trolls and spammers

We seem to have had a bunch of trolls and spammers lately. If any of you notice any of it please use the report post option. I've managed to get a lot of them but I'm not always online. Lots of the other moderators help out too.
Please don't respond to trolls ....I know it's tempting to call them out but that gives them exactly what they want...better to let a mod know and we'll ban them.

Thanks, Steve

 

That hits the troll right on the head.

Recently, a bunch of us regulars encountered a stealth troll on another forum. He posed a question, then when we tried to offer him our answers, he became rude, dismissive and downright obnoxious, berating us for not giving him the answers he supposedly wanted to hear and calling us moralists because we offered side advice for how to improve his original quest.

The guy only had about 30 posts, half of which were on that forum being rude to those trying to be helpful, so I checked and sure enuf the other half of his posts were in another forum with another peal for help where he did the same thing to those who attempted to give him answers. That pretty much clinched it that he was only here to cause discord.

I contacted all the people who were engaging this guy (call him A'Hole) with this PM:

Subject: Please Don't Feed The Troll


"Hi (7 members)

At this point it is apparent that A'Hole is a troll who has no other intention than to create and engage in discord.

We have all said what needed to be said and offered reasoned discourse - which has no effect on him because he is an unreasonable person only here for the conflict.

He has made a thread five pages long and that is probably his trophy. He keeps refering to it as "his" thread telling ppl they have no right to post on it.

Therefore, I am not going to add to his enjoyment by making another comment on that thread.

Please, I know he is irritating and you want to set him straight, as do I, but we are feeding the troll.

If we all make no more comments to "his" thread it will hurt him."

However, it is easier said than done. It is so easy for a troll to push your buttons. Of the 7 members contacted, the posts stopped except for one young member who broke rank and got another rude dismissive post from "A'Hole" for his trouble.

I would say that young ppl have a harder time letting it go than we older, but I know the feeling in my gut that makes you want to post in all caps in no uncertain words. However, that is what the troll is trolling for. They are the immature kids (of any age BTW) who ride by in a car shouting insults to strangers on the sidewalk. They rely on the annonymity of the Net and the fact that they can be rude and insulting without someone punching them in the nose.

 

At the moment it's hard to decide whether, at times, posts are of this nature- or simply the people writing them are simply being crude.

The amount of links ^^ being knocked around are definitely an annoyance.

 

what exactly is a spammer? I thought spam was junk emails advertising crap you don't need.