TV Tropes, Part Two

It’s been a while since I posted here, partly because I’ve been busy and partly because nothing has gotten me exercised enough to write anything.  Here I sit at my computer when I ought to be asleep because there’s something on my mind and I want to get it down while it’s fresh.

I mentioned last time that TV Tropes had been subjected to both DDoS attacks and direct vandalism.  As far as we know, the former has ceased; it certainly hasn’t been effective, so a shrug is all it merits.  Security has continued to improve and we have plenty of tools to catch and eliminate vandalism, so in a sense the attacks have served a useful purpose.

We still get them, though, and they seem to come in two flavors. One is the clueless wannabe editor who just can’t get it through his skull why we don’t want him around. One fellow, presumably from India by his account info, has evaded bans no less than a half-dozen times, pleading in mangled English to be allowed to edit the wiki despite our insistence that he learn to write comprehensibly. Another has risen to a kind of stardom even outside TV Tropes, and despite my distaste for linking to trolling sites, he could not have had a more fitting fate than to end up featured on one.  (Warning: that link has a lot of HIGHLY NSFW content behind it. Follow at your own risk.)  He has managed to achieve a kind of record in terms of sheer number of handles created — they must number in the 400-500 range by now.  Clinical insanity.

The second flavor is the kind that has an agenda and insists on telling us all that we’re a bunch of retards for not following it.  Such was apparently behind the DDoS attacks a while back and they’ve returned of late to attempt to lure loyal (but sorely oppressed, apparently) tropers away to a copycat site that promises “freedom from our censorship”.  Oh, and “good wiki software”, which amuses me to no end; these folks miss the fundamental point that it’s the content of a site that matters, not its delivery plaform.  (Yes, our derivative of PMWiki is a kludge, but it works for us.)

They’ve tried to spam links to their wiki all over ours, apparently in the belief that we are some form of free advertising for them.  They’ve sent messages to various tropers and staff members, apparently in the belief that we care, or that telling us how much we suck is going to get us to change our ways.  I even got a comment on this blog, which is amusing because I moderate it, so the only person who saw it was me.  I really have to wonder what they’re trying to persuade me of.  I’m not going to stop banning them and erasing their spam. I’m not going to accede to their Internet Tough Guy act.  I’m not going to suddenly realize the error of my ways and decide to strike a blow for FWEEDOM!!!

There’s also apparently someone (probably the same person) trying to spread some kind of weird meme about our site’s current admin, a meme to which they can’t even get basic facts right, like names. I have to wonder what genius thought this up. It’s not like he has some kind of online reputation to worry about being tarnished by amateur trolling, nor does anyone intelligent care what kind of crap shows up on ED.  Admittedly, the site can be fun if you are of a certain mindset, but to use it as a primary source?  You have got to be kidding.

And all this because we won’t let them use our site as a platform to masturbate over lolicon fetish works and cheap porn. I mean, okay, maybe I could see getting mad if we got rid of all the anime, but seriously, folks.  When their right hands aren’t too busy, maybe they could consider the utter waste they’re making of their lives.  And yes, I fully recognize the irony of writing a blog post about this.

Up next, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (downloading as I type), and maybe some more economics stuff.

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  1. #1 by greener223 on July 26, 2014 - 2:05 am

    Fighteer, there’s no such thing as a “Mirror Wiki rebellion”. You’re just overreactive to everything that even comes close to stealing attention from your site, as per your beloved Fast Eddie’s orders.

    They don’t spam links, and they don’t send PMs begging to go to their site. And even if you did, where’s your evidence? If you had any, it’s either stretching, or you deleted it out of paranoia.

    • #2 by fighteer1 on July 26, 2014 - 9:45 am

      I could show you the actual PMs, edits, and such, if you like. Your comment reveals much about the mindset of the anti-TVT crowd. You fail to take responsibility for your role in encouraging people to conduct vandalism campaigns, despite the fact that your site is inherently built around a negative premise. Naturally, folks that we boot out will go to you and find a sympathetic environment from which to plot their grand revenge.

      I also have junked comments on this blog from the ED crowd. If they aren’t aligned with you, you’re certainly doing nothing to discourage them.

      It doesn’t really matter, though. I find it somewhat amusing that you’d reply now to something that I posted over eight months ago. Things have calmed down since, and now all we typically have to worry about is the endless round of Nate Spidgewood socks. Did you kick him off, finally? I hope so, for your sake.

  2. #3 by Exodus on August 8, 2014 - 1:01 pm

    I was following that big debate over whether the Fuck No TV Tropes page could stay or not, and after seeing all the angry bitching, is it any wonder TV Tropes’s detractors call that site a hugbox?

    In fact, the guy who runs the competition to Fast Eddie’s site has gotten shit on by that Tumblr as well, but instead of crying about it, he’s been trying to win over his critics.

    Further, as you know, everyone who has gotten upset at TV Tropes and is trying to snitch on them to Google, you’re surprised? TV Tropes decided to throw it’s community under the bus for ad money and handed everyone they pissed off a legal means to destroy that source of ad money, so is it really a surprise they plan to do what they can to make TV Tropes pay?

    It’s idiotic and childish, granted, but I can’t say I blame them.

    Anyway, I’m just impressed you guys tolerate criticism from Fuck No TV Tropes and allowed the page to stay, even if you did remove the links to it, but if you guys are willing to do that, why not restore the Encyclopedia Dramatica page (locked, if you have to) without any links under the same logic?

    Also, why do you guys have links to ED anywhere on the site (like “The Wiki Rule”). They have porn ads and adult content, so isn’t linking to them a Google violation?

    • #4 by fighteer1 on August 8, 2014 - 2:54 pm

      The actions of people who have decided, for whatever reason, to disparage TV Tropes (or any other site) are solely their own responsibility. As most of the complaints are things that it is not within our power (or desire) to change, they will unfortunately remain forever dissatisfied.

      There is a specific policy about external links: they can’t go directly to NSFW content (as opposed to a landing page or age gate or whatever). If anything violates this rule, it should be reported on the wiki using the feedback mechanisms we provide. In fact, this is how concerns are supposed to be raised, to us, face to face. We’ll be happy to listen.

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