troll rated as fast as lightning strike just in case one posted something remotely against the Obama sing along crowd. I personally don't use troll ratings. Just because I don't agree with someone doesn't mean that I'll troll rate it. I'll recommend your diary and try to go through the comments.

How is it possible that you can't see who's zero-rated your posts?

Anyway there are two sides to this - one side complains that this site resembles No Quarter too much - the other that it doesn't resemble it nearly enough.  I'll take the way it is now over how it was a month ago any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I haven't seen the problem of rabid troll-rating, personally, but I sure support civil discourse.

I think one of the biggest abuses is the serial troll raters around here.  There are certain individuals who go from diary to diary and apparently troll rate anyone with whom they disagree.  Most of the time they don't even bother to comment in the threads themselves.

I believe in civil discourse.  I may drop a TR/HR for a personal insult or something that is just wrong (being almost any ist as in sexist/racist).  But if someone disagrees with me I try to have a civil conversation unless experience has shown me that is impossible.  Most people will partake in a civil conversation.

Johnathon's front page post was a den of irrationality in the comments.  I'll go and wade though and uprate you where you deserve it.

had been revoked too. So sorry cannot help you.

status? If so, writing a diary with this title may not be the best way to go about it.

Dude, Obama supporters have been the target of organized Troll Rate abusing by a group of Clinton supporters, who will troll-rate anything they disagree with and then go back through past comments and do the same thing.

Hell, I can't even recommend diaries anymore. I've complained to the admins; pointed out the Clinton supporters who troll-rate abuse with impunity; but they don't seem to care much. So suck it up; there's no help to be had.

Trickster: You were troll rated into oblivion by adconre, who unjustifiably zero'd more than 2 dozen comments by Hillary supporters today -- so far.

I never understood why some obsessed over TU status here or at DK. Who cares?

I have been troll-rated here more times than I can count. Big deal.

It's a stinkin' message board. Is your ego really that tied up in having trusted user status at MyDD?

I'm a TU again.

I swear, that wasn't my intention.

Really!  Cross my heart!  :)

But thanks to all who did it. . . .

I cannot fathom this anymore....

Trickster is my favorite poster here. I love his/her writing and perspective. I agree completely that it is getting tough to have a good spirited discussion around here without the thing descending into personal attacks. I saw it happen at dKos and now it is happening here. This just may be the achilles heal of the scoop blog system. A concerted group of bullies can come in and start throwing elbows around. In many ways it is representative of the Obama campaign.

This used to be my favorite blog. This used to be the place for the real politics nerds: it was full of discussions about poll data, demographics, tactics, etc. Once the primaries started to heat up, this place became the refuge of a very small and very hostile group of pro Hillary partisans that made it impossible to have any kind of rational discussion. I used to post here and I used to give a lot of stock to opinions expressed here. But now I just visit the site occasionally to take the pulse of super pro-Hillary super anti-Obama sentiment. In much the same way that I occasionally visit right-wing blogs. Just to get an idea of what the other side is saying. When I saw this diary I just had to post to remind people of what this site used to be about. You can be for one candidate or another, but the level of hostility and the blatant double standard used to rate criticism coming from pro-Hillary posters in this site has been overwhelming and consistent for many months now. It's a shame. Hopefully that will change once Hillary drops out. Probably not, though, since Hillary will use any excuse to stay in the race. Mark my words: she'll win PA by about 8 pts or so, everyone here at MYDD will gush about how this is proof that Obama can't "seal the deal" and this will go to the convention. Obama will limp out of a brokered convention and be edged by St. McCain in the general. All the while the Clintons will be complaining about how they did everything they could to save the party from itself. We will have squandered a historic opportunity for political realignment in this country. And I truly believe a small piece of the blame should go to the MYDD community.

I'm reccing this diary because Trickster is right to call out the abuse of troll ratings. I think it's a screwed up system having 1s and 0s, since the hide rating clearly applies to lies/racism/sexism/offensive language, leaving the 1 as a pop Idol popularity rating.

But Trickster, you say downthread how you find the dialogue here offensive and insulting. The problem is  of perception. I sometimes find your comments insulting too. We can't legislate for different perceptions of words, and the sensitivity of readers.

Downthread, you accuse somebody of making an 'inane' comment - which could be construed as insulting. You also say you don't lose your temper. But you have in a recent comment with me, and said you were insulted, that Obama was calling you dirt.

It gets heated and testy in here, not least because this is the most important and passionately contest primary election for a generation - at least 40 years. Nerves get frayed, tempers get lost, insults are hurled. And this is just among true democrats - a category you clearly belong to.

But we would all be blind if we ignored the deliberate agent provocateur tactics of recently joined freepers, whose sole task it is to sow discord in a resurgent democratic party. I've had four trolls confess as much to me, saying they will be 'back in four months time' and 'then the real fun will begin'. I'm not being paranoid, and for some reason - perhaps because I'm British - they feel impelled to confess their undercover status to show how clever they are.

These trolls usually try to create tension over a sexism/racism controversy, killing two birds with one stone. They used Wright in the past (ridiculous ly claiming he was a racist suprematist separatist) but the real object of their venom at the moment is Michelle Obama.

Though they try to cover up their true intentions, the racism and sexism of these trolls soon leaks out. Unfortunately, because they are at the moment following Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos and supporting Hillary, a lot of Hillary supporters fail to call these trolls out, because they seem at least to be on their side.

But they're not on the side of any progressive democrat, and supporters of both candidates should combine to troll and hide rate them. It's a big tent, but it can't have a major tentpole in racism or sexism, and triangulation can only go so far.

So I would appeal to Hillary and Obama supporters not to let this divisive undercover tactic work. Don't misuse troll ratings except for egregious transgressions.

Sometimes your enemy's enemy is, well, your enemy too

It's a sign of just how gone to hell this place is that I've actually come to see TRs as badges of honor here.  It's a sign that you've made a solid point that either the TR abuser doesn't understand, didn't consider, or can't refute.