Troll School- presented by wizer

Troll Tip of the Day

Other general tactics for dealing with trolls

Some of these have been mentioned before, some of this is new...it doesn't hurt to go over old stuff as we bring up new items.

When dealing with suspected trolls, there are various strategies that you can employ. First of all, remember that just because you suspect that someone is a troll, it doesn't mean that they are a troll; also, just because you suspect someone is genuine, it doesn't mean that they are genuine. In view of this, the best tactics are:

* ignore postings that you suspect may be from trolls. Again, you are always welcome to engage, provided you can keep your emotions out of it and plan to let the troll know that they have been reverse trolled so that they don't think they fooled anyone. This will only encourage them.
* don't invest any of your self emotionally until you have verified beyond all doubt that the person you are dealing with is genuine
* beware of PMs and offsite emails that praise and flatter, or seem to evoke sympathy. If you feel yourself beginning to like someone, ask first: how much verifiable data do I have about them?
* if you do get involved in anyone, seek out verifiable data. Trolls will provide some data that will lead to dead ends; real people will provide some data that is open-ended and leads to a myriad of sources which enable you to verify their genuine status
* if you must respond to a troll posting, don't get involved in the argument; limit it to pointing out that the posting may be considered as trollish, for the benefit of other forum members.
*Consider reporting the post to an admin, especially on this forum, where several of the admins are experienced trolls and can probably better evaluate the situation.
* Write to the postmaster of the troll's domain. Keep it simple, polite and to the point (they are very busy!). Include your evidence (e.g.: offensive emails) and the full email header information, so that the troll can be properly traced.
* Forum administrators can also make their boards restricted, and conduct a security analysis of each applicant before allowing them to subscribe. This is probably easier to do in areas that have professional associations or qualifications because it's more time consuming, and may discourage new members, which will of course negatively impact member volume.