How to deal with trolls

What is a troll?

A `troll' is someone who enjoys creating conflict on the internet. He or she creates and fuels arguments which upset other members of the online community.

Trolls crave attention from others, and they don't care whether the attention is positive or negative. For trolls, other users are not quite real people; they are abstract characters on the other side of a computer screen. Trolls don't feel bad about hurting the feelings of other people.

Trolls view chat rooms and message boards as a challenge where the winner is the user who creates the biggest argument, the user who upsets the most people in the most dramatic way. A troll wants to be the user getting the most attention.

Troll behavior discourages many users and makes for a less vibrant online community. New users may not post because they fear ridicule. Established posters may leave an online community because the noise has overwhelmed the real discussion. Trolls can make an entire community paranoid, leading users to become negative or to accuse a user engaged in normal criticism as a troll.

What should I do (and not do) about trolls?

Remember, trolls feel rewarded by creating the biggest altercation possible. They want to get a reaction out of you. When you fight with a troll, he wins. When you reason with a troll, he wins. Any time that you give a troll attention, he gets exactly what he wants.

The best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them. When you ignore a troll, he doesn't get the satisfaction of creating an escalated conflict.

If you decide to leave a discussion because of the negative tone, do not dramatically announce that you are leaving. While that message may make you feel better, it only convinces the troll that he is winning.

You may also bring an abusive post to the attention of our moderators.

Please remember: the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them.

* from the IMDB website

Thanks INFP. This is well-said.

That's a really good article. Did you write that?

Great definition INFP. It's also excellent advice; ignore a troll. But expect in the short run a troll will escalate in hopes of getting a rise out of someone so it takes very strong determination not to react.

If you feel someone is trolling, notify anyone on the staff and we will look into it.

I have to wonder what kind of person takes the kind of time out of their supposedly busy lives to troll random sites. I have enough trouble getting to sites I'm interested in.

(True story: I was at a forum once where a troll was making some trouble. Someone posted "you guys, just ignore the troll." The next person posted, "you're right, we should just ignore the troll." The person after that said, "DON'T FEED THE TROLLS." Next person wrote, "you're right, we shouldn't feed the trolls." SEVEN PEOPLE fed the trolls by agreeing not to feed the trolls. )

At least one of the admins is always here daily. If there's an obvious troll here, it's just a matter of one of us flipping the [img]If there's an obvious troll here, it's just a matter of one of us flipping the
switch.

I like that. Good information for those that need it since the internet has grown so many trolls lately it seems.

this is some some kind of race thing isn't it? I for one am offended, and wwill not excuse such things.

I agree, nicely put Being passionate about nonviolence hard to understand the trolls- I say a prayer for all of them