Let's Talk About Trolls, Baby ...

[Susan9608]

Let's talk about trolls.

Trolls want one thing and one thing only. Anyone want to take a guess what it is? If you guessed ATTENTION, then you're right.

Trolls want ATTENTION. They say inflammatory things on purpose to get members riled up and post lots of responses because that gets them ATTENTION.

Trolls feed on ATTENTION. The more replies you give them, the more ATTENTION they get, which in turns makes them post more so that they get even more ATTENTION.

It's a vicious cycle - inflammatory post = riled up members = response posts (ATTENTION) = more inflammatory posts = even more riled up members = more response posts (EVEN MORE ATTENTION) and so on and so forth.

If you actually suspect a troll, instead of posting, "Oh I think it's a troll, don't anyone else respond," (which gives a troll more ATTENTION and encourages other members to say, "Oh yeah, I think it's a troll, too!) just ignore the troll. Deprive them of the ATTENTION they so desperately desire. Just don't say anything at all. Report the post or private message a moderator and wait for one of us to respond (because we will, but we all have lives, too, so it might take some time.)

I challenge all of you to an "ignore the troll" contest. The next time there's a very obvious troll post (like the "new guinea pig herd" post), let's see how long we can go without anyone "feeding" the troll.