Was calling me out like that not a trolling in itself?

I don’t think you have them because:

1) You have a small audience. (cf. my blog, which has a similar lack of trolls).

2) A troll would not be fed here.

by JH—Jun 11, 03:55 PM

The audience is not that small—though you’re right, it’s not as great as others.

And anyway, we might not starve them right away; they’re cute sometimes, you know? Other places where trolls are generally starved still manage try peeing on a few trees, which makes it all the more fun to watch them shrivel up and die.

Should I write more reactionary politics, I wonder? I mean, if I bitched about what a fool Joe Lieberman is, do you think I’d attact one?

by greg—Jun 11, 04:06 PM

I didn’t mean to imply your traffic was as miniscule as mine. The one tier below my blog is the “my baby development blog is read only by my mom, grandma, and some of my girlfriends from college” tier.

Bitching about Joe Lieberman is always a righteous thing to do (may God strike him down). But because it is so righteous, it’s sort of commonplace. The few times I’ve done it are simply out of catharsis. Fuck, I hate him so much.

by JH—Jun 11, 04:18 PM

What, then, does it take? A commitment to killing sacred cows? I’d love to do it more, but the ones that I think many of our readers (the churchy ones, anyway) are interested in, I’m not…

A long time ago, before we even had hermitsrock.mgbales.com as a domain, we had a few readers who were troll-like, but seeing as how I knew them, I didn’t see them as trolls per se.

Ah, it’s just as well. Trolls are ultimately more tiresome than not.

Meanwhile, we found a copy of this month’s Harper’s at the laundromat tonight!

by greg—Jun 11, 08:14 PM

you’re just getting soft in your old age. i think you know how to get people riled, but i choose to think you have risen above taking the easy route to pissing people off. (those mixed metaphors yield a beautiful mental image.)

sorry to pop up out of the blue. i still read all the articles and comments, even if i don’t respond. i am exemplifying the hermit.

by chris—Jun 12, 06:33 AM

Chris!!!1!1!

by greg—Jun 12, 07:09 AM

Perhaps you’re right, C, though I like to think that, back when we had flame wars, it was never my intent to piss people off. And trolls are another thing entirely in that they frequently see it as their duty to set records straight regardless of the vinegar of the original post. Nobody ever sees it necessary to set me straight. Is it because I am too far gone, or because HR is perceived as being too smallfry (whether we are or not) as JH suggested?

by greg—Jun 12, 07:57 AM

Impenetrability on occasion.

Also, as a participant in the very early Dave-era fights, I can testify that the conversations here require a bit more accumen and dedication than most blog-readers are willing to muster. I only choose to muster it from time to time, myself.

by JRB—Jun 12, 11:01 AM

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!! Then my greatest hopes are confirmed! I rulz the blogiverse!

by greg—Jun 12, 11:05 AM

...or not.

by greg—Jun 12, 11:05 AM

But impenetrability mostly.

by JRB—Jun 12, 11:28 AM

It occurs to me that BG has a lot of explaining to do…

So are you saying that trolls are put off by what seems impenetrable? Is the reason why (for example) ME is inundated with trolls who comment primarily in order to tell him he’s wrong because he is, in some fashion, penetrable? How so, then?

by greg—Jun 12, 12:06 PM

Perhaps I spoke too soon? Or is it just my puerility of late coming to bite me in the ass?

by greg—Jun 12, 12:12 PM

Not, of course, that I want trolls to suddenly appear… I’m just curious about how they choose which goats to accost. This whole thing with SEK got me to thinking about it.

by greg—Jun 12, 01:18 PM

too rich for my blood, so this marks the end of my return visit. off to northwest england for a month. later.

by chris—Jun 12, 03:29 PM

How very… odd. And jetsetting.

by greg—Jun 12, 03:40 PM

Such a tease…

by JH—Jun 12, 03:41 PM

RE: 12 do you mean i got some ‘splanin’ to do?

who died and made you ricky ricardo?

by Balthasar Gracián—Jun 12, 08:14 PM

Yeah—for being impenetrable. Cuz I know he’s not talking about me. (Of course, he is talking about me, and I’m cool with it.)

by greg—Jun 12, 08:18 PM

he must be reading the cast aside chunks of this chapter that i should’a finished 3 weeks ago.

by Balthasar Gracián—Jun 12, 08:21 PM

What?! I thought you were letting me read it first!

by greg—Jun 12, 08:23 PM

oh you will, he’s just getting the impenetrable bits that’ve shaved off

by Balthasar Gracián—Jun 12, 08:30 PM

i promise i’ll send it your way before the end of this week, or so help me@!

by Balthasar Gracián—Jun 12, 08:32 PM

I can take it with me, then, and read it in the early mornings while we’re on vacation. (We’re visiting K’s mother’s; I’m always up before everyone there.)

by greg—Jun 12, 08:43 PM