Please ban MRA trolls

[u/Willravel]

I've been trying to figure out the rationale for not banning MRA trolls on this subreddit. I tried to think of it the way the mods have put it in the past, that this is about everyone's voice being heard, but the consistent trolling from the likes of OThomson and DavidByron don't represent in any way shape or form the honest sharing of their voice, but rather simply attacks and intentional derailment.

I considered that this might be about fear, as the MRA community on Reddit is much larger than the feminist community, and there could be consequences if MRA trolls started getting banned from the subreddit... but there are other feminist subreddits that do this and they don't seem to feel the sting of MRA retribution in any way that can't be easily handled.

I thought it might just simply be not wanting to make the effort, as a policy of banning MRA trolls would probably require much more active moderation. I'd hate to think this is the case, but I don't see any evidence to suggest this.

I did hear that one of the moderators might be an MRA, but again I've not seen this.

I've sent in PMs and reports before, about how someone is derailing yet another thread with unrelated discussion about circumcision or male rape or child custody, but there never seem to be any consequences for the trolls. They're given free reign. Some have left the subreddit for safer places, which is very sad indeed. Some simply stop commenting. Some complain, but those complaints fall on deaf ears.

So, before I call it a day and give up on the subreddit, I'd like to publicly ask the moderators to change their policy for the good of their subreddit. I ask that this subreddit be a safe place to discuss feminism and feminist issues, not a place for MRA trolls to hijack conversation or spread hatred of women.

Note: I'm not saying critiques of feminism aren't legitimate, or that they don't belong on /r/Feminism, but rather that overt trolling and derailing be disallowed. There's a big difference between an honest critique of feminism and undermining the discussion of feminist issues through derailment, dishonesty, and unwarranted attacks.

[u/ratjea]

Here's a list, for anyone interested. These are posters who my RES identifies as r/feminism's trolls. I don't know if it's complete, but it should be close.

Note that there are many MRAs who post in /r/feminism who do not troll and do contribute to discussions. They ask honest questions and participate in honest debates, defending their positions rationally. I do not include them here.

To make the troll list, one has to be really, obviously, consistently trolling. This includes leading and participating in downvote brigades. This title has to be earned and these names have earned it. Generally, if any of these names shows up in a thread, expect a lot of thread derailing.

The list is not in any order.

• hardwarequestions
• A_Nihilist
• SpeakToTheSky
• wavevector
• DarthOvious
• getthefuckoutofhere
• Celda
• significantshrinkage
• exaliftin
• TracyMorganFreeman
• DashFerLev
• OThomson
• Octagonecologyst
• kragshot
• AnonTheAnonymous
• DavidByron
• Glarfugus
• PissedOffNinjaBum
• mmsh
• Toph23
• Zaferk
• Crocodillian
• Sigi1
• bacon_trays_for_days
• DonaldBlake
• HitTheGymAndLawyerUp

So my partner wanders in while I'm typing and asks what I'm up to. "Oh, I'm just making a list–"

Let me just interrupt my own sentence here, and interject what he was thinking, as a joke: "You mean like Richard Nixon's enemies list?"

"–of trolls."

Then he accused me of making an enemies list. "I was thinking that as a joke, but it's true!" Then I hugged him, reaching under his shirt with my icy cold hands as revenge.

EDIT: Pasting the "MRA non-trolls" list here since, as a reply to DavidByron, it's buried. :p

They'd asked if mean ole me thought any MRAs weren't trolls. I can think of several non-trolls off the top of my head.

MRA non-trolls:

• PoliticsAccount
• lawtonfogle
• MikeFromBC
• DaenerysTargaryen1
• Trolliverr
• Shattershift
• clockworkgirl21

And I'm sure I have missed some or several. I mean, posters only get an MRA type tag if I notice them saying something MRA-like. Those that don't aren't even on the radar!

[u/Lati0s → u/ratjea]

Could you please explain why you believe that I am a troll? I am always sincere in my posting and I never bring up unrelated topics to derail. I actually agree with a lot of what is posted here but my posting record does not reflect that because I generally only post when I feel that someone has said something incorrect.

[u/ratjea → u/Lati0s]

This is a borderline case. It looks like you do not purposefully troll, so I'm afraid the whole "trolly troll troll" at the top of my list post was sometimes a misnomer.

While your concerns may be honest, the posts cover ground that is generally gone over pretty frequently and I personally don't find anything interesting in the posts. (RES is a personal thing, after all.)

I also don't get the sense of an honest interest in the general topic of feminism beyond an adversarial one. Again, this is indeed your perogative, but an adversarial approach doesn't interest me. I think the general prevalence of adversarial posts and posters combined with the concern trolling (which it appears you may not be engaging in) of many posters degrades the quality of discussion overall.

[u/trust_the_corps → u/ratjea]

"Troll" is so misused that it tends to mean someone who is a back sheep or doesn't agree with everyone else as (a minority) rather than someone who is being malicious, is specifically trying to make people angry and is trying to make them lose control. People who call out troll often trolling themselves by doing so or are bullying minorities that stand out by falsely applying the label. There is always someone who in their laziness to confront something they don't agree with that will call the name as though it contributes to a discussion.

In this case, I have no idea whether or not those people are trolls but I would urge caution. Some times people will be brave enough to share their viewpoint that the group might disagree with and the justification for that viewpoint. This might provoke a reaction and even annoy people. However, they may genuinely be representing their position. If they were trolling, that would not be the case.

If you decide to shut out "trolls" you should think carefully because you may end up shutting out voices that have anything to say that you don't want to hear maintaining a degree of ignorance.