Here we go again - McGriffs

[Dakota]

Unfortunately, merely posting is not an armed invasion, so we can't really take it back or drive them out. There was some hope that not feeding the trolls would work, if all of the regulars would maintain the discipline, but it is awfully difficult to not respond when being personally attacked.

Now that aliasing - hijacking monikers or names - is rampant, the board is totally out of control (IMO). If I am correct, it now looks like some are using hijacked names to post almost reasonable sounding posts, so even when they are not outrageous, you will never know who you are actually "talking" to there.

Instead of spending money on anti-profanity software, the McGriffs needed to invest in new board software that requires registering of users with email confirmation of passwords, prevents more than one user having the same name, and allows board monitors to not just delete / edit posts, but to monitor where the posts are coming from (URLs) to enable detecting of and banning board abusers.

None of these techniques are perfect, and all can be hacked with enough effort, but just like locking your car discourages those looking for an easy mark, these measures would drive away most of the problem children.

JMO... (but an opinion backed with technical knowledge of how these systems work)...