the troll is - was - winning

[emordnilap]

Either that or everyone's on holiday without an internet connection.

[Ralph]

Either that or everyone's on holiday without an internet connection.

Alternative theories:

A) Peak oil finally affected SOMETHING, even if a little late, and collapse arrived in the UK?
B) Assuming not A) then perhaps everyone is vacationing enjoying the copious amounts of fuels left in order to travel to the continent, fly to Asia, go shopping in New York, all faux complaints of current price aside.
C) Everyone finally did get around to reading the premiere US projection estimates on what "deeper into the resource pyramid" means in terms of oil production, and suddenly realizes what happens when such activity scales up across the entire globe? And suddenly decided that saving and scrimping and bicycling just won't cut it? And collected appropriate transport to show off their new perspective?

[UndercoverElephant]

I don't understand why it is still being allowed to post.

Note to moderators. I am posting less often on this board in no small part because I'm sick of the troll derailing genuine thread after genuine thread. It has come here to disrupt these debates and it is winning. Please just ban it.

[PS_RalphW]

Too many pictures of pointlessly inefficient vehicles. The forum is almost dead. If it stays as it is there will be no I need to ban anyone. There will be no one posting at all.

[Little John]

I don't understand why it is still being allowed to post.

Note to moderators. I am posting less often on this board in no small part because I'm sick of the troll derailing genuine thread after genuine thread. It has come here to disrupt these debates and it is winning. Please just ban it.

yep

[emordnilap]

The forum is almost dead. If it stays as it is there will be no I need to ban anyone. There will be no one posting at all.

✓

[mikepepler]

The troll is now banned. Until he pops up under another name of course, but he can be dealt with as and when that happens.

[tpals]

Is a troll any less of a troll if he obfuscates and derails discussions on politics and finance instead of peak oil?

The end results are the same. The forum is lessened.

[johnhemming2]

The question is one of limits to freedom of speech.

[adam2]

Differences of opinion are fine.
What is not acceptable is name calling and insults, such posts have been deleted and will be deleted in future.
Posts that are otherwise acceptable but that no longer make sense after deletion of insults will also be deleted.

Example

Member A calls member B a bastard
Member B replies "no I am not"

Both posts are liable to deletion, the first for being insulting, the second one for no longer making sense after deleting the first one.

What is also unacceptable is to attempt to turn numerous threads into an argument over one favourite issue.
For example in the long running Greek crisis thread, one member has expressed views different to most members of these forums, this is acceptable provided it is done in a reasonable and not insulting or abusive manner.
What would NOT be acceptable would be if the same member attempted to take numerous UNRELATED threads off topic and onto the Greek issue.
If for example in a thread about battery charging PV systems they posted "the real problem is that Greece are going to default on their debt" that is nothing to do with battery charging.

[UndercoverElephant]

The question is one of limits to freedom of speech.

The troll in question came back to this board repeatedly under different names, having been banned multiple times, and always for the same thing.

The discussions on this board are subject to very little moderation, and there is a wide variety of opinion on issues that normally lead to disputes (we have people with strong religious beliefs and also confirmed, outspoken atheists, we have regular posters from both the left and right of British politics - including an unapologetic tory and an openly racist representative of the far right). All of these people are permitted to express their views, and their reasons.

However, the discussions take place within a general assumption that we have passed the peak in conventional oil production, and are rapidly heading towards the peak in unconventional production. The Troll in question never took part in any debate that took that assumption for granted. Instead, he attempted to disrupt every thread he took part in by ridiculing the very idea of peak oil. This routinely succeeded in derailing the discussion the other members were trying to have, to the point where people started to leave the forum. In other words, his intention was to kill the forum.

Since his last banning he has not returned under a new name. His problem is that this is a small community, and all of the regulars are so familiar with his tactics that he wouldn't last much more than a week under a new name before he was noticed as yet another incarnation of RGR.

[johnhemming2]

I don't think anyone would deny that traditionally defined conventional oil peaked about 5 years ago.

[kenneal - lagger]

RGR would!

He's taking over again, posthumously!!