The Cooler

I don’t know when “The Cooler” — that place of dark secrets and cyber madness — became part of Huckleberries Online. But it lightened my load considerably, providing a place to sit individuals who misbehave or troll on Huckleberries Online. In the old days, I had to watch the comments threads closely to make sure that commenters behaved reasonably well. I had no way to block commenters other than to delete inappropriate posts one at a time. The Cooler enabled me to block email addresses, pseudonyms and IP addresses. It made my life easier. Usually, I use the cooler to let a commenter know that s/he has stepped over the line. Lengthy bans are unusual. Complete bans are even more unusual. I don’t know how many people have been thrown in the cooler. I don’t know if I’ve inadvertently left someone in the cooler to rot in cyber space. But occasionally, when the Police Scanners aren’t squawking, you can here soft anguished cries and gnashing of teeth from the lower bowels of The Cooler.

Question: Have you been thrown in The Cooler? What was the experience like?