Further Adventures of E.R. Dietz

I was surprised that the "Adventures of E.R.Dietz thread was locked. I was surprised the Wizard suspended me for it. And I was surprised no mod or poster came to my defense.

First, and this is not the main point, displaying nine words and two initials, "My cousin, E.R. Dietz came back from the dead yesterday" from a roughly 130 word post as evidence of "trolling" is clearly, from an editorial standpoint, cherry picking. The post was eight sentences. The alleged offense was evidently that first sentence. While insults can be ascertained out of context, I have doubts whether "trolling" can be ascertained out of context.

That leads me to my real issue with the suspension. Not being very internet savvy, however, I admit that I do not really know what "trolling" is. Far be it for me to overstate my data base. I looked it up.

Cambridge Dictionary: "The act of leaving an insulting message on the internet in order to annoy someone."

Hmmm. "My cousin E.R. Dietz came back from the dead yesterday" doesn't seem to insult anyone, and as far as annoying goes, well, annoying is certainly a subjective thing. Certainly, Minty, Chumpchange, and Joeman (the responders) seemed neither insulted nor annoyed.

Maybe, however, the Cambridge Dictionary got the trolling definition wrong. So I moved on to Merriam-Webster: "To antagonize online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or other offensive comments."

Hmmm. Once again, not much about the offending sentence was inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive to anyone, certainly not more offensive, for example, than making hundreds-of-thousands-to-one claims on an ostensibly math-oriented site (and with a straight face).

Then I realized that I'm 63 and not terribly hip. Perhaps Merriam-Webster got it wrong. So I consulted the Urban Dictionary: "the deliberate act of making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments with the intent to provoke emotional knee-jerk responses." Well, my post wasn't random. It was unsolicited, but almost all posts are. It was intended to provoke exactly the kind of response Joeman had, which was good-natured and entertaining.

According to various dictionaries, my post was not trolling by accepted dictionary definition.

Now I do understand that the owner of a site has the power to do whatever he/she wants. I did not know that extended to redefining various words, but now I do. If some new specialized lingo is required, I'll do my best to grasp it. I have a head start in Klingon, so that would be my preference, but posters can't be choosers.

In conclusion, some folks should probably stick to math.

I think this (which you conveniently left out), which you also posted in that thread, is what led to your suspension as well as the thread being locked:

Quote: redietz

I'm going to bump this thread, as it relates to the MDawg debate.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that no one has decided to call me a liar for reporting on my cousin coming back from the dead. Or the fact that he's dead set (pardon the pun) on running a three minute mile.

Does no one want to meet the great E.R. Dietz and read of his fabulous adventures, both in the underworld, on the track, and in casinos?

Math Supremacists know their derivatives.

No one gives a toot

Quote: DeMango

No one gives a toot

Exactly

Quote: redietz

In conclusion, some folks should probably stick to math.

Welcome back! I agree with you! Please stick to math!