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I feel perhaps we need a refresher on recognising and calling out troll behaviour on the forums.

A few suggestions from me to try and bring back some discipline on topics where exchanges of views and opinions may be of interest to readers and posters alike.

Let me start by saying that if I exhibit troll behaviour - please point it out and I'll honestly listen to it and change the post appropriately, even deleting if need be.

If a thread is meant to be humourous/lighthearted - then we can add a smiley and even explicitly say (just joking) - posting funny posts there is not trolling. Even within a serious thread, a humourous comment that is labelled as such - that is not trolling.

Trolling is where a person intentionally derails a topic by bringing up something not related in any way, or makes an unrelated accusation rather than address a point specifically related to the topic or (more often) a point that was addressed to them.

I suggest we start by not responding to troll posts and just say 'I consider your above post to be a troll attempt because .. [state the reason]'. Stating the reason will avoid a person using the tactic to just avoid answering a question - far better to just say, 'I will not respond to your questions'. Then there is no need to repeat the question, ad nauseum.

What rules would you like - let's see if we can agree on a list, and then post that list as a sticky somewhere.

Cheers,
Shafique

Sounds nice, I'll give you a headstart, stop feeding the current ones and they will shrivel up and die and you know who I am talking about

I'm open to suggestions too from most members of this forum. Ofcourse I'll ignore the selected few for obvious reasons.

I whole heartedly agree. Also people need to be self moderating, which I know is difficult at times, but not to bite at others who intentionally post things to bait others into retaliating.

I think we as members of the forum now need to put differences aside and bring things back on track. Those who deliberately try to cause problems, troll, insult etc will show themselves up pretty quickly, in which case posters with good intentions and who want to contribute to the forum, should just put the trouble makers on their 'foe' list. This way they will eventually be ignored.

If people can't contribute in a constructive and positive way, then they just shouldn't post at all.

-- Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:57 pm --

Bump

Chocoholic wrote:I whole heartedly agree. Also people need to be self moderating, which I know is difficult at times, but not to bite at others who intentionally post things to bait others into retaliating.

I think we as members of the forum now need to put differences aside and bring things back on track. Those who deliberately try to cause problems, troll, insult etc will show themselves up pretty quickly, in which case posters with good intentions and who want to contribute to the forum, should just put the trouble makers on their 'foe' list. This way they will eventually be ignored.

If people can't contribute in a constructive and positive way, then they just shouldn't post at all.

-- Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:57 pm --

Bump

Yes Chocs, people need to be self moderating, I whole heartedly agree and I think you should start with the man in the mirror, or woman, or whatever you may be.
I suggest you refrain from calling people names and suggesting that people post disturbing pictures of their daughters on line.
Once you clean up your act, people may take notice. But somehow I doubt it.

-- Mon Oct 03, 2011 5:33 am --

shafique wrote:I feel perhaps we need a refresher on recognising and calling out troll behaviour on the forums.

Let me start by saying that if I exhibit troll behaviour - please point it out and I'll honestly listen to it and change the post appropriately, even deleting if need be.

Trolling is where a person intentionally derails a topic by bringing up something not related in any way, or makes an unrelated accusation rather than address a point specifically related to the topic or (more often) a point that was addressed to them.

What rules would you like - let's see if we can agree on a list, and then post that list as a sticky somewhere.

Cheers,
Shafique

Ahh Sir Shafique, please can I point out some troll behaviour of yours? Like you light heartedly bringing my daughter into topics for a cheap thrill?

Just saying.

Shaf, I've been here longer than only 2 on the forum...tbe only true troll is Symmetric...with DDS just being 'pest'...

Well, I'm prepared to accept criticism of my behaviour - BM in future I'll note that to even mention your daughter in the context of what herve would think in a joke, is out of bounds for you. Noted.

As for who is and who isn't a troll - well, let's be grown up and judge future posts on their merits. I've answered herve's question in the religion forum by giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he does want the Muslim perspective. He hasn't posted any posts in that thread that are troll-like.

My suggestion is that let's treat posts which contain troll behaviour independently, and call out (but not respond to the post) - even a stopped clock is right twice a day ! (that last bit was a joke. )



Cheers,
Shafique

You just can't help yourself can you?