This Site Needs Your Help, and It's Not Money

I cannot do it alone.

Am I stupid or only looking like one?

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“Mark,” who showed up as a commenter only a few days ago, has nearly earned the Trophy of the First Person I am Banning. He still might in a day or two, but I’m hoping for the best that he also joins those who support this site.

Still, even if “Mark” proves to be more sociable and less assuming in the long run, I need your help to defend this site from similar attacks, whether they are intentional or not.

“Mark” has taught me a few important things, and I hope, you can also profit from my case. I don’t mind looking like an idiot, if that helps you. I have also realized that I cannot include such cases in “housekeeping”; my readers’ help is needed to protect this site from similar attacks.

Here is the last conversation I conducted with “Mark”:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/i-have-solved-the-question-of-free/comments#comment-11624043

You can go back to his comments on the previous four or five days to notice the pattern that suggests either an intelligent bot or about three trolls “commenting” under the same name. (You might want to hurry, because “he” might delete some or all his “contributions,” but I won’t, because I want other people here to learn how this process evolves.) If he deletes most of the stuff that looks oh-so-innocuous at first but totally destructive in all, I can collect his “comments” from the notification e-mails.

This is my last conversation with “Mark” before (nearly) banning him forever:

Mark: Nothing at all wrong with changing the rules of engagement is there?

Me: No, nothing is wrong with that; it was I who was wrong to assume that you would realize what you have been doing.

Here is the pattern I have observed:

Starting out as a supportive commenter, your comments were valuable for others. After that, it took me about eight hours a day just to respond to your messages, which I couldn't afford even to paying subscribers, so if you had payed, I would refund your money and ban you. (I understand now that some GOOD authors limit comments, because they couldn’t handle the amount of comments or just don’t want to bother, rather than only for the sake of collecting positive comments only; such attacks are very much possible by “paid subscribers,” too) I need to read and publish, instead of devoting most of my time to responding to your "comments." Later on, you started making extremely lengthy comments, much of which off-topic, and after that, some of your comments were suspiciously misleading for other readers. You put an icing on the cake calling me arrogant, because I said I solved the problem of Free Will, but you didn't want to "know" what I was talking about, which amounts to an ad hominem attack and picking a fight (this site is a peaceful site, I do not pick fights, only exchange ideas). FYI I didn’t solve the problem as a philosopher, because that would be impossible. My solution is system and problem-specific, based on the cognitive process. Eventually, you started nitpicking, while changing the aspects and problematics of my statements, decontextualizing them. (I have the e-mail notifications of each your comments from the beginning, so you don't bother to delete them.) With your final comment, you are (as usual), moving the goalposts and that did it. With this icing on the cake, you have earned the award of being the first one banned from my site, and this is forever, because there is no point in continuing to tolerate your disruptive activity.

In a way, I am grateful for your teaching me how the latest and smartest way of destabilizing a site works. I am leaving your comments intact for everyone else to study and learn from.

Go in peace.

I nearly banned him “forever,” but in his next comment, he is hitting a friendlier (although not quite promising) tone,

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/do-not-swamp-my-comment-sections/comment/11624196

"Amazing that you "like" what i have to "put out there" yet you say in the next breath that i put too much out there;

I am not tech savvy Ray and nor do i have the inclination or connection speeds necessary for creating my own site. I am in rural Australia, not "connected in the blink of an eye" America.

i only comment if i feel i can make a contribution to the discussion;

i shan't bother you anymore with my endless, long winded reasonings

As a result, I am giving him the benefit of doubt, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I hope, he is getting my message…

At least, now I know what to do under similar circumstances.