Forum trolls

Hiya all,

Given the forum thread and members account that has just been removed, thankfully, has anybody got any suggestions as to how we can better police these things?  That particular one went on for far too long, IMHO.

Long live Evil_Homer!!!

Now.. what did I miss?

I sense insincere sincerity.

Agreed that trolls, especially abusive ones, can really spoil a thread and potentially bring disharmony. More active Mods (who are trusted or earn trust with trial limited Mod powers fer example) is definately one answer. Im not saying our current ones arent active enough, (any "Report Abuse " ive sent in has always been dealt with within a few hours or that day at the very latest, cheers ye know who) just that it is probably wise to be able to nip things in the bud quickly and given the number of threads and posts in a day, they rely on members to send in reports.

So..as much as it can feel like "telling tales! on someone at school to the teacher heh, it is probably the best thing we can do.

One gaming forum i subscribed to before had a policy against flaming and trolling, which is good (have an actual rule people can point to so there is no uncertanty) BUT they were not consistant and people realised they could probably get away with it. The more who do..the more people did it.. till i stopped paying for my subscription. The opposite is true, make it clear its not stood for, and it becomes reasonably self policing (and in cases that happen anyway, then the Mods can swifty sort things)

One thing i did on another gaming forum was created a "Hall of Shame". This was more relevant in terms of the FPS game we played, i posted names of players we had caught hacking or being abusive etc. A "hanging tree" of sorts. I know it sounds draconian or extreme but it actually went down well with everyone, even those who constantly treaded the boundaries of what was acceptable heh. Ultimately those loyal to our server guarded it because they knew that we, they, all of us had created an environment that we all enjoyed and they didnt want it spoilt. New players came in and saw that there and knew it wasnt a server they could treat people as badly as they wanted, so they either left or tested our mettle and were banned.

At the end of the day, the purpose is to preserve and build on the good sense of community; not to remove freedom of speech etc heh (i dont let on too much here but i have very strong feelings and thoughts about liberty) however the community spirit is more important than one strangers percieved "right" to troll and flame. Absolutely.

Good post pistoleer...

I think the chess.com staff has done a very good job of letting people have their "space to roam" in the forums, and have brought the hammer down when appropriate.

We can always make our recommendations to chess.com what we think they should do, but as Pistoleer points out, as members of a community we can certainly do our part in not letting it get out of hand.

I've been sucked into my fair share of tussles in the forums, but it's usually not worth it. A well formed response to a troll can make everyone laugh, but you aren't going to chase a troll from a site. They feed on the negative energy. The report abuse button is simply the best response to a troll, and to hold your tongue (for those weirdos who type with their tongues)!

whatever you do, dont feed the troll.

A possible solution:

Trolls serve an important part in the great social order of the Webverse. 

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O, the abuse and discrimination that trolls have to endure from members of the very community that they are making an irreplacable contribution to through their humor and wit, and the excitement that they bring to the forums! O, why are the true heroes never acknowledged? Why are the prophets always seen as the fools? Why is the world so unfair?

A good way to not become a troll is not to post in 6-year-old threads.

how about seven year old threads is that ok?