Thanks for the kind words. Remember, I only wanted to know why Z has not been banned for conducting himself in exactly the same manner he conducted himself with his two previous aliases when he DID get banned. Can you follow that string? I am not talking about his "ideas" or "opinions" but the rather his trolling behavior which Rearden Metal had so clearly defined in several of his posts about Z. These tactics include obviously intentional circular logic, making personally insulting remarks about other members and then accusing them of "ad hominem" attacks against him. If this is a "decent" guy, as you wrote in your subsequent post, then I wish you much happiness together.
Sure, Bill. Soldiers have spilled blood so that Z can conduct himself like an asshole on the internet. Lives well spent, eh? Before you go wrapping Z in a flag, let's be sure we're talking about the same thing. I don't care about Z's personal opinions and philosophies. Those are his own and he is entitled to them. He is also entitled to voice them. My concern is his malicious and disruptive conduct in the forums. His intentional abuse of others solely for his personal satisfaction. It is at this fine juncture that democracy and hypocrisy sound a lot alike. But can you recognize the distinction?
A team of dedicated troll zoologists has spent the past five years observing the troll in its natural habitat. Here are their findings: <b>Trolling 101:</b> If you happen to play poker, understand that professional trolls utilize a very similar strategy: Tight-aggressive <b>Tight:</b> Don't give the victim an inch! Never admit the possibility of ever having been wrong. Never say anything which can be remotely useful or helpful to anyone. Never provide the prey with a single word he may wish to hear. Give nothing! <b>Aggressive:</b> Focus! Your goal is not conversation or debate, but the exact opposite- nihilism. Mercy is merely a handicap of the weak. You are a disease with only one goal in mind: <b>writing whatever it takes to piss off the victim.</b> Contradict yourself all the time, repeat the victim's words verbatim like a bratty child, take the high road and repeatedly request that the victim stay on topic, post in every single thread and then accuse the victim of 'stalking' when he shows up in one of them, make ridiculous statements- but do it assertively and repeatedly, but most importantly: <b>Laugh when nothing is funny! Laugh at the victim constantly, use smiley faces, and pretend to completely miss every single point he tries to make. Remember, looking like a complete idiot yourself is unavoidable if you wish to troll at the professional level.</b> Another key troll tactic is the practice of <b>winning by losing.</b> While the victim is trying to put forward solid and convincing facts to prove his position, the troll's only goal is to infuriate its prey. The troll takes (what it knows to be) a badly flawed, wholly illogical argument, and then vigorously defends it while mocking and insulting its prey. The troll looks like a complete idiot, but this is all part of the plan. The victim becomes noticeably angry by trying to repeatedly explain the flaws of the troll's argument. Provoking this anger was the troll's one and only goal from the very beginning. Another important trolling tip I learned by observing LoZZZer's work: The lioness does not indiscriminately launch an attack on every animal she wishes to eat. She stalks her prey, determining which specific individual antelope is weak, tired and slow. The expert troll must use this very approach, as not every post is worth trolling. ZTroll specifically waits for someone to discuss a topic which is of great personal importance to the prey. With an innate sense of unyielding discipline- a product of millions of years of painstaking troll evolution, ZTroll crouches in the brush, patiently waiting for an <b>emotional, dedicated post.</b> A post where the prey feels so strongly about a certain topic, he can't restrain his emotional enthusiasm when arguing his point. Any post of this sort in P&R is guaranteed to spark a LoZZZer trolling effort. The predator will then deftly pounce upon its prey, pretending to laugh hysterically at the victim's strong willed, passionate assertions while distorting them in straw-man fashion. Eye on the prize, the creature will then tightly lock its fangs around the prey's neck, clinging tightly to the jugular while deftly wringing the life from its prey until the victim <i><b> cracks</i></b>- i.e., becomes highly frustrated and visibly redfaced. This in turn provides the troll with its well earned nourishment, as well as the creature's only source of sexual gratification: <b> Furious anger and anguish. </b> Thus, the circle of life continues.
This one post has demonstrated hope of intelligence on ET: the post is incisive, well-written, and--entertaining. Rearden's assumption that zzzoloft knows his posts to be illogical is belied by zzzoloft's consistently stupid and ignorant posts. Within the last two weeks zzzoloft has made two stock calls. He recommended buying retailers, because he thought Xmas sales would be strong; and he recommended buying CVX, because CVX announced a major crude find. Keep in mind, zzzoloft didn't know estimated find size, doesn't know how much time CVX needs to develop find, doesn't know find's estimated crude grade, etc. Zzzoloft is the rare ET poster who buys headlines without knowing anything and without thinking at all. Funnier yet are the ET posters who defend zzzoloft and think zzzoloft has income besides his social security check.
that's unfair and u know it. u singled out the only 2 bad calls he made. everyone feel free to check the logs going back even months. u can say he's an arse and a troll, but not a bad trader, that's as further from the truth as it gets.
You've got 4175 posts in just over a year.... almost Z-like numbers. You've been around for a while. It is unbelievable to me that anyone would attempt to defend the outrageous lies, assertions and evasions that this disgusting troll has engaged in over the past couple of years. Z is the most intellectually bankrupt, sleazy, pathetically dishonest member of this site. You must have missed the post where he suggests that a fellow members children be threatened with pedophilic rape or the one where he suggests that children on pediatric cancer wards are there because of some error they made, since 'God does not make mistakes'. Yes, Z's lies, his trolling of different threads, his posting of bizarre images in response to requests for clarification of his contradictory posts, his habit of responding to challenges to his lies by simply cutting and pasting the same material over and over, his abusive ad hominem attacks on other members, his habit of responding to posts by saying 'I know you are but what am I' over and over again, and his general weak mindedness are disgusting and annoying. However....we have to protect his right to speak his (alcohol addled) mind. There are other members whose views are more monstrous than Z's. His immorality is reflected not in his views per se (although they are disgusting and occasionally immoral) but in his tactics, as outlined by RM above. T-Dog, I hear you man, but the ignore button is the only viable solution for this problem. And in the end, the page views he generates are what keep him here.
again, i am not saying zizzo is not a troll and sure hes a pain the ass at times. to be fair i never had much of an argument with him, aside on the religions threads but what's the big whoop, if he think god is everywhere and tries to convince u with circular logic that's his problem, i dont give a damn. u take what he says waaay too seriously and get upset about it: too me it dont make sense since hes a virtual personality like all of us and cant do u any harm. am just saying that the guy can trade and saying otherwise is misrepresenting him.