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| A Suggestion: Please Stop Feeding the Trolls https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37600 |
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| Author: | Scranton Yard [ Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | A Suggestion: Please Stop Feeding the Trolls |
A recent thread concerning tenders featured the possible "resufacing" of a known troll. I'd like to suggest that, if you do not wish to experience this person disrupting a thread or threads on this board, the best way to do that is to stop feeding him. Trolls generally do not differentiate between positive and negative attention. That is why they will push themselves into the center of any discussion by any means necessary, including by posting inflammatory and argumentative messages. This is much like a young child who will misbehave just to get attention. A recommended way to stop the unwanted behavior is to extinguish the undesirable behavior by not reinforcing it with any type (positive or negative) of acknowledgment. With no reward, the child, or the troll in this case, will eventually stop. Now, there will be an "extinction burst" of bad behavior every once in a while, as the child/troll tests your wherewithal, but if you hold firm, the behavior will eventually stop. So, please hold back from correcting the troll or admonishing him. You will never "teach him a lesson" or make him a better person. If there are facts that need to be corrected as to not leave misinformation on the board, consider doing it in a way that does not acknowledge or address the troll. "Just the facts, Ma'am." More subtly, please stop joking about the troll's past misadventures. All it does is give him the acknowledgment he wants and give him a perceived open door to rejoin the conversation. That is exactly what happened in the tender thread and the result was that, apparently, the troll bubbled back to the surface. |
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| Author: | p51 [ Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Suggestion: Please Stop Feeding the Trolls |
Just like dealing with the misbehaving child, someone will eventually write something so they get that attention. For example, this very thread. You can't control trolls, they just are. They're annoying but you can't get rid of them on an open forum. To suggest that every single person ignore the smelly elephant in the room, shows a level naivety that only can be found online these days... |
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| Author: | Scranton Yard [ Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Suggestion: Please Stop Feeding the Trolls |
To the board members responsible for the recent editorial modifications to the aforementioned "tenders" thread, thank you. I neglected to mention that, if you spot a new user name that you believe is being used by a known troll who has been previously been removed from the board, PM the mods and they will act quickly if your hunch is correct. |
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| Author: | Frisco1522 [ Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Suggestion: Please Stop Feeding the Trolls |
Aw geez, I'm sorry guys. A weak attempt at humor gone wrong. |
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