Suggestions for treating trolls on this forum

hospitalera · #1 (**permalink**) 11-19-2007, 08:02 PM

This is getting a mess, frankly, what about ignoring them? Trolls go away when you don't reply to them, they thrive on contradiction - just leave them in peace, start a new thread, speak over their head, just - ignore them. And perhaps, only perhaps, we can get this forum back to what it once was, a nice place to hang around and chat photography, from pro to pro, from amateur to amateur and all in between. Just ignore the trolls, they hate not being noticed and go away... SY

*I know my English isn't perfect, it is only my 2/4 languages*

Pierdelune · #2 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hospitalera

This is getting a mess, frankly, what about ignoring them? Trolls go away when you don't reply to them, they thrive on contradiction - just leave them in peace, start a new thread, speak over their head, just - ignore them. And perhaps, only perhaps, we can get this forum back to what it once was, a nice place to hang around and chat photography, from pro to pro, from amateur to amateur and all in between. Just ignore the trolls, they hate not being noticed and go away... SY

*I know my English isn't perfect, it is only my 2/4 languages*

What a funny post !... I say funny because I don't find the exact word in English. My Eng is not perfect either. For me a troll is a person who paint his faces and has funny costumes and gives spectacle on the street. I really didn't see any troll on that forum. In an other hand, this forum is to discuss about photo and also about microsites. I read every post and if I don't answer it is because my English is really not perfect. I didn't know that a choice had to be made and that some persons had preferences too. I though it was an open forum for everyone. For sure, sometimes not everybody has the same opinion on a subject but it is good to read different opinion.
So if you think there are some trolls as you said, why don't you tell directly by private messages to the ones ?
Anyway, I suppose that if you don't answer me, then you are considering myself as a troll too. I will be quite an old troll for a first time in my life

R. Neil Anderson · #3 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 07:06 AM

Other vBulletin forums I participate in have an "ignore poster" button that allows you to click on the profile of annoying people and you will never see their posts again. Others see them but you won't. Maybe the Admins can activate this feature?

imported_talkmicro · #4 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 11:02 AM

Sometimes the obvious ones are the best. It is very hard no to respond when someone is provoking!

I will have a look into the ignore feature. :-D

Doug

AB8ND · #5 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 11:48 AM

I thought a troll is what da Yoopers of Michigan called us lower peninsula dwellers or living under the bridge types.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierdelune

My Eng is not perfect either. For me a troll is a person who paint his faces and has funny costumes and gives spectacle on the street.

Jack

Upper Peninsula of Michigan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

R. Neil Anderson · #6 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 12:46 PM

You can also add annoying people to your ignore list by going to User CP, clicking on Buddy/Ignore, then adding that person's name to the list.

thesentinel · #7 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 05:34 PM

Frankly a bit of challenging discussion is the life blood of any forum, members deliberately cocooning themselves in a cotton wool sanctuary will lead to an anodyne and increasingly pointless venue.

R. Neil Anderson · #8 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesentinel

Frankly a bit of challenging discussion is the life blood of any forum, members deliberately cocooning themselves in a cotton wool sanctuary will lead to an anodyne and increasingly pointless venue.

Yes, absolutely. Real and meaningful debate is important because it makes us challenge our own beliefs and convictions. I've learned a lot and have changed my mind many times from what I've learned from opposing sides (I moderate a few non-photography related forums.) But there are always a few people who contribute absolutely nothing and appear to be there for no other reason but to annoy others. I believe that is what the OP was referring to as a troll. Some people are able to tolerate them, some people can't. I've found that some of the most helpful and experienced people are often the ones that can't tolerate the trolls. They are professionals who are there for a specific purpose and don't have time to play games. They leave and then the forum suffers. When nearly every thread turns into an off-topic war of words, things get a little old.

randyd · #9 (**permalink**) 11-21-2007, 07:13 PM

I have been reading this forum for over a year now. What I like the most about this site is that, other than Spam, there is very little that is removed. People have been free to say what they want about any of the micro sites and not be afraid that their post will be deleted or account banned. Recently there have been a few people on this board that have been turning the threads into personal attacks, and I am assuming that is what you are talking about in this thread.

Using the ?locked thread part 2 ?as an example, this thread had nothing to do with microstock and there were at least four users who contributed to it turning into what it became.

My concern is that one of those users seems to have been banned, and the other three were not. Upon reading the thread again, and reviewing the posts of the banned user in other threads, I cannot see anything he said that was worse than the other three users.

What criteria were used to determine that he should be banned and not one or all of the others?

I feel that on a site that claims to be unbiased (and up until now has been) people should be allowed to openly disagree, and even get into a heated discussion without fear of a ban.

A better way to handle situations such as this would be to create new section of the forum, one where threads that have been hijacked and go off topic like the Locked Thread Part 2 can be moved and continued, that way the participants can continue the discussion if wanted, and the rest of us can ignore it and stick to what we all came here for originally, an unbiased discussion of Microstock.

villagedweller · #10 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesentinel

Frankly a bit of challenging discussion is the life blood of any forum, members deliberately cocooning themselves in a cotton wool sanctuary will lead to an anodyne and increasingly pointless venue.

But when the only challenge is not banging your head against the wall because the last poster didn't even bother to read the thread before making a scene...I'm not sure that counts. And that has been happening quite a bit.

An ignore function would be lovely.