Okay…so the Issue of the Week idea didn’t quite work the way I planned – time seemed to move faster than anticipated, and I went from a slow week when I had the time and energy to post a Issue, to a crazy near-month. However, unexpected plans will not phase your Geeks. No – they merely irritate us like a buffalo with itching powder down his bum. We press on!

And with this Issue, we’re dealing with something that recently hit close to home with your Geeks. During my trip out to Portland, OR to receive the Alliance for Community Media Hometown Video Award for GwI’s website work, it was decided that we’d produce some live content for the site by trying out the Livestream. We got a number of the Geeks and some True Believers together, logged on, and started the stream. Now, we don’t work with Livestream often – it’s once a month or so that the stream opens up, and only then for webcasting the live recording of our latest episodes. No camera switching needed. Well, we were playing with the thing, and trying to figure it out. And while it didn’t look amazing, it did come out decently.

At least, it did. Until they came.

Griefers. Trolls. Bored 15-Year-Olds. Whatever you call them (tongue in cheek or not), they are one of the dregs of the Internet. They use fowl language, they treat everyone in a chat room (and on screen, for that matter) with brazen disrespect. They use their anonymity as a shield, and from behind their phalanx of unknowingness, they fling poo. Fresh poo, hot poo, old poo, rancid poo – whatever sort of poo they can throw, they throw it. Their task is to ease their boredom by causing discomfort, anger and general discontent to other Internet users. If you’ve used a chat room, played an online game, visited a forum, or engaged in any other social activity, you’ve met at least one of them.

These holligans made something that we thought was kinda cool, and somewhat different for us, into a bit of a train wreck. None of us were prepared to be trolled to such an degree. And as anyone who’s dealt with their malcontent has felt the feelings your Geeks felt. Anger. Shock. Annoyance. Pity. And of course, resentment. After all, these fools attacked something that we’ve put years of time, effort and love into. It is the same feelings anyone who has to deal with their behavior must deal with.

Which brought me to an age old question, one which I wish to present to our True Believers: How do you get rid of Trolls? Is there a realistic way that we can rid ourselves of these vile web detizens? Or, for the fun of it, is there a unrealistic, fantasy way that we’d deal with all of these people? And is there a way to do so without forever scouring our species of it’s future sperm supply? [Note: I am aware that not all Trolls are in fact 15 year-old-males - there are many young men who are upstanding web users, and fans of this show. Alternately, there are a decent number of older trolls who are acting as if they were 15. I make this reference only tongue in cheek, for a laugh from the peanut gallery.]

Please, comment here using either text or video. Or, of course, you could always shoot over to GwI United & discuss it there.

Slideshow Image Provided by http://flickr.com/photos/laian/3636361818/