[pct-l] Admin Note: Troll Alert. Please read

[brick@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Brick Robbins)]

It seems a troll has taken up residence on our list. He keeps coming back
under different addresses.

A Troll is someone who goes into a group just to cause trouble and grief.
Their intentions are to cause other people to start arguing with them or
with each other. They thrive on the attention they receive from other
people. They feed on your responses.

If someone using an address you don't recognize posts something so stupid
or so inflammatory that you feel you just HAVE to respond, you have
identified the troll, and you response will feed it. I am not going to
point out the newest address, because that would feed the troll.

============

Please review this guide on how to handle trolls.

1.  Learn first to recognize trolls.  They are the ones who post flame bait
to start a controversy.  Generally a search for their posts  will show they
have no other posts or only similar flame bait.  Sometimes the list will
have have 2 or 3 flamers suddenly on a board...all beginning at the same
time, often supporting the other ...too stupid to know people will realize
they are really only one person acting as troll buddies.

2. When you realize they are a troll, do not respond to personal comments
from them.  This is how they hook you back into feeding them!  Though they
toss posts to you like gumdrops leading to the witch's ginger bread house,
ignore them!  Trolls (like Bad Farts) ONLY go away when completely and
utterly ignored and no one responds to them...any "fanning of the fumes"
just gets them all happy to offend all over again .

3. Learn to ignore them.  You can do it.  If you can't, learn to use email
filters so you don't even have to SEE their posts.  Its quite refreshing,
knowing they are starving.

4.  Be prepared for them to change names and take a fresh run.  Learn to
use archive search to find out if this NEW troll
has ever posted before, or if this new troll is a fungus offshoot of the
old troll everyone caught on to.  Add these new trolls to your filter list.

5. Ignore them or they will keep coming, and coming and coming ... frankly
a bad porno movie is generally more cerebrally stimulating than a troll.

6. If you simply CANNOT stand to not respond on occasions, make your
response low calorie.  Remember the ignore
buttons and pass them out.

--
Brick Robbins                       mailto:brick@fastpack.com