How to Deal with Trolls, Spammers, and the Like



A part of any online forum or website is having to deal with internet trolls. This article will hopefully give you some pointers on how to deal with them in the correct way.

What is a Troll?
A troll is usually anyone on an online forum or message board who delibrately triggers an argument or discussion with the hope of causing as much destruction as possible.

What a Troll is Not
A troll is not someone who disagrees with you, or has a different opinion. A troll is also not someone who starts an argument. Some contention between users is natural and a disagreement or argument is not considered to be trolling.

Typical Trolling Behavior
Trolls can and will be found on virtually any corner of the internet in which users are able to communicate with each other using text or images. A troll is fairly easy to recognize, yet some users are unable to resist falling into a trap.

Many trolls will begin by stating a logical fallacy related to the given topic being discussed. The troll will then lure victims into their trap, as they start an argument. The troll will then continue until their victim is considerably angered or until the faulty logic is disguised as the truth.

Other trolls of the same type will solicit victims by posting something so unbelievably stupid that the victim will spend a large amount of time trying to prove them wrong. The troll will continue with this incoherent babble until the victim wastes much of their time on wordier replies. This type can be recognized by overuse of leet or text speak.

Many less sophisticated trolls also populate the internet, but spend considerably less time to shock or anger their victims. This type of troll is usually less clever and is not as good at manipulating their victims' emotions. The type is characterized by flaming other users with racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive remarks, depending on the topic. The troll may also spam with images and post disguised links to shock sites around the web. They mostly want to cause as much destruction as possible in as little time as possible.

How to Deal With Spammers and Trolls
You might have heard the phrase "Don't feed the trolls." This is pretty much universally true. The most effective thing you can do in dealing with a troll is to well, not be affected. If the troll is unable to get a reaction out of you, the trolling has not been successful. It doesn't matter how angry you might be; don't speak to or engage the troll. If you must, do not tell them that you are angry or hurt by their remarks. It may take time to learn how to recognize an internet troll, but it will be worth it in the end.

If you encounter a troll, report it to an administrator on the wiki. The most active ones are 5sunset5, Awesomeperson110, and Bo Bo Joe. We will probably be your best bet. As a last resort, you may contact Picklezthegreat or Lil_Nan, the founder. (Forgive me if I misspelled any of these usernames.) If the trolling occurs on chat contact a chat mod to have them kicked or banned.

If the troll causes any damage to the wiki, edit the pages and remove useless ones. Contact an admin to delete spam comments, photos, or pages.

Closing
I hope this will be useful in dealing with trolls. I am still working on this page, so feedback would be appreciated. ( I really hope nothing like this exists already and I've created it for nothing.) If you find any grammar errors, you are welcome to correct them.