- From: Joshua Allen <joshuaa@microsoft.com>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:39:00 -0700
- To: "Sandro Hawke" <sandro@w3.org>, "Adrian Walker" <adrianw@snet.net>
- Cc: <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>, <semanticweb@yahoogroups.com>
Like seagulls and pigeons, trolls come back if fed. The topic of "is the semantic web overhyped" is practically a permathread on the associated mailing lists. Few are more "meta" and self-reflective than people involved in semantics and metadata. This issue has been discussed ad nauseuem with many stimulating points made from all perspectives. This is not to say that the issue should not be discussed further (it's a permathread, after all), but it's not very stimulating to rehash the boring basics every time a newbie with a penchant for insult and lack of mastery over CAPS lock jumps in and demands to be educated. Given that there is such an extensive public record of the various perspectives on this debate, it is perfectly fair to demand that such rude newbies review the mailing list archives and develop an understanding of the contours of the debate, before launching stink bombs. Taking the time to catch up on what has already been said is only courteous, and gives others a minimum confidence that the troll is actually interested in investing the time to develop informed opinions. > When necessary, as now, it can be helpful to point out to the > assembled on-lookers that the message was a troll. It seems quite > clear that the primary motivation was "the incitement of conflict" > [1], and now you're applauding that, which seems to me like a really > bad idea. > > -- sandro > > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Received on Friday, 18 June 2004 13:39:05 UTC