

Embrace the trolls - rriepe
http://blog.ivylees.com/embrace-the-trolls/

======
wynand
I disagree with the middle-way answer: it also doesn't require any thinking.

In any forum, you should separate the emotional content from the factual
content and only respond to the latter. This is quite different from taking
the middle way.

Though there are moderate trolls whose inflammatory postings contain useful
factual content, I prefer forums where extreme trolling is dealt with harshly.
Dissent is uncorrelated with rudeness (meaning that moderating extreme
trolling won't drown out dissent) and no-one wants to spend their online time
with the horribleness of uncontrolled trolling.

~~~
jacquesm
The scary thing to me is how few trolls it takes to destroy an otherwise
perfectly good community. 10 trolls can ruin the atmosphere for 1000 people
easily.

~~~
fmendez
That's right, I`ll keep the 'ignore the troll' motto. Trolls add nothing to a
discussion, constructive criticisms does.

------
edw519
There's a big difference between people with outlying opinions, who can add
valuable feedback to a discussion and trolls, who add nothing.

Experiments have repeatedly shown that when trolls are visible only to
themselves, no one else can acknowledge their presence, so they just go away.

Trolls are to be ignored. Outliers are to be embraced.

~~~
jacquesm
HN has some of this built in it looks like.

Plenty of times I'll see a comment by someone (usually clearly trolling) and
the comment is labelled 'dead' seconds after posting.

Here is a timely example: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=743103>

The comment at the bottom clearly is not a troll and yet it is labelled
'dead'.

Outlying opinions are _not_ appreciated on HN though, there was a
'worstcomments' link (admin only now it seems) that would show some (very)
clear evidence of that.

Which is a real pity.

~~~
edw519
_Outlying opinions are not appreciated on HN though_

I would amend that to, "Outlying opinions are often subject to harsh treatment
on HN."

As an occasional outlier here, I used to wonder if I was losing my mind from
time to time. How could I feel so strongly about something while almost every
responder felt the opposite?

I don't worry about it so much any more. Just say what you're thinking and let
the chips fall where they may. Maybe we'll all learn something.

Better to have that learning experience in this "harmless playground" first
than with a boss or a customer.

~~~
jacquesm
If they respond in writing you learn something if all you get is a bunch of
unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite often) it even leaves the old
hands feeling like they got beaten up for something without knowing why.

This is frustrating.

~~~
anamax
> all you get is a bunch of unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite
> often) it even leaves the old hands feeling like they got beaten up for
> something without knowing why.

"old hands" has nothing to do with it. It's basically a couple of people who
claim that they're owed something by other folks on HN.

> This is frustrating.

In almost every other community, you get NO feedback and you're here
complaining that you're not getting feedback in the form that you'd like.

When someone gives you a gift that isn't exactly what you'd like, the gracious
thing to do is to thank them.

~~~
jacquesm
Thank you ;)

------
Pistos2
How about this instead: I should remain humble, always open to the possibility
that I could be wrong, or my work could need improvement; use reason, logic
and critical thinking to assess feedback objectively.

~~~
billswift
Humility is generally a virtue; but not in the face of arrogant stupidity,
then it is pandering to idiots. There are claims, unfortunately fairly common
on some political issues, where you can be sure comment you are responding to
is egregiously wrong.

------
steveklabnik
Trolls aren't always someone who responds in a negative and strong way,
though. The "best" trolls are the ones that you're not even sure are
trolling...

