Advanced Trolling

I am having to exert such self-control right now. I've been asked for my opinion, and I'm tempted to give it.

A few months ago I joined a recipe list on Yahoo. It's been a great resource so far, with wonderful recipes and good tips on using unfamiliar food items.

(You can see the "But" coming, can't you?)

The list owner is a complete tin pot dictator. I don't mind that the list is fully (and intensively) moderated. What's driving me nuts is the way she uses the list to massage her ego. Every couple of weeks she'll send a letter to the list complaining about how she's been getting nastygrams from unhappy list members. Within a few hours a flood of supportive letters will come through on the list, all telling her what a great job she's doing and what a wonderful person she is. She thanks everyone graciously, then repeats the cycle. Never, not once, have I seen a corresponding negative letter actually come through to the list.

This is a fully moderated list. Doesn't she realize how obvious her behavior is?

Her most recent round started with a plea for the list members to tell her why the group isn't more interactive. Are we unhappy with the way she's moderating? Please, please, let her know what we think.

I'd love to, I really would. I'm not ready to get kicked off the list, though.

I've seen this sort of thing happen before. I actually based the villain in my one completed novel on this guy I ran into online. He was more subtle about things than this woman, but had much the same motivations I think. He'd managed to hijack an entire list into being his groupies. Anyone who disagreed with him came under attack. If they responded to his flame he would retreat to an "oh so reasonable" stance, gently asking why they couldn't handle having their mistakes pointed out to them? He was just trying to help, after all. And, as with this woman, lots of letters would come through supporting the egotist.

I couldn't hit "Leave Group" fast enough.

Something similar almost happened early on in Momwriters. Some of you might remember Daryl? If Jerri and Nikki hadn't handled it as well as they did I'm not sure our little community would have survived.

Interesting what you run into online, isn't it?

(Yes, I'm blogging a lot today. Starting tomorrow the husband will be home full time and I won't have the freedom to blog on a whim, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity while it lasts.)