My first interaction with Grendel came from this post: He intentionally changed "transgender" in the title of his post to "transsexual", and his intention was to troll. He pretends to be unbiased, but he introduces a strong anti-feminist, anti-trans, pro-chauvinism tone to everything he posts. Really, I should say "anti-SJW", because that's what he thinks of it. He knows what he's doing. He's trying to infect the hubski zeitgeist with misogyny and transphobia.
Step 2. Post a bunch of subtly anti-SJW stuff, like the example I gave where he substituted an offensive word (transsexual) for a non-offensive one (transgender). Step 3. All the nerds who like the science stuff will be more inclined to trust his opinions on the anti-SJW stuff. Step 4. Reddit.
This is exactly what happened to Reddit. This is the foot-in-the-door technique of all abusers and trolls. Over time, he will escalate the tone of his posts as he gains more support in the community, all while playing the victim. I have seen this happen to more communities than I can count, and I saw it kill Reddit. Read over Grendel's comments. Ask yourself: Is this the example of permissible behavior that you want new hubski users to see and think is normal? Is this something you're willing to let snowball out of the control? Risk of allowing Grendel in our community: Eternal September, breakdown of civility, Reddit-ificiation. Benefit of allowing Grendel in our community: Some good science posts that others would be posting anyway. The rational decision is excommunication.
Step 1. Post a bunch of cool science stuff to get nerds to like you.
I mute people who are dicks. During periods of immigrant quiet I mute people who are dicks to me in at least two rounds of discussion. During periods of immigrant noise I mute people who are dicks to others. it has nothing to do with dissenting opinion or disagreement. b_b and I often disagree. mk and I often disagree. The trick is we disagree without ad hominem attacks on each other, disparaging comments or belittling dialogue. I unmute people who I work things out with. Something everyone fails to consider when bitching about muting is it's completely reversible. Muted? I'll bet you can figure out why. Don't want to be muted? Work it out with the person who muted you. Can't contact them? find someone who mutually follows both of you and get them to intercede. Learn to recover from your misunderstandings and the world will be a better place. If I post content, I am 100% within my rights to keep the discussion of that content dick-free. I am doing a service to those who follow my content by doing so. If I post something about microbiology, and the best microbiologist on Hubski is also a dick, his dickish comments have no place in the discussion. Maybe he hasn't been a dick to you. Maybe he never will be. But if I post it, and he's been a dick to me in the past, odds are he's going to be a dick in the future and the discussion should be about microbiology, not about me and the dick. As eightbitsamurai mentions, the undertone of this discussion is always entitlement and it's always driven by people who are new here. This time it's unusual in that a good bulk of our new users actually signed up for an account the last two or three times they got pissed off at Reddit but then forgot about it until recently, but it doesn't change the fact that it's people with under a hundred comments complaining about the behavior of people with over a hundred comments. LOOK. The person who posted that thread you want to comment on? they don't owe you shit. the world will continue in its orbit without your pithy contribution and, amazingly enough, will likely be more civil through your absence. Some of us have been here for years and have other users blocked who have also been here for years. Some of us have even had people blocked for years only to unblock them. That social pressure you're feeling from being blocked? It's a power for good. It shapes behavior. It encourages civility and demonstrates that there are consequences for vitriol. If you don't like being muted, stop being the kind of person who gets muted. If you don't think you are, then chances are good you and the person who muted you have nothing to say to each other anyway. This is not a site about how Jeff and Jeri can't get along. This is a site about thoughtful discussion. You're muted because someone judged you incapable of it. Work it out or move on because those of us who have been here a while have been through half a dozen of these shirt-rending, hair-tearing rap sessions about the evils of censorship and I'm here to tell ya - Every new influx of Reddit uncouth causes an expansion not just of muting, but of the mute options available.