What Is Your Quest?

I’ve been watching events unfold over on the IMDb message board the past few days, so I’d like to throw out some general thoughts regarding Trolls.

Trolling: a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot, hoping for a bite.

To a troll, any attention is good attention, especially if it gets their target group heated enough to forget themselves and unleash their knowledge of a beloved subject/person in a fit of passion. This gives them ample opportunity to scoff at your dedication while showcasing their (believed) superior wit. Do not give them what they want. Do not feed the trolls; they will starve if they are not acknowledged. That means ignoring and not responding to anything they have to say, and I mean anything.

Fili has blonde hair, Kili has brown; get it right!

I’ve watched these types of dramatics many times in various circumstances. Commenters, who don’t even have an interest in the beloved subject matter (in this case, Richard Armitage) will throw out seemingly innocent comments that they know will incite.

 

Ignore! Ignore! Ignore!

Do not engage…even to try and keep the peace.

 

They may come in standing on a solid platform at the beginning of the disagreement but their behavior swiftly tears the wrappings away and reveals truly rotten foundations. Would you waste your time on a forum whose subject matter you weren’t even interested in? Don’t let their petty need for attention darken your happy Hobbit hole.

that was not meant as a euphemism, boys!

My advice would be to block them & pretend that they don’t exist. If you’re worried that they are spreading slanderous lies about Richard and disrespecting his privacy, their reach is small. Do you believe everything you read in comments? If you care, you investigate further. Those who are gullible enough to believe anything are just passing through anyway. The ones who care will seek out the truth.

 

A troll’s audience are the lurkers. when you respond, you become players in their show; don’t be a tool.

Now does anyone know the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I’m asking for a friend.

In The Army Now

Once I had decided that I was firmly on the Richard Armitage train, it was time to let everyone know.

I have some exciting news!

So, first things first: I jumped into my Paint program and made a new signature for my community message board, something more RA-centric.

I chose this particular photoshoot because Richard seems to look his actual age in it and that appealed to me. This was the Richard Armitage that you could possibly pass by on the street buying a newspaper, or hailing a cab.

or attempting to explain String Theory

Next, I sought out the Armitage Army. I found an Armitage Army forum.this one is associated with Richard Armitage Central (a RA info site) and joined right away.

is hazing allowed in this Army? *looks hopeful*

Fan-Forums are ideal places to find helpful tidbits from the fans themselves: location of things online, history and lore, interviews you shouldn’t miss…

Well established forums can feel a bit intimidating at first, so I like to focus on the film work as a start. After I made my introductory post

*insert lame intro here*

I jumped down to the film threads to lurk around a bit

currently online

and hopefully find what to watch next. I noticed they housed a large Fan-Fiction section, but seeing as how I had just recently pulled myself out of a fanfic addiction, I thought it best to bypass that area for now. that would change once I discovered North & South, Robin Hood, Sparkhouse…

FanFiction: because it’s cheaper than therapy

I should note that becoming engulfed in the world of blogs and blogging has pretty much canceled out my forum time.

must.find.more.gifs.

I also needed more visual stimulation, so I turned to Tumblr. I Googled some Richard Armitage themed tumblrs, then clicked on promising titles and avatars from their followers, etc. there seems to be an RA tumblr for everything: characters, body parts, even Richard eating and drinking!

you have no idea

I have my handful of favorites now, but it took me weeks of clicking through the archives of all 500 gazillion of them.

is gazillion even a thing?

It was a taxing job… but a sacrifice I was willing to make.