (up to 1:45 a.m.), not counting the innumerable repeats throughout the day, so any suggestions are appreciated. The trolls started again at about 9:30 this morning. They are like little Timex watches: cheap but dependable and keep on ticking.

-- Fascist Dung Beetle (Sysops@From.Hell), January 02, 2000.

Ha ha, nice idea. Let's punish the majority because of a few morons!

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not just write some filters into the software? What's wrong with a one-time registration process before posting? Then you could quickly unregister the offender and make him go thru the process again with a new ID.

-- Slobby Don (slobbydon@hotmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not put a gps tracking bracelet pn every forum participant. That way we could know where they are at all times.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not add one of those year 2000 firework applets at the top of the forum page? This would help all of the confused posters who actually think it is 19100.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not add some cool, funky midi music? That way we could jive with all of the 'jive' we read here.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 02, 2000.

One thing that "can" be done rather rapidly, by Philip Greensun (because the code is already there) and is something that would certainly make his life easier, is to require everyone posting do so with "real" e-mail addresses.

We haven't wanted to do that before on an relatively "open" bboard, because we wanted to provide the HomerBeanfang's of the world an opportunity to post, without indicating where thay are "really" coming from. We'd miss his posts and those of many others that prefer "silent running."

Deleting the disruptors is a major pain in the ASCII, for the Sysops, and a waste of time. However, allowing them to take over, is not an option for continued Y2K discussions.

Hopefully, with the critical infrastructure remaining "on" (for now) they will tire of the hit and run games. Perhaps when school reopens, they will get on with their shallow lives? Or not.

Tossing trash... for now.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not at a ticker at the top of every page giving the current price of gold? That way we could compare Andy's latest advice with the reality of the current moment.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not change the name of this forum to LOVE-IN 2000? That way doomers and pollies could come here to hold hands.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 02, 2000.

I vote for real email addy's. I use one here, although I won't use my ISP email addy. I don't want to receive unwanted email there and it is more troublesome to change should that occur.

-- Kenin Marble (kenin17@yahoo.com), January 02, 2000.

Thanks Ed!

For all your help, and for "returning" when the Sysop team needed all extra Greenspun Admin s/w experienced "troll delete hands" on board. There are now 8 of us, BTW. A real "team."

Welcome "back" too (officially).

;-D

Whew! What a wild ride that was!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 02, 2000.

Thanks for all your hard work, Sysops. We know that it's been difficult keeping up with all the vandalism, and hope that the perpetrators will soon move on. The forum has been so valuable to many of us.

-- Firemouse (firemouse@fcmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Why not just let the so-called "trolls" post the one or two messages they want to post so they won't feel the need to mass-post to keep ahead of the censors? It would make the sysops' jobs a lot easier and you wouldn't have to bother Phil Greenspun.

-- (duh@duh.duh), January 02, 2000.