There are plenty of trolls in any forum. I find it strange that one troll consistently violates a basic rule of the forum and is rewarded for it with a moderator position.
Al Ryan posts almost exclusively the following insult, in mostly the same form:
“People who oppose Trump or like Democrats are stupid”
Now, in the guidelines for this community, there is an example of things not allowed in comments:
“calling an entire group of people stupid,”
Yet Al does this almost exclusively in all of his comments.
“The left prove their complete lack of intelligence on a daily basis”
“Trump haters still as dumb and a bag of rocks”
“Trump haters are proving beyond reasonable doubt that they have close to zero intelligence.”
“Trump haters lack the intelligence and self awareness to realize how stupid they are.”
“The only thing that Trump haters have proven is their lack of intelligence. Trump haters would be less unhappy if they would face facts and embrace their stupidity.”
He then, when called out proceeds to insult the CM who responds, with comments like
“Personal comments of low intelligence are not facts”
“There are a number of dumbass trolls who target me when I go on line. I am not saying the you are one of them but you posts are severely lacking in the intelligence department.”
“You are failing miserably and have been for a long time. When you are held to account you cry like a little girl.”
“Your Trump cult statements are about as unintelligent as you can get.”
” If we were to discuss your level of intelligence based on your posts I might get in trouble with my fellow mods”
Now typically this kind of troll would be one I block and that would be end of it. Instead, because no one ever holds him to account, he’s a mod that stalks my comments with the examples above.
I’m not asking that every commentator be an intelligent rational individual who provides some semblance of a conversation starter. I would expect a little bit of reigning it in from a moderator, but if that’s not possible I would except a bit of being held accountable.
I know it’s hard to parse what is and is not a personal insult. But when you call over half the nation stupid on an obsessively regular basis, you are insulting each and every person just as you would do it directly. Especially if you do it in response to someone stating they disagree with you. If I was to reply to someone who said “I like apples” with “Anyone who likes apples is an abject moron” that would be a personal insult, would it not?
Whatever you choose to do, please make it consistent. For moderators and non moderators alike.