I'm not familiar with Grendel's content. What stand out for you as reasons to filter it out? Why would that lead to you blocking RicePaddy? Wouldn't it make more sense to filter him or just not follow him? How would RicePaddy influence what you see on Hubski if you're not following him?
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.
It cuts both ways too. Not only will Grendel gain more support within the community (hey rational science guy hates women, maybe he has a point). But he will also affect the type of user that joins and the type of user that stays. Hubski is mentioned very, very often on r/redditalternatives. As they come over and check out the site, the creepy sexist types will think they've found a home. And as women trying to find a safe space come to the site, his posts are likely to greet them. Not only that, but when they click his username, they see he has a lot of followers. So as Hubski handles this next influx, guess which types we are more likely to recruit.
The disturbing thing is that he appears to have no understanding of science at all. One of my very first days here I ran into him on a thread about Tim Hunt and women in science (aidrocsid was there and we and others had a very civil, mutually beneficial discussion!). Grendel showed up and started doing his usual anti-feminist thing. At one point he claimed social scientists weren't scientists at all, and when I asked him why and even gave him multiple choice options, he freaked out and said that I think logic is the tool of the patriarchy (???)Not only will Grendel gain more support within the community (hey rational science guy hates women, maybe he has a point)
Why did I click that. Why. I've had a terrible day at work and posts like that just make me so done with this field. I'm mentoring a high school girl and some days I feel like I'm doing her a terrible disservice by not telling her to run the hell away and don't look back. The best part is people like Grendel are the guys who say "women just don't like to code, it's fine." Then they move to San fran or Seattle and whine about how there are no single women. Turns out when you chase women out of an industry, they become scarce in tech hub cities. Go figure.
Sorry :(. I debated not posting that comment thread, but I figured it's a prime example of his troll-iness to users who hadn't seen him before. I feel ya there. But I think it's important to be a role model for young women -- if I didn't have a series of awesome female mentors throughout high school I don't think I would have gone into science. (Also, sorry about your bad day at work! Hope it gets better.)I'm mentoring a high school girl and some days I feel like I'm doing her a terrible disservice by not telling her to run the hell away and don't look back.
Don't be sorry! It's a conversation I've had myself many times. I'm the only woman on my team (of 12), so when I screw up I feel like I let my gender down. Combine that with reading about how good women supposedly have it, and well, I'm throwing myself a bit of a pity party. I'll wallow a little tonight and move on tommorow, I'm too stubborn to go anywhere.
FOR REAL THOUGH. Like, if we're not perfect then we just confirm all the negative stereotypes to these people. I'm with you in spirit! I'm the only woman on my team (of 12), so when I screw up I feel like I let my gender down.
I'm throwing myself a bit of a pity party. I'll wallow a little tonight
Thanks so much for the kind words. It's been a tough week, and while normally I don't let that stuff bother me, it's easy to get overwhelmed. When so many people are so comfortable being cruel online, kindness stands out, and you being nice yesterday really helped. Anyway, feeling better today. Onto the next battle!
I have only ever muted 3 spammers, all from some time ago.
As far as I'm aware, the only person who has muted me, is Grendel. Maybe I'm just lucky.