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Do not feed the trolls
- Jul 22, 2009 at 3:05 PM
- By
- Comments (1) Total Views (266) Everyone can see this journal post.
I think that we are all doing our best to make Cafemom.com as friendly,
fun and informative a forum as I've ever encountered. That said, it is
inevitable that "unsavory" characters will be attracted to our group.
This post is a public service announcement, so that we can all better
deal with those that are not here to benefit the group.
If you take one thing away from this post, it's that we should all collectively not feed the trolls; ignore their posts:
Troll -
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Originally Posted by Urban Dictionary
An
obnoxious user or member on a forum that goes out of their way to make
pointless, offensive, or annoying posts and messages. Often these users
are labeled as spammers and will post random off-topic junk in many
sections of a forum.
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In general, trolls are looking to illicit a reaction, turn a
conversation to fit their needs or generally waste people's time. There
have been cases where an internet troll will intentionally post
incorrect information, wait for people to respond with the correction
and then effectively respond "gotcha". All of the attempts to correct
the troll were simply a waste of time. Here are some of the techniques
that a troll will employ:
Troll Methods -
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Originally Posted by Please Do Not Feed the Trolls
Trolls try to disrupt or change [forums and discussion groups] to fit their own agendas.
They often use techniques as: * flooding by excessive posting * attacking regulars in a group * attempting to divide and conquer * making themselves the savior of the group * trying to impress others with their knowledge * threatening people (overtly or with subtlety) * spreading rumors * violating [forum or discussion group] policy, [or getting as close to violating without CLEARLY violating them] * posting under multiple aliases * disguising their [thread titles and] headers * [questioning moderation techniques or moderation level] Trolls often have serious personal issues that lead them to try to control others. Trolls don't hang around in [forums and discussion groups] where people don't respond to their rants. The best way to deal with trolls is to IGNORE them. |
Also, be wary of any posts whose main theme is "breastfeeding is best" or "uncircumsized is better than circumsized
because..." There is no purpose to these posts, other than to illicit a
response. Ignore these posts!
Another interesting way that a troll can operate is to agree with the
general forum consensus, but then feign concern over an irrelevant
issue. Wikipedia has even gone so far as to classify these trolls as
"concern trolls". If you are interested, there is some good information
on the history of trolling here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
My main goal with this post is to avoid flame wars:
Flame War -
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Originally Posted by Urban Dictionary
A
flame war is a heated argument between two individuals, that results in
those involved posting personal attacks on each other during or instead
of debating the topic at hand.
Most forums have rules that forbid flaming. This is because the quality of conversation on a forum can be seriously degraded by a flame war. Topics can be "hijacked" by two people who would rather flame each other than discuss the subject of the thread. |
Some of the topics that we discuss can understandably get heated
and every forum member is entitled to expressing their opinions.
However, baiting and inflammatory posts for the sake of drawing a
response will not be tolerated.
So how do we deal with the trolls? Ignore their posts. Period. If you
have even the slightest inkling that you are dealing with a troll, do
not respond. I realize that it is hard sometimes, but please DO NOT
FEED THE TROLLS (DNFTT). Learn it, love it, live it!
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Originally Posted by DNFTT
en: Please do not feed the Trolls
de: Trolle bitte nicht füttern! fr: Ne nourrissez pas le troll! nl: Trol! Niet voeren a.u.b.! ja: 荒らしにエサを与えないでください! es: Prohibido dar de comer al troll! sv: Mata inte trollen! pt: Não alimente os trolls pl: Prosimy nie karmić Trolla he: אל תאכילו את הטרול zh-cn: 请不要饲养小白 zh-tw: 請不要飼養小白 ru: Пожалуйста, не кормите Троллей! |
The surest way to banish a troll is to ignore them.
I may be feeding trolls simply by posting this, but my hope is that we
can all better deal with the trolls among us. This has been a public
service announcement from Navyma23. Thanks and have fun everyone!
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Oh I love this!!! No feeding trolls here : )
- Fordmomma
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