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Disarm Internet Trolls, Gently

Posted by timothy on from the offer-them-cookies-but-watch-the-bowl dept.

Shlomi Fish writes "The best way to react to people trolling on Internet forums is not to feed them, right? Wrong! 'Don't feed the trolls' is also usually ineffective. Luckily, however, there is more effective approach, inspired by the book Feeling Good by David D. Burns."

2 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Just Do It My Way by pandrijeczko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... develop a strong sense of self-worth & recognise that someone throwing profanities at you who has never met you is entirely unimportant.

    Get over that, then you can have fun baiting them, reeling them in, playing with them a while, then throwing them back when you're bored.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  2. Trolls? by Chrondeath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The author seems to be using "troll" as a term for "someone posting in an inflammatory manner," but I thought "troll" specifically referred to posters doing it to get a rise out of people. Responding in a reasonable manner isn't going to help if the other party isn't interested in taking the conversation seriously.