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Journal RobertB-DC's Journal: The Slashdot Dream! "Score: 5, Troll" 14

Journal by RobertB-DC

I did it! I wrote a comment that got scored as 5, Troll! W00t!

In the moderation FAQ, it's suggested that moderators not use the Underrated moderation choice too much, because you'll end up with something strange... like a Score: 5, Troll. But this is Slashdot, and Moderators have a strange sense of humor sometimes. Especially in a humor-inducing section like Polls.

Even so, this is a rare honor, indeed. I've seen it mentioned in a .sig before, but in a year and a half on Slashdot, this is my first time to accept the laurels of irony myself.

I don't think it's possible to get a +5, [negative] on purpose. In fact, I don't know why my comment got marked as a Troll in the first place. If you define "Troll" as "looking for replies", we're all looking to generate a discussion. If you define it as "evil monster under bridge scaring children", I'm not sure a comment about the Dixie Chicks (in a poll about buying records) reaches that level.

The timing gives a clue, though. I was in the first few dozen posts, and the comment started at +2 with Karma bonus. But it got slammed to -1 within 15 minutes. I don't know why, but I suspect I got a moderator who didn't like either my Dixie Chicks reference or the implication that we're doing more evil by supporting Big Oil than by supporting the RIAA.

But before it got stomped into oblivion, my post generated a reply that quickly built up to +5. And the parent also worked its way up to +5. Within a few hours, the comment had picked up a couple of "Insightful" mods and an "Underrated" to get back up to +2. But "Troll" trumps "Insightful" in a tie, so it was Score: 2, Troll.

Here's where I think the sense of humor came in. It only took three more "Underrated" moderations to bump me up from strange to bizarre. I'm guessing that the last few mods were on purpose.

But in any case, I'm happy! My Slashdot experience is complete... I'm going to change my .sig to reflect it.

Karma: Nirvana (mostly due to scoring a +5, Troll)

(or as much of that as fits in 120 characters)

Update (12/8): As predicted by the comments below, moderators slapped the comment with a couple of "Flamebait" mods, pushing it down to 3, Flamebait as "Flamebait" overtook "Troll". But over the weekend, a more sympathetic mod brought it back up to a "4". Where will it go next? Stay tuned...

Further Update (12/10): Bipolar moderation works both ways (duh). The comment has somehow returned to 5, Troll status! I hadn't even bothered looking until a thoughtful AC repeated the warning that I shouldn't brag just yet. This time, I'm following the advice -- I've gone back to a previous .sig for the next week or so. Of course, that feels like getting a .400 batting average and then taking off the last week of the season... but then, this is Slashdot, it's not like it's the real world or anything.

Final update (12/17): The discussion has been archived, and my place in Slashdot history has been assured! W00t! I've got a new sig that I just started at the moment, but I'll brag about my "accomplishment" (heh) in 2004.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The Slashdot Dream! "Score: 5, Troll" More

The Slashdot Dream! "Score: 5, Troll"

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  • 1) I wouldn't brag about it in your sig until the discussion is archived -- or someone with mod points will decided to wreck it for you.

    2) You can make the sig fit in 120 characters by leaving the hostname out of the URL:
    <b>Karma: Nirvana</b> <em>(mostly due to scoring a <A
    HREF="/comments.pl?sid=87827&amp;cid=7612195"> +5, Troll</a>)</em>
    • I wouldn't brag about it in your sig until the discussion is archived -- or someone with mod points will decided to wreck it for you.

      Yeah, that's true... on the other hand, though, it'll add to the excitement! I love bipolar moderation!

      Thanks for the sig tip, too. I hadn't even thought about using a relative path.
      • well, since you're already using <b> rather than <strong>, you could change the <em> to <i> as well...
        • I did use [i] instead of [em] in the final version... but even with that and the relative path, I still had to cut my .sig short. I can understand a 120-char limit, even on non-display elements like URLs, but why should I have to "pay" for repeating the domain name?

          I habitually use [strong] instead of [b] and [em] instead of [i], by the way. Am I just being retentive, or will future generations venerate my stylistic nuances?
    • Followup: you were right! The comment is now down to "+3, Flamebait". Now I *really* miss the point tally.

      I'm keeping the .sig, though. :)
      • Congrats!

        Incidently, I see +5, Flamebait:

        Moderation +2
        50% Underrated
        20% Troll
        20% Insightful
        (plus 2 more points for the friend/fan relationship)

        I wonder where the "flamebait" title came from... did you get too many moderations and the last one was flamebait at 5% (the numbers don't add up otherwise), or does the moderation list not include the title modifier?

        (it's late friday, that probably didn't make sense)
        • I wonder where the "flamebait" title came from... did you get too many moderations and the last one was flamebait at 5% (the numbers don't add up otherwise), or does the moderation list not include the title modifier?

          I've noticed a couple of interesting facets of Slashdot moderation that are demonstrated by this comment's history:

          * There's code somewhere that breaks ties, so two "Flamebait" vs. two "Troll" appears to generate "Flamebait". It's the same system that's in action when a "Insightful" and an

          • Hmm - I always thought that the moderation on a title was the last "named" moderation used (so excluding over/underrated).

            So if you receive 4 "interesting" and 1 "insightful" afterwards, the moderation is listed as "insightful". If you then get an "overrated" and another "interesting" in that order, then the moderation would switch to "interesting".

            Then again, I could be totally wrong...

            -- Pete.

  • With preferences set to give a +6 modifier for troll posts, I see all trolls at +5.
    • With preferences set to give a +6 modifier for troll posts, I see all trolls at +5.

      I should do that -- some of the troll posts are enjoyable in their ridiculousness. Sort of like an old Sci-Fi B-Movie (I'd throw out a ref to MST3K, but I never saw it).

      But I don't have time to read Slashdot at home, and I'm afraid of what will show up if I surf at Troll +6 at work!

      (It sure seems like those two should be reversed, doesn't it?)
  • A fine achievement, but I still regard the ultimate as being a +5 AC First Post [slashdot.org]. I have still only ever seen one of these.
  • ...but I did it a year ago [slashdot.org], (was it last year? why don't they give the year in the post dates...) and was among the first batch of $$$$$exyGal's [slashdot.org] links to boot. :-) Still, it is a rather amusing to be a +5 troll, isn't it? Congrats.
    • (was it last year? why don't they give the year in the post dates...)

      It was Thu Dec 06, '01 08:45 PM -- I've changed my Preferences [slashdot.org] to display the year.

      Cool to see another example! I'd love to build up a collection. It looks like a Google Search [google.com] would be a good place to start -- that query only gives 21 results. That would put us in a very elite (or should that be 31337) category -- less than 25 out of 700,000+ Slashdot members, or 7.67e6 postings. Not bad!

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