I have had PMs requesting I make a thread linking to Timothy Campbell's article about internet trolls which can be bumped when necessary.
Here it is:
http://www.alpharubicon.com/trolls.htm
In addition to what is mentioned in the article you could add an image like this to a thread.
(http://img.techpowerup.org/090421/Do-not-feed-the-troll.png)
(http://hoboken411.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/please-do-not-feed-the-hoboken-trolls.jpg)
What an excellent site, also what a great idea to put a warning out to newbies and sympathisers. I doubt it will drive him away but it could stop people reacting (myself included) and letting his pages drift off the end.
Please sir! pleeeease let me do it, go on I promise I'll be good, go on, go on, go on. I want to do it, I'm going to do it. You just try and stop me.
brilliant link, trouble is, some o them 'bump' their post up :(
So just add the graphic - it's there large as life.
Ace, are you now in charge of posting this image to all trolling posts? BRILLIANT! I LOVE IT!! ;D :-*
I love the image but I think it is the article that is most important. My guess is that the trolls will find the pics amusing. It is the sitting on our hands and ignoring them that will produce the results.
Posting this image all over the place is a three course meal to a troll.
And, if you think it through, we could end up with all threads being non-viable. :o :o
I disagree completely, it's very clear which threads Ace intends to post this image on and some people can't sit on their hands, they just can't help replying and keeping threads active, seeing a whopping great sign like this should do the trick.
Reddyreddy I agree with Grawrc. Please bear in mind that any member could post this image on any thread!
There's no doubt that simply ignoring them is the best thing to do, but it's also perhaps the hardest.
The problem is that not everyone is aware of the power of the IGNORE button. People are slowly getting there, which is the reason our resident troll needs to bump his posts.
I have had him (and his many aliases) on IGNORE for months now, and the only posts I need to see are the ones that have been quoted by someone else.
The link is very informative, the pics are good, they do serve as a warning to newbies who perhaps do not know what a troll is. Maybe for a day or so, but in the long run I think IGNORE is the best option.
My son was a moderator on a games board for a few years, and keeps asking me why he hasn't been banned. Hmmmm. :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\
Quote from: asbean on November 04, 2009, 10:18:49
My son was a moderator on a games board for a few years, and keeps asking me why he hasn't been banned. Hmmmm.
Imo, it should be dealt with by a moderator rather than other posters at this stage. This is spamming.
When all this started..........again
I was concerned that members actions would be seen as bullying or a witch hunt.
As time has gone on I fully accept that we do have a troll and if you take the time to read that link he fits the description perfectly.We have got to the flooding bit.He wants the forum to be covered in telephone directory type posts.I tried to make the best of this for a while but I have got to the point where these threads are a yawn.
Suppose I am feeding the troll with this post but as the mod seems powerless to help we have got to help ourselves.
This forum has had its ups and downs but at the end of the day it is somewhere I come every day to in a way visit my friends and I would hate that to change.
Quotehe hasn't been banned
Presume if you ban one name then another is created. At least we know who is who at the moment.
He does it all the time, we're used to it. I've got these on IGNORE
gridgardener
rolet
thegreatgardener
plainleaf
plainleaf2
thegridgardener
What type of troll will you be ignoring in future and why??
Ignoring is one way but pests and diseases have no place in a garden.
We should destroy them
What methods would you use??and why??
And on a more serious note--------it is becoming very boring and must be sending the wrong message to new members .
Note to admin---the style is clear--stop it posting
Of the 145 threads started in edible plants over the last month 15 have been started by the person in question. Of these I have been interested in 12, which I had been following until they were sidetracked by members who weren't interested and expressed their lack of interest by posting off topic and in very negative terms. (From the high number of hits on most of these topics, other people also appear to have been interested.)
Other similar threads such as Aggie's on chillies and Squash 64's on runner beans have not been subjected to this treatment.
My problem is that I would like to post on some of the threads but now feel that to do so would be interpreted as "feeding the troll". I shall, however, continue to respond to these topics if I have something to contribute.
If I find a thread boring or offensive I move on to the next one. If a particular individual offends me I hit the ignore button. What is so difficult about that? The whole thing,imo, is a storm in a teacup.
Quote from: asbean on November 04, 2009, 10:18:49
My son was a moderator on a games board for a few years, and keeps asking me why he hasn't been banned.
Dan has said before that the site is open to everyone hence the name allotments
4all, that includes people who may be unpopular for any reason.
If a troll is ignored they will either get bored & go bother people on another site instead or their behaviour will become more provocactive & force an admin to ban them even if they are reluctant to do so.
If I have a troll on a forum where I am an admin or mod then they are banned & reported to their ISP's abuse department as are all new user ids they choose to create. In the case of someone who is clearly posting from work during office hours too it may become necessary to take the more drastic step of reporting their behaviour to their employer if they are too persistent in order to stop them posting entirely. When you get kids trolling forums contacting their parents & letting them know what their children get up to on the net is a very effective way of stopping it.
Moderation like that is very rarely required on a forum but trolls cause so much disruption on a forum there is no other choice in my opinion.
Quote from: Baccy Man on November 04, 2009, 11:10:47
Dan has said before that the site is open to everyone hence the name allotments4all, that includes people who may be unpopular for any reason.
Not entirely true, several people have been banned, sspauk for one, last year for asking for surplus seeds then trying to sell them on ebay.
I have stayed away for a while not a 'newbie' but reading and not contributing but did not understand the term 'Troll' have been trying to catch up reading the link helped (always interested in what Baccy Man has to say)- I know I am one of the Lurkers!
Quote from: grawrc on November 04, 2009, 11:00:22
If I find a thread boring or offensive I move on to the next one. If a particular individual offends me I hit the ignore button. What is so difficult about that.?
Works for me.
I'm with frogslegs & grawc, stormy it may be but it is only a teacup!
Lushy x
Why waste time,breath and energy on him ??
If you met him in real life and did not like what he was saying you would just walk away so why not do it on line ?
If anyone has a thread they have started significantly interrupted which they would like to drop out of site then they can lock it by pressing the (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/Themes/classic/images/english/admin_lock.gif) button which should be at the bottom of the page or by ticking the "Lock this topic" box in "Additional Options" when they make a reply to the thread.
It is only the person who originally started the thread & admins who can lock threads.
Quote from: grawrc on November 04, 2009, 11:00:22
Of the 145 threads started in edible plants over the last month 15 have been started by the person in question. Of these I have been interested in 12, which I had been following until they were sidetracked by members who weren't interested and expressed their lack of interest by posting off topic and in very negative terms. (From the high number of hits on most of these topics, other people also appear to have been interested.)
Other similar threads such as Aggie's on chillies and Squash 64's on runner beans have not been subjected to this treatment.
My problem is that I would like to post on some of the threads but now feel that to do so would be interpreted as "feeding the troll". I shall, however, continue to respond to these topics if I have something to contribute.
If I find a thread boring or offensive I move on to the next one. If a particular individual offends me I hit the ignore button. What is so difficult about that? The whole thing,imo, is a storm in a teacup.
This^^
Myself, I don't understand why members are finding it so hard to ignore someone who is obviously so annoying. A sly dig here, an innuendo there, for the love of holy moly, use your ignore button and let the forum settle down and be what it used to be. So you don't like a certain members posts (NONE of us do for the most part) then skip it and continue reading the bits you do like. A hefty amount of threads have had to be locked and moved which probably contained some interesting information to some. I'm receiving many PMs a day (I can't speak for Ceres or Dan) asking ME when it will stop and how A4A is not as nice as it used to be because of all this hoo haa. It will stop when you let it!
I would like to know why his behaviour has been deemed acceptable.
I am on a few forums and ignore button or not the mods have banned the persistant trolls.
I understand that only in the most serious cases a ban should be made but how much proof do you need?
My own feeling is that by allowing him to stay you are saying that his behaviour is OK.Not you personally as it is Dan that has the authority.
I think you will end up with a forum of very few people if this is allowed to carry on much longer.
I understand what you are saying, Betula and it has also been the case on other forums I frequent. I think a three strikes and you're out rule is quite fair.
I can't speak for Dan but he's always had a very relaxed attitude on A4A, allowing members to pretty much mod themselves. Perhaps he was hoping members would get bored and just blank the man with multiple names and it would all die down. Unforunately it doesn't seem to be the case this time though.
SamLouise I have been attacked by several posters numerous times in rude and abusive manner. I did not start this but if comes to it I finish it.
If anyone of the posters who is involved continues to call me a troll or is rude or abusive to me I will have respond in manner that fits actions. They have been warned by dan to stop. If they do not I will be forced to take action that will stop them.
Have pleasant day.
samlouise, the problem is a lot of people who are either new or ignorant of his game won't ignore him so he's always going to be there clogging up the board. I know his history is he has a gripe with someone on a4a but I wonder, is it Dan as he is the only one who will lose out if people get fed up and leave Dan will jbe left with a forum with very very few senior members with advice worth hearing, the rest will be elsewhere! No matter what he says about being picked on he fulfills every criteria of a classic forum troll and should be dealt with as such, he is also making veiled threats and for that alone should be banned.
reddyreddy what plan doing to them simple I plan getting them arrested for internet abuse.
DO NOT REPLY TO THIS THREAD
DO NOT FEED THE TROLL.
the previous poster is troll and try to disrupt the board.
DO NOT REPLY TO THIS THREAD
DO NOT FEED THE TROLL
Thread locked while things settle down.