Beyond the Fourth Wall

TFBW · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:31 pm Post subject: What do you do with a troll?

Every universe has its unpleasant characters: Douglas Adams had the delightfully dislikable Vogons; Tolkien had Orcs and Trolls, and so on. On a forum like this, you will get many different participants (or flame warriors), some of which are analogous to Adams' Vogons or Tolkien's Trolls. The appearance of conflicting or anti-social elements is inevitable: the question is how ought we deal with it when it happens?

Two obvious approaches are "delete offending posts" and "do nothing at all". I'm not particularly fond of either of these approaches. Doing nothing at all tends to lower the forum to a fairly predictable level, colloquially known as the lowest common demonimator. The Trolls drive out the Elves, so to speak.

Deleting offending posts is probably better, but not much. A determined Troll will take deletion as a challenge -- even a victory. A Troll might also play a game of brinkmanship; aiming for the borderline where some will complain if the post is not deleted, and others will cry "unfair censorship" if it is.

In a practical sense, we're constrained by the forum software: there's only so many actions a moderator can take. I'm somewhat inclined to set up a "troll zone", and banish offending comments to that zone rather than delete them outright. A moderator can afford to enforce stricter policies when the punishment is relocation rather than deletion.

How do you think we should handle trolls on this forum?

ssava · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:42 pm Post subject:

I've found that when we had the Astonish Forum...there were so many NICE people...that to be honest...Trolls didn't really WANT to come by.

It was probably too BORING for them...ha ha.

So I say...keep the conversation NICE. Keep the threads CLEAN. And most likely Trolls won't really care.
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sphinx · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:47 pm Post subject:

Having come off a php board into an IPBoard, I have to say, it's seemed like the admins have more control over the board. There's also a nifty feature on the IPB called "warn" that would probably help.

That way, you're not doing nothing, and you're not just deleting. You're also setting them up to get banned by their own actions. Not that I want people to get banned, of course! Just mentioning this in passing is all
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TFBW · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:17 pm Post subject:

I've briefly evaluated a few forum software options, and none of them suited my needs particularly well. In the end, I went with the one that had a one-click install option from my hosting provider. I'm lazy, and I like the fact that it's easy to keep up with security updates this way, which is vitally important in the current Internet environment.

Back on the subject of trolls, I do believe that the best way to deal with them is to respond in the opposite spirit: refuse to be goaded; remain civil, or just don't reply. Of course, that usually fails for the same reason that trolls exist at all: human nature! Clearly ssava is upbeat and optimistic on this front, whereas I'm more cynical. I'd rather that folks were infected by ssava's attitude than my own, however, so I'll keep my hands off as much as posisble.

sphinx · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject:

Meep, I was just saying, was all! Sorry if I came off as pushy!
Let's all try to be all bubbly from now all like Scott, maybe we'll avoid further trolls Cool

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Inverloch Forums. My second home Smile

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antiphon · Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:42 am Post subject:

there ain't no place for cynics in Dreamland. jk... Very Happy

if you've read LotR and The Hobbit, you should know. wait for daylight, and the trolls will turn to stone. as Gandalf the Dude knew.

seriously, though, I don't expect problems from Dreamland readers.

the_dave86 · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject:

I've been to other boards where flamers are quite a problem, if they do it too much they get banned, if they flame admin or a mod they get banned the first time. this really does seem quite harsh to a lot of people and seems to make even more flamers. Best bet would be to ignore them.

I've not seen any flamers here, yet. Hopefully it will stay that way! Cool

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Nev · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:06 am Post subject:

Y'know, I've never really understood that term, "flamers", I mean. What's the difference between flaming someone and being a troll? Alls I know is that I'm not so fond of either, given that they're both usually *words edited to keep commentary rated G*
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TFBW · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:01 am Post subject:

A flamer is someone who sees a forum as an opportunity to practice public rudeness and lowbrow insults. Trolls, on the other hand, tend to be more subversive, provoking others to anger, or at least to waste their time with a response. Advanced trolls are characterised by insincerity and a desire to stir up a fuss: their words are calculated to generate a reaction. Base trolls are characterised by stupidity: they may actually believe what they say -- they just don't realise that they are exasperatingly stupid. A base troll may also be a flamer, whereas an advanced troll will aim to push your buttons without resort to insult.

Nev · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:

Ah, gotcha. Gracias!
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Gliphon · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:

I of the opinion the anyone and everyone who partakes in trolling short get a quick bannation. Not that the issue really seems to be much of a problem here.
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Bezman · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject:

PsychotiChicken · Undistinguished Extra Joined: 29 Jun 2010 Posts: 3

ssava · Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:20 pm Post subject:

I'll be good. I promise.
Please don't ban me.
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www.thedreamlandchronicles.com