Dealing with Trolls

[britpopbaby]

Okay, peeps, new troll policy! ;D

I now you're free to say whatever you want in the comments and I never want to stop that but for the sake of my sanity and general harmony if you wouldn't mind adapting the following protocol (sexy!) when dealing with trolls:

1. I don't like the word 'troll' so from now on we shall call them GREMLINS! Cuter, no?


2. If we get a gremlin simply shout 'GREMLIN!!!' at it. Nothing more, nothing less, baby.

3. I know how hard it can be not to reply to them, especially when they come across as semi-intelligent but we must IGNORE them (apart from yelling GREMLIN!!!).

4. I never want to delete comments but from now on if anyone responds to a gremlin (apart from GREMLIN!!!), I will delete the comment. I know it's done with love and protection for JW and I do appreciate it but a response is exactly what they want. Don't engage, soldier!

5. I won't delete the troll comment because then a, we got no-one to shout GREMLIN at and b, everyone can see what an ass they are.

Is that okay with everyone? I know this is moderately to highly childish but the thought of it makes me laugh.

PS - After one or two people have shouted GREMLIN!!!, don't everyone do it or we're going to look crazy.

[s4m985]

ha, the thought of this makes me laugh too... and Cinas GREMLIN comment makes a WHOLE lot of sense now....
I think its a great policy.

[claire]

Why don't we just ignore them?

Oooh, then we won't get to shout 'GREMLIN'! Gotcha!

How do we know when someone is a 'gremlin' anyway? Is there a criteria?

[britpopbaby]

I want to apologise to cina and the others who commented after the troll - but now you know why I did that. ;D

Gremlin criteria? It is difficult to seperate people who just general arseholes and can't help it and people who are being arseholes on purpose. Play it by ear I guess.

The latest one is a good example. Whilst well written it's still completely pointless and just written to upset us and garner a reaction.

[claire]

Was that the one on the last JW blog post about barfing Boo?

[cina]

^^ The "Open letter to britpopbaby".
And yes, of course ignoring them would be the best solution, but sometimes you just feel you have to comment in some way. And I guess a "Gremlin!" is good enough, just to let off some steam.

And no worries brits, I totally get it! Actually I was thinking I shouldn't bother, but in the end I just couldn't resist.
I don't mind you deleting it at all.

[britpopbaby]

I get you, cina! I'm usually the worst for getting myself involved in arguments with trolls (and other places :! But my new years resolution blog-wise is to belittle the gremlins and hopefully they'll soon see there is absolutely no point.

But we always need to tell 'em what we think of them so yelling 'GREMLIN!!!' is a good compromise.

[elusivemiss]

Ah, BPB, you're reinventing the net vocabulary - nice!

[veeveevee]

BP - this is brilliant! I was just over at JW, read what that troll (er, I mean Gremlin!) said, and then all the rest of the regular ol' comments about Boo, and I was amazed at people's restraint in not replying! Now I get it, and I think the "GREMLIN!" call is perfect.

Soon, when they see they can't rile us up at all, it won't be worth it, and they'll go away. ('Course I admit to desiring to catch one and shout 'GREMLIN!' once myself before that happens! :-)

[niceanon]

Hi, I've never posted here, but saw Brit's comments & felt I ought to register to read some things on the forum.
Oh dear, I do hope my comment on "Boo" possibly barfing wasn't taken as a troll comment.
With all due respect, I think, Claire, that they mean a different response under that post. The one with a boldface heading.

I'm glad to have registered at least so that I could read the important message that Brits posted days ago (I have been completely ignorant of this & out of it all, as usual, because of never having been on the WFT blog) and also to read the new troll policy.

[claire]

Its ok niceanon, it wasn't your comment i was referring to, in fact I just used 'barfing boo' to describe the blog article as a whole but I can see where the confusion is now. All is good!

[gandis]

"can't help it"

Why do I feel this one applies to me? ;D

------------------------------------------------

Cina , I can help you counter that feeling.

I'll message you .

[Prophecy Girl]

Late to the party (stupid internet problems) but INGENIUS plan. I'm all over it.

[Nothing Really Matters]

^^ GREMLIN!!!