How to Deal with a "Forum Troll"?: Open for Member Discussion

**rustybrick** · 01-11-2006, 09:43 AM

The next question submitted in the Search Engine Roundtable Moderator Threads: Ask Your Questions thread was submitted by our friend Wit.

He asks;

How to deal with a forum troll?

So let's begin the moderator roundtable discussion on this topic.

It should be fun, so get your

out.

**Phoenix** · 01-11-2006, 11:19 AM

Hmmm...

Well I think there is probably two ways you can deal with a forum troll.

One, You can call the elves to come crown him

a moderator and let everyone know his dedication

to the forum is unrivaled of any troll anywhere on planet earth. Throw great parties for him, and name a star after him, and he will grow to love your forum and you as well.

Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world, so the story goes something like this:

Two, will you

or make me the mascot of the forum. Invite him to say funny things and incoherent nonsense that other internet people laugh wholeheartly and say, that "aint he a funny man".

Yes, we will all agree, he is a funny man with too much time on his hands. One day he will proclaim, "Good people of XYZ Forum. According to Forum Troll Rule #45: A troll will overstay his welcome but disappear at precisely the moment when least expected. He is never late or too early." We will be mystified and supefied as to what he means.

One day he will up and disappear, because by then he will have accomplished #1, and become the ultimate King of Trolls. All will sigh, angels will sing, and he will be gladly missed.

The End.

**dazzlindonna** · 01-11-2006, 01:51 PM

LOL. ok, my response will be a tad bit different.

IGNORE THE TROLL. Don't speak to him. Put him on your ignore list. Do not engage him in any conversation. Pretend he doesn't exist.

Trolls want only to be noticed, and to stir the pot. If he is ignored, he will lose interest and go away. Of course, EVERY MEMBER of a forum needs to cooperate, and this is a difficult thing to get them to do. So, if users continue to engage him in conversation, the mods will probably eventually have to warn him, and possibly ban him.

**rustybrick** · 01-11-2006, 01:59 PM

Good point Donna. Separate out how the regular member should deal with a forum troll versus how a moderator should.

I agree that a member should ignore the troll. Unless that member is a troll himself. Does a troll encourage an other troll? What happens when two trolls meet?

Is it

or is it

lol

When it comes to moderator control. It really depends on the forum. Well established forums are normally able to nip the troll it the butt. They have rules, all the mods are accustomed to the rules and bam - no questions asked.

In newer forums, trolls have more freedom. There are uncertainties and those uncertainties are taken for gratitude by the forum troll. Ultimately, the troll loses and finds a new forum to corrupt.

**Darrin Ward** · 01-11-2006, 02:17 PM

Code the forum so that all trolls receive a weird crash error is they post more than x posts within a given time frame.

When they complain about it - tell them that nobody else has seen the error and you can't figure out where it's coming from - they'll realize that they're getting the

, then they'll stop tooting their own

, so that we can then get

.

**rustybrick** · 01-13-2006, 07:04 AM

This thread is now open to the public! Have fun!

**Chris Boggs** · 01-13-2006, 07:35 AM

I have been eagerly awaiting this topic.

OK first we have to define forum troll for people like me, it seems. Trolls are those who make a conscious effort to inflame or irritate others, by my definition. In some cases, this can be fun. For example I occasionally like to troll Yahoo message boards and mess with ultra-conservatives. No harm, and possibly a part of what keeps me civil in other discussions!

So a message board is not a Forum; what constitutes a troll on a forum? By what I have seen stated in the above posts of the esteemed mods, I would venture to guess that a troll is more of a link-spammer? If so, and I have a popular forum, I would not respond to the troll, but slam it and leave a mark on the "wall" (thread). Use the "reason for editing" box and let them know what link spammers are thought of. The more blood on the walls, the less trolls? Ah yes it must be the former Marine coming out in me...

**rustybrick** · 01-13-2006, 08:16 AM

I would define a "forum troll" as a member that goes against the forum rules and customs. Be it link dropping, posting in a style that is not the norm in the forum, flaming other members, and so on.

I am big into going against the rules and not following the customs of the forum.