

Troll Management: Handling Conspiracy Theorists on a Forum (2009) - ccarpenterg
http://raincoastermedia.com/2009/07/20/troll-management-handling-conspiracy-theorists-on-a-forum/

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weeksie
I run a small forum that's been around for nearly 10 years now and I've found
that over the years when we do get someone that's absolutely insane or
trollish the best thing to do isn't to outright ban them, but to give them an
area away from the rest of the group where they can spout off. This is similar
to the advice in the article, I suppose.

The implementation of which was creating a 'Purgatory' forum where there was
absolutely no censorship and if people crossed the line too often they were
restricted to that forum (though anybody else who wanted to actually engage
them could also post). It pissed them off, but in almost all cases, instead of
registering new accounts and flooding the main forum with posts (as often
happens with banned trolls), they just spout off for a couple days at most,
and then either calm down or fuck off of their own accord.

~~~
jimfl
The BBSs of the 80s had the concept of the Twit Bit, which, if set for a user,
they were the only ones who would see their posts. It was if everyone else
were simply ignoring their posts.

~~~
jrockway
HN also does this, although secretly.

~~~
donw
Obviously not the best-kept secret...

