10

So back again, and now using a name that belongs to an established user...

This should be controlled as it now starts to harm users...

A delay loop of users with a rep less than 10 would be a start...

See: I would like to get a job but I have little experience. What transferrable skills might I have?

| |
  • 12
    Trolls are best just ignored. Their crap is irrelevant unless you make it relevant. – Kilisi Mar 9 at 8:32
  • 4
    @Kilisi just wait for your name to be used... – Solar Mike Mar 9 at 8:42
  • 6
    I wouldn't care – Kilisi Mar 9 at 8:43
  • 3
    @Kilisi and perhaps that "laissez faire" attitude gets us to where we are now... – Solar Mike Mar 9 at 8:44
  • 11
    I don't care about that either to be honest – Kilisi Mar 9 at 8:45
  • 2
    Charcoal added a rule to help catch these. Hopefully that helps tamp them down faster – Machavity Mar 9 at 18:37
  • Please [featured] this post. – mxyzplk - SE stop being evil Mar 10 at 22:13
  • 2
    @SolarMike I agree with Kilisi on this one. Spending any time on this is time lost, effectively. The network is based on "assume good intentions" and any anti-troll measures would interfere with that, penalizing the rest. Just let him be – rath Mar 11 at 8:08
  • @rath so what is your opinion of the Charcoal project? – Solar Mike Mar 11 at 8:52
  • 1
    @SolarMike I'm not familiar with that. Is there a reference? I only found interior design websites looking it up – rath Mar 11 at 9:50
  • 1
    @rath the only reference I have is what Magisch said in the answer... I thought you might know more as you have a higher rep... – Solar Mike Mar 11 at 10:03
  • 4
    @rath -> charcoal-se.org this explains the charcoal project – mag Mar 12 at 9:25
  • 1
    cc @SolarMike it's essentially a community organized spam fighting operation that uses automatic tooling to detect and efficiently flag spam. – mag Mar 12 at 9:25
  • @Magisch that reads well, and is good news for all of us. cheers. – Solar Mike Mar 12 at 9:27
25

Dealing with trolls is counterintuitive, because they're doing it all for the attention. As long as they keep getting attention (and reactions, like this post) they are more likely to keep doing it.

This troll is probably reading meta right now and having a jolly good time about the chaos they're causing.

To deal with them, I'd recommend:

  • flag as spam their posts
  • custom flag their posts to make the moderators aware
  • do not post on meta the moderators and broader community are aware at this point
  • otherwise ignore the troll and their efforts. If if stops being interesting for them to continue trolling, they are more likely to stop.

You can safely assume that the moderator team and community team is by now mostly aware of their activities, and the charcoal project has started adding filters for their shenanigans. With some luck, fading back into obscurity and normalcy will mean they stop.

| |
  • I did flag it, but it is still there, oth, the other one has gone... – Solar Mike Mar 9 at 9:30
  • 3
    @SolarMike moderator and community responses aren't instant. If you want it done faster, you can always make people in charcoal HQ aware of the posts to speed up deletion. – mag Mar 9 at 9:42
  • 2
    Not everyone can report directly to smoke detector, but bringing up a spam/troll post there is liable to get it deleted within minutes in any case. – mag Mar 9 at 9:57
  • @SolarMike IIRC, it takes a certain number of spam flags for the system to auto-delete. – Kaz Mar 9 at 10:02
  • 3
    6 Spam flags to auto-delete and lock a post @Kaz – mag Mar 9 at 10:18
  • 8
    Just to confirm from our side: this is excellent and comprehensive advice. You can read through the related threads on this for some answers from the mod team and other discussions. – Lilienthal Mar 9 at 23:10
  • I'd also suggest to stop downvoting. Downvotes are essentially a score for the troll – Mars Mar 12 at 1:52
  • 3
    @Mars downvotes don't look like that to me given that they tend to decrease posts visibility and open a way for high rep users to delete without moderator intervention – gnat Mar 12 at 8:55
  • @gnat Do you get notified for flags? I don't recall. As Magisch says, 6 flags gets a post auto-deleted. If there are no notifications, then the troll gets zero sign that people have read the post, other than views I guess. – Mars Mar 12 at 9:21
  • @gnat But so far I've seen posts go as far as -9 deep. I bet that made the troll want to aim for -10. – Mars Mar 12 at 9:21
  • 2
    @Mars as long as negative score helps to hide the post from regular site visitors I see no reason to worry about what troll feels.They probably would want to post something again anyway, no matter what score (oh, I forgot to mention another useful thing downvotes do against trolls, they tend to trigger posting rate limits / IP blocks) – gnat Mar 12 at 9:25
  • 1
    I recommend to stop worrying. If you see one, flag it. It'll be deleted within minutes. Any more thought you give to this is wasted, it's cruft that will be cleaned up. – mag Mar 12 at 9:26
  • 1
    ...thing worth keeping in mind is older sites in network (aka "Trilogy") have dealt with all kind of trolls many years before Workplace even existed. If they would find that it is somehow better to abstain of downvotes when dealing with trolls, we would easily find such recommendations at their metas or MSE. But there is no such recommendations meaning downvotes are generally safe – gnat Mar 12 at 9:29
  • @gnat I was unaware that downvotes were related to posting rate limits (doesn't seem to be an issue, since these are throwaway accounts?) or an IP block (which sounds useful). As for the psychology of a troll, well, i know some, which is why I know they'd be sitting there laughing at ever downvote they got – Mars Mar 12 at 23:15
  • Probably laughing at this meta post too though. Anyway, do as you wish I guess! A silent flag sounds best to me :) – Mars Mar 12 at 23:15

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