DP
In re-reading the original thread, I see that enginerd thought he/she was making a straightforward post about a pit bull on the loose and was expecting a limited response. Fair enough.
In enginerd’s own words:
There were two main goals to the original post… 1) to warn others in the area that a potentially dangerous dog was loose in the area, and 2) to ask if anyone knows of the dog so that the owners can be notified that their dog is loose. End of post.
That seems like a reasonable request, and if you re-read the original thread, you’ll see that the first eight posts were on-topic and gave enginerd the response he/she was looking for.
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/pitpull-scare-near-holden
And then someone, who shall remain nameless, seemed to be contesting the proposition that pit bulls on the loose are inherently dangerous. And then other people, who shall also remain nameless, had to jump into the pool as well.
And the rest, as they say, is hystery.
e-nerd, I’ll give you a tip. When the banter gets so infuriating that you just can’t stand to look at it any more, then don’t. Just avert your eyes and step away from the computer — even if you’re the one who started the thread in the first place — and go to your happy place.
If you can’t think of anything else to get your mind off it, try visualizing a cupcake.
–David
P.S. Ken: I absolutely love that final criterion for determining who is a troll:
Does the person employ logical fallacies within their posts?
— That “principle” itself constitutes a logical fallacy. Can you think what it might be? It’s called begging the question.
Remember that in any sustained argument between two people there will always be at least one logical fallacy employed. Otherwise, there can be no sustained argument.