Why the "report and ignore" method is so important with internet trolls

Great posting. I think I have fallen for a couple of the inflammatory postings and as I was responding (usually spitting mad) I was saying to myslef I don't care if this discussion get deleted I just hope you read this before it does. Your recommendation is much better and I probably would not have responded or even noticed a discussion with next to responses. Thanks

I must admit that I tend just to ignore these sort of questions. If I get an irrelevant answers to a question I've posted I do give it a negative rating. Now you have pointed this out I will begin to report things such as you've described.

That is what I've doing. Ignoring them just ticks them off. By participating in their discussion, they get what they want. Reporting them really does work. I've seen posts and whole threads removed just from reporting ;-) Every forum has them but some place like mylot that pays, probably has their fair share of them

Yes I saw trolls in other discussions sites and I know how they work, unfortunately no matter how many times people are advised; many just willingly fall for the trick time after time.. Please people don't be tempted to respond to "put them in their right place" or "show them how they are wrong", etc.. that's exactly what they want, just use the "!" and report them to mylot admin and then rate them negative.. I shared similar views in all discussions about abuses in mylot, thanks for bringing up the topic again :)

Sound advice blueskies. You are correct that to give the posts any attention is fallin victim to exactly what the troller wanted! If the community carries on as normal,with no attention to the troller, they should get bored and leave. If they get everyone's dander up and start a bantering match, they will be fullfilled and stay! I say bore them to tears!

I hste trolls too. I belong to a tennis forum, and it is over-populated with trolls. They come on there just to make mischief, - for example, posting racist comments about the Williams Sisters, just to stir things up, and cause upset to the normal posters. Some people reply, which is just what they want. I just ignore them, until they get tired and walk away. Most of them are just sad little bullies with no lives, and ignoring them is the best policy!

I never heard of this, trolls ha-ah I like it. I only come here and just delete anyting I have no reply to. Thanks for the info tho'.

Hi! Great post, Blueskies! True, trolls are on every message board. I agree with Razcal, too, sometimes I just can't help but respond, but I've learned from my arguments with trolls, too. I hope everyone starts reporting and ignoring them! :-)

These trolls are so sick. I just don't understand how making rude comments and getting people worked up is satisfying. Blueskies you offer excellent advice. Another thing I don't understand are those trolls who stalk other people all over the site, spending long hours following all their discussions and giving them negative ratings. I haven't seen it on MyLot, but there was a lot of it on another board. People would get into smashing fights and then expect the board administration to fix everything, even when they were participating in the fight. Well, maybe they weren't trolls per se, but just people who like to fight. I've certainly seen my share. I don't agree with what a lot of people post, but they can say anything they want if they aren't rude, and I will respect it, but other people take a differing opinion as a personal attack. I guess it's just a reflection of the nature of human beings and their differences.

I started reporting them, giving a negative feedback and telling them they should not be doing this. Only to realize I was bringing their post back into view, so I stopped doing that and now I just report them. :)

You are right we should never respond..but sometimes it's just too irresistable and infuriating... I will not respond any longer, I had enough the other day to last me a while... Now I'll just be on "Troll Patrol" report and move on. Here's some info I found.. Beware the Troll.. a practical guide. To "troll" means to allure, to fish, to entice or to bait. Internet trolls are people who fish for other people's confidence and, once found, exploit it. What is a troll? The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your expense. There are two main types of trolls:people who have the psychological need to feel good by making others feel bad. This is a sort of "psycho troll", whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. Such people may use their real names on the internet, and they may not even realise that they are "trolling" because it is all subconscious. people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they create personae that you think are real, but they know is fictitious. There are four types of these trolls:1.Playtime Trolls: an individual plays a simple, short game. Such trolls are relatively easy to spot because their attack or provocation is fairly blatant, and the persona is fairly two-dimensional. 2.Tactical Trolls: This is where the troller takes the game more seriously, creates a credible persona to gain confidence of others, and provokes strife in a subtle and invidious way. 3.Strategic Trolls: A very serious form of game, involving the production of an overall strategy that can take months or years to develop. It can also involve a number of people acting together in order to invade a list. 4.Domination Trolls: This is where the trollers' strategy extends to the creation and running of apparently bona-fide mailing lists. Dealing with Trolls Here are some ideas to help avoid being deceived by trolls:Before you invest your trust in someone - either emotional or financial trust - you should verify their bona fide nature from multiple known, reliable and independent sources. Ignore postings that you think are suspicious. Beware of off-list emails that praise and flatter, or seem to evoke sympathy. If you feel yourself beginning to like someone, ask first: how much do I know about them from real life sources? If you do get involved with anyone via the internet, seek out verifiable data. Real people will provide information about themselves that is open-ended and leads to a myriad of sources which enable you to verify their genuine status.

Blueskies, you are so right. Trolls only do what they do for attention. There can be hardly any other reason that they would go to the lenghts that they do. We should all definitely remember to do our best to ingore them, no matter how inflammatory they become. Just report them and move on, knowing that Mylot will take care of them in time. I'm glad that you are giving the Mylot community such an important reminder. There are so many people registered for this site who may never have really used an online forum like this before - with 60,000 plus people here, it seems likely that some will have never encountered "Trolling" before. I'm sure that your advice will be eye-opening for a lot of others here. Thank you! ^_^

The sad thing is that they seem to be multiplying. They are everywhere. I too hate them and they tend to cause hard feelings and arguments. I dont what they get out of doing this. I agree that they should be ignored. Thanks for the definition of them.

I completely agree! Those are some very good points that I follow as well. Actually, I reported a troll yesterday and left it at that. Their's no point in reacting for the exact reasons you stated.

Great topic, and quite timely too, as I seem to be seeing more and more of this type of people in all forums, and quite recently I've been seeing an increase of trolls here in mylot too. Sometimes, I admit that I've been guilty of answering this kind of posts. Often I will enter into a discussion merely thinking that the topic was thought provoking, not realizing what the poster really is. But when I realize what the person truly is, I just refrain myself from answering back and just move on to another discussion.

Thank you for this post. I always had a tendency to ignore trolls but did not report them. I will do so in the future since I have heard from other mylotians that it is a benefit to the entire community.

thank you I had a lot of other names for them but trolls is at least printable and won't get me going. I have refused to take bait thrown out by trolls ugly and useless is about the best I can say for them and their ranting and raving. And yes I do report them but I didn't know the name .Now I do, amazing what you learn. Where can I report on here as I am very new to this site and still in the process of learning all the whys and where fors. Also perhaps you can answer me a question 1 how do I report on mylot. 2 how do I choose best answer on my questions I ask and 3 what the heck are alerts I keep getting an advisory of one and do not know how to delete it Thanks for you help and your excellent definition.

Exactly. responding to their posts just feeds their need for attention, and gives them MORE attention. Ignore them, they will get bored and go away. report them, they will get banned. But they can always sign on with a new name if someone is playing their game. I always ignore trolls. They don't offer anything of substance, and ruin the reputation of forums.

I was once a member of a message board where people responded to them with a remark they thought was "clever" and everyone basically thought putting them down in a witty way (or even by subtle bashing) was funny. The moderator allowed it, and I hated this for the exact reasons stated here - however good the reactors intentions may be, it just fuels their fire. I was also a member of another around the same time. Such intrusive posts were ignored and left up to the moderators. Needless to say, that forum went much more smoothly!

I agree attention is the only reason they do it. Usually they get all the attention they want too.