Animation Source Forums

We need a specific rule against trolling. One more definitive.

"No trolling whatsoever."

Makes sense ^^

So, to the topic's real meaning. When you see someone trolling, please do not respond to their posts =) You are only feeding and furthermore aggrovating them.


What is a troll?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm
http://www.curezone.com/forums/troll.asp
http://www.flayme.com/troll/
(the last link may contain inappropriate ads... I honestly have no control of them).

Shortly: Kindly do not feed the troll =) Let it die by reporting it to the moderators silently and we will handle it.

I'd also like to point out, Lux, that your philosophy is flawed because it makes the victim appear as the criminal for defending one's self. It should be the duty of the mods to protect the victim, not punish them for defending themselves. By saying that everyone needs to simply report trolls, and not feed their fire, is basically saying "do not defend yourself". As long as the victim defends themselves in a way that does not reflect the methods of the attacker, and is not vulgar to the point that it is infringement upon the rules, it should be the duty of the mods to protect the victim.

That's the problem. You defend yourself, only further aggrovating it. You shouldn't take trolls seriously at all, as they often take things out of context and twist your words to make you look bad. If someone is obviously trolling, ignore it (but please report) as we (the mods) are limited in what we can do if you (the victim) keep defending yourself, even after we begin dousing the fire in the topic in question.

Essentially, by defending yourselves, you're making things worse. The only real way of defending the victim would be to ban the troll.
I'm not saying you're not allowed to defend yourselves from unfair statements in general - if I did, I'd be slapped hard - but by doing so, you're only further aggrovating the troll, only putting the other members involved in risk of being trolled, while you will most likely never see the end of it.

After over three years of experience with trolls (I'm a moderator on another website as well - just to explain how I have this experience, seeing as I've only been here for a year and a quarter), I know this very well.
The problem is making others realize it....

Problem is, it's not that easy to differenciate a troll from a real post that aims to bring a debate. Except from offensive posts or pointless ones, which are ALREADY forbidden by the rules.
Could you just pick up and show me a few topics that you considerate as "trolls"?

From what I can see in these topics, it's not THAT clear to me, as I think many of you either act as trolls OR answer to them.
Remember : never feed the trolls, don't answer them because that's what they want.

JC, while it is true, you did offer examples to Steet at his request, but he is right. Any one person who puts up topics like the one or ones you showed us in the links are either attention getters or attention wanters. They are not by an means trolls, but people who seem to be so desperate for attention that they'll do anything to get it.

t is also true that there are many internet surfers who do act like trolls but there are also those who are not trolls and do answer to them. That is something that cannot be changed.

People who are told 'Do not answer to that person. He or she is a troll and is just crying out for attention' are ten times likely to answer that troll or attention seeker anyway even after the gentle warning is given.

Nothing can be done, least I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. The only thing we can do is go with the flow. If a troll comes around and causes trouble, that person will be dealt with under the rules of the site.

That's all there is to it. And, it is not that hard. If a troll does come around, the best thing to do is a four way thing:

A: Ignore them and go about your business
B: Report them for useless postings either here on the forum or on the site and go about your business
C: Do both and go about your business
D: Leave the site for a little bit until the issue is resolved.

There. It's that simple. But for some it's not so easy. Which is either they don't want to listen or just love getting a rise.

Either way, it's a conflict but there is always a solution to a conflict.