Another Troll

Most people I speak with on Facebook are nice, reasonable people. Then there are the rest. I posted about some sexist jerks yesterday. As I was writing that blog entry, I was floored by a response I received at the same time to some comments I made on a Facebook page for owners of old houses.

The original post was from someone who’d found a disconnected old fire hydrant in his yard and was wondering if people thought he might be able to sell it, and could suggest how much to ask for it.

I responded, asking, “Don’t fire hydrants technically belong to the local jurisdiction, not to the homeowner? You might call your local fire department first to make sure it’s legal for you to sell it.”

That was my entire comment.

Someone else posted to say he had some old hydrants on his farm, but they were part of a private fire suppression system, and that it’s possible that the one that the post was about had also been put in by the homeowner or were no longer owned by the local jurisdiction.

I responded, “Probably, but why risk getting in trouble when a simple phone call or email could tell you for sure?”

Again, that was all I said. I just asked a question.

Then I received a response from a woman named Carla who had not been part of the conversation. She told me I had made my point and ordered me to stop commenting. She told me I was “beating a dead horse.”

I replied, “Beating a dead horse? I responded to the original poster, and then to one person who commented, making a different point. What right do you have to tell me what I can post?”

Carla said one time was enough, and that I was “spamming” and “repeating the same spew.”

I reported her to the page administrators for harassment. And I responded to her last comment, “How is it spam or spewing to ask ‘Probably, but why risk getting in trouble when a simple phone call or email could tell you for sure?’ That was the total of my second comment. Why does it bother you so much?”

After that, she was quiet for a while. Eventually she wrote again to say, “Have a blessed evening.”

I don’t know if she just didn’t know how to say why it bothered her so much, or if she was contacted by a page administrator in response to my reporting her. In any case, the conversation seems to have ended. I contemplated telling her to have a nice evening, too. On the other hand, I didn’t want to get her started again.