DD, apologies for the length of this post, but I couldn’t find a link to it, and had typed it up for a friend, and thought you might be amused to read it …
“Last week I wrote a load of nonsense about flags and idiocy; as well as appearing in print, it also turned up on the Guardian’s “Comment is Free” blog-o-site, where passers-by are encouraged to scrawl their own responses beneath the original article.
 
Some people disagreed with the article, some agreed; some found it funny, some didn’t.  For half a nano-second I was tempted to join in the discussion.  And then I remembered that all internet debates, without exception, are entirely futile.  So I didn’t.
 
There’s no point debating anything online.  You might as well hurl shoes in the air to knock clouds from the sky.  The internet’s perfect for all manner of things, but productive discussions ain’t one of them.  It provides scant room for debate and infinite opportunities for fruitless point-scoring: the heady combination of perceived anonymity, gestated responses, random heckling and a notional “live audience” quickly conspire to create a “perfect storm” of perpetual bickering.
 
Stumble in, take umbrage with someone, trade a few blows, and within two or three exchanges, the subject itself goes out of the window.  Suddenly you’re simply arguing about arguing.  Eventually one side gets bored, comes to its senses, or dies, and the row fizzles out: just another needless belch in the swirling online guffstorm.
 
But not for long, because online quarrelling is also addictive, in precisely the same way Tetris is addictive.  It appeals to the “lab rat” part of your brain; the annoying irrepressible part that adores repetitive pointlessness and would gleefully make you pop bubble wrap till Doomsday if ever it got its way.  An unfortunate few, hooked on the futile thrill of online debate, devote their lives to its cause.  They roam the internet, actively seeking out viewpoints they disagree with, or squat on messageboards, whining, needling, sneering, over analysing each new proclamation – joylessly fiddling, like unhappy gorillas doomed to pick lice from one another’s fur for all eternity.
 
Still, it’s not all moan, moan, moan in NetLand.  There’s also the occasional puerile splutter to liven things up.
 
In the debate sparked by my gibberish outpouring, it wasn’t long before rival posters began speculating about the size of their opponent’s dicks.  It led me to wonder – has the world of science ever investigated a causal link between penis size and male political leaning?
 
I’d theorise that, on the whole, rightwing penises are short and stubby, hence their owner’s constant fury.  Lefties, on the other hand, are spoiled for length, yet boast no girth whatsoever – which explains their pained confusion.  I flit from one camp to the other, of course, which is why mine’s so massive it’s got a full-size human knee in the middle.  And a back.  A big man’s back.
 
Anyway, if we must debate things online, we might as well debate that.  It’s not like we’ll ever resolve any of that other bullshit, is it?
 
Click.  Mine is bigger than yours.  Click.   No it isn’t.  Click.  Yes it is.  Click.  Refresh, repost, repeat to fade.”
 
Charlie Brooker in the Guardian on Friday.
 

Ionios dorikos, ( as if you deserve capitals!) Your comment is obnoxious and threatening and I do not appreciate your violent and disgusting overtones. Consider yourself banned and if I wasn’t so freakin’ polite, I would say so much more…

Hi Zardoz, always the mysterious. LOL. I agree with you, believe it or not. Passion and fire yes. Like I said many many people have crossed the line here and got angry and said things that do not help the discussion perhaps but…

congrats on this new step,diva.  i just wanted to say fuck anyone who tells you to get over it, ignore it, grow thicker skin or any other such privileged bullshit.  so to those that have ever said it, this is vegankid say FUCK YOU!sorry to use your space to be mean, diva, i couldn’t help myself.  bfp got me all emotional and shit over on her blog.  that’s my excuse and i’m sticking to it.  love ya, diva!btw, if you want to make it so that the dd haters website can’t link to you, just let me know and i’ll let you in on a little trick.

What happened to the emocions? That should read "I love DD" t-shirt (I put a heart emocion in)
?

Well Diva, at the end of the day, I belive you have a great blog here and you blog about important issues and therefore it’s important you don’t allow certain commenters to deflect attention from this fact!
PS: Ladies and gentlemen, senors y senoras:  75€ (plus P&P) gets you a "I  DD" t-shirt. Get one now before they are sold out!

my two cents: zardoz

Good for you DD. I hate that these folks constantly try to dress their racist, sexist crap in the quise of "opposing viewpoints." Or better yet, you just don’t get their "humor." WTF-ever.

I just have to put a little less than twopence worth in here. Jay, right on, if we have to live with the racist (etc.) crap from some of these people out in the real world, it makes no sense to put up with them on our blog turf as well. Discussions, yes, by all means, even hot ones. But it’s a matter of faux liberal thinking to suggest they have a ‘right’. I wouldn’t invite one of those people home for a cozy dinner, why should I let them advertise their poison on my personal web space.

When a person has been subjected to brutalizing language - and has managed to not turn around and visit that brutality on others - I think it is easier to see that language for what it is and ban it.
In my observation the folks screaming the loudest about being banned are the ones who aren’t dialoguing in the first place.  My blog is not a democracy.  It is a dictatorship.  Just like my home.
Good for you for banning brutality.

One of the things that has been increasingly disturbing to me is that when certain people comment here, the threads turn into marathons. Not because that discussion is more interesting or enlightening but because of the fight itself.
Wow, Devious Diva, your blog is awesome, nice little toolbar even for comments!
Great post, we are definitely on the same page!  This is what stands out to me:
One of the things that has been increasingly disturbing to me is that when certain people comment here, the threads turn into marathons. Not because that discussion is more interesting or enlightening but because of the fight itself.
This is what bothers me, and it used to bother me on boards when these discussions mostly took place on boards.  If the threads were gigantic because there was really intelligent discussion taking place — even heated with much disagreement — that would be one thing.  But that’s not really the case in these threads you and I are both talking about.  Somebody comes in with something really egregiously hateful and then the battle is on, it’s become a trainwreck, it generates tons of heat and zero light.
And yes to what bfp said– I hate the way threads turn into havens for haters, where they can just, I don’t know, get off on seeing how many people hate just like they do and where they can see how much people are hurt by it.  It’s sick really.
I think you are completely right to ban, moderate, whatever you have to do to protect your space and make it safe *for* good and productive discussions.
 

oh, the other thing was too, the idea that you need to keep your blog space open to vile comments so that others can "see" what the offensive stuff is or "learn" from it.  I don’t think so on that too–basically that’s saying, let us see how much they hate black people, let us become voyeurs and marvel at the horror…you know?  You don’t have to be abused to prove to others how vile and horrible humans can be to other humans.  your blog is not the space to prove that racism exists.

you know dd, the interesting thing is *who* keeps saying "just calm down" or "it’s just the internet" don’t take it so seriously.  I’ve come across quite a few of those comments and i find them to be kinda insulting and patronizing…you/we’re supposed to calm down when people pull out racist aggressive garbage?