[rant]
I don't like trolls. They come in many forms. People who enjoy arguing for the sake of the argument (I especially detest that). It isn't about learning, it is about winning the argument. No amount of facts, or how bad the trolls argument or how ludicrous the facts will end it. It usually takes a moderator. Eventually trolls get banned, though it can take years. A certain member here who was always trying to teach beginners alternate science comes to mind.

There are other forms of trolling, and sometimes what you may think is trolling isn't really. Either the OP is not getting the points or not expressing his points in a coherent sort of way. This makes it difficult for everyone.

The latter is what I understand Wikipedia has major problems with. People can find themselves booted who were being sincere (a troll is never sincere).

I find it hard not to feed a troll, though that is the best policy. How would you handle it?
[/rant]

 

Bless you for saying that. John

 

I think the best policy is to just ignore them. If others want to respond/argue/whatever, that's their choice. I just mentally label them a moran and stop looking at their posts.

Now, that term moran deserves an explanation, since it's permanently embedded in our family lexicon. Years ago I was conversing by email with my sister and a friend of hers from college that I also knew; let's call the friend Alice. Now Alice was an English teacher and the topic was the poor spelling/grammar in typical emails. Somehow Alice wanted to say "moron", but it got typed as "moran" and I've been laughing about it ever since because it was so incongruous for her.

So, maybe instead of putting up a sign next to the grass saying "Don't feed the trolls", we should instead make it "Don't feed the morans".

 

I like bugs bunny version better.

"What a maroon!"

Funny thing, I think the people who indulge in this behavior are trying to look smart, when the end effect is actually opposite.

 

I think real trolls with endurance are quite rare. Even the stubborn ones will quickly look very silly and be unable to keep up the charade for long. At that point you can easily walk away and leave their silly nonsense dangling out there for all to see.

Those highly motivated and serious people, who seem so stubborn, tend to either be scammers with an agenda, or thick-headed numbskulls that can't tame their arogance and preconceptions long enough to make sense of a coherent argument. At first it can be difficult to figure out which is which, but eventually it becomes clear with enough probing.

Real trolls should be ignored, but the "others" should not be ignored. Instead fight them long enough to get them to reveal their true color, and then quickly ban them after that. Trolls do little real harm, especially if ignored. But, these other troublemakers are a source of misinformation. More than once, I've seen a novice misled.

 

I don't argue, takes at least 2 to argue. If they are ignored, they should soon go away.

 

When I see a troll, I usually make a relative comment and leave the conversation. Most of the time though I follow the thread closely, just for observational purposes.
Bill, my observations show that you have a REALLY hard time to detach from a thread and let a single word drop.

My advice is to leave, not feeling defeated but liberated from a madhouse.

 

I pick and choose my threads. If I'm in there it is usually because I am interested. You are right, I do have problems not feeding the trolls. I'm trying to change this a bit, but it is hard to know who they are early on. If it is a thread I'm interested in I'll just avoid talking to the problem poster and continue to participate.

Back when Ratch was around I had no problem avoiding his threads. It was obvious early on that facts were not the issue. He sucked a lot of people into extremely long tedious discussions, most of which I read from the sidelines and kept quiet. When he started hunting the obvious beginners with some of his assertions he was banned.

I'm pretty much against philosophy in threads because it does the exact same things. Ratch was also a philosopher. If it is serious misinformation being feed to a beginner I will flag the post for the moderators to review.

 

Tie the troll to any conveniently located bridge, and let the maidens wreak their revenge.

 

Tie the troll to any conveniently located bridge, and let the maidens wreak their revenge.

That punishment is likely to bring more trollers. Getting tied up and molested by maidens isn't always perceived as a bad thing.

 

Wait until you see the maidens.

 

And the forks. And the knives. And the clubs. And their faces.

 

Their faces... oh, those faces...

 

I believe most who post overunity stuff on here are trolls...

 

Naw, a troll is never sincere. They are believers, just uninformed.

 

Every troll deserves one thing:

A short drop and a sudden stop!

haha XD

 

Yes indeed, it is hard not to feed a troll.

 

I just mentally label them a moran and stop looking at their posts.

Thought you might get a kick out of this

 

"What a maroon!" - courtesy of Bugs Bunny.

 

years ago i was on a political board.
the kind of flame-wars were sometimes quite crazy.
provocateurs and trolls were fairly commonplace. suspensions and bannings did occur in certain cases.
the after quite a while, the number of sock-puppets got so out of control the admins performed a mass liquidation. was pretty easy for them to compare IP addresses to accounts for the most part. not sure how they dealt with the 'pros' who use proxies for multiple log-ins, but they tidied up a fairly messy situation. everyone got to keep their original accounts at least.
amazingly, the admins posted a list of who each sock-puppet belonged to. it was astounding to see who was really who... in some cases, certain puppets were controlled by multiple users.
some antics were actually quite hilarious whilst others were just plain disruptive.