Please Don't Feed The Trolls

I've noticed a few threads here at REBUILDthePARTY are being hijacked by very argumentative folks who are derailing discussions with inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic comments. These folks are Trolls, plain and simple, and should not be encouraged.

You will likely feel compelled to set the record straight with these trolls by explaining to them how wrong they are.

Please do not do this.

Attention and distraction is what trolls crave. Their goal is to get the spotlight firmly centered on themselves, keep the rest of us chasing irrelevancies, and prevent any productive discussion that will further conservative ideals. They thrive on provoking emotional responses and get a kick out of making you angry. The more angry you get, the more powerful trolls become.

Refraining from engaging the trolls is the best way to get them to go away. Without attention and emotional responses they quickly get bored and move on. None of us can live long without food. If you don't feed the trolls they will look elsewhere for their sustenance.

Simply acknowledge them as trolls, decline to engage or encourage them and move on with your discussion.

Tags: troll, trolls

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marla on December 8, 2008 at 9:43am: I agree that the Trolls should not always be removed, But that certain one...was sending negative emails along with his blog post. It just wasn't needed. Let the Trolls look. It is hoped that Trolls will realize that yes we got beat.But we are standing up, dusting off, and right back at it!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Rock on December 8, 2008 at 9:50am: some of these Trolls are using this site for thier own agenda in more than answering questions with thier hate. They are posting and at times they are monopolizing this section of the site. there are 2 that work in tandem and a third that follows along like a sheep. One of them has made this his own personal web site for Hate and I have turned him in; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jon Howard on December 8, 2008 at 10:11am: I agree. But at what point do they become a troll? Who sets the guidelines.

A lot of people are very angry that the Repbulicans didn't do more to get elected. The leftist media walked all over the Republicans. When one media person asked Biden one question he didn't like, (but was a legitimate question that we all wanted asked) he blew up, stating that the question was "wrong". Shouldn't Republican spokespeople be prepared to respons to the stupid leftist media questions, the same way?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Terrence Abrams on December 8, 2008 at 12:28pm: Yes, we don't want censorship and we must not muffle even the mindless, but when you find them constantly reciting from the Soros-Axelrod-Oberman playbook of intentional spin disguised as a "liberal-Republican trying to 'offer' discourse...", it is time to copy down all of their DNC posts, report them to the moderator and forum administrator and get them kicked off the site.

We have too much work to do to waste time on these intentionally disruptive liars and idiots.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Randy Covington on January 19, 2009 at 5:56pm: I agree Terrance. I see a lot of that going on here at RTP.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Rock on December 8, 2008 at 12:45pm: right on Dude

Terrence Abrams said:
Yes, we don't want censorship and we must not muffle even the mindless, but when you find them constantly reciting from the Soros-Axelrod-Oberman playbook of intentional spin disguised as a "liberal-Republican trying to 'offer' discourse...", it is time to copy down all of their DNC posts, report them to the moderator and forum administrator and get them kicked off the site.

We have too much work to do to waste time on these intentionally disruptive liars and idiots.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chris Cree on December 8, 2008 at 1:19pm: I'm not a fan of throwing pot stirrers out of the community in most cases. Most thinking people can differentiate between legitimate discussion & trolling once they are aware the latter happens. I do know from experience that if everyone ignores trolls and refuses to engage them they get bored and go away. Fairly quickly in most cases.

And I try to remember that there are many people out there who see no problem lying to forward their agendas because to them the ends justify most any means. Anyone who claims to be a conservative/libertarian/whatever and continually argues in the liberal direction in this community is just being a deceitful troll.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Terrence Abrams on December 8, 2008 at 1:43pm: Yup, what he said...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diana B on December 8, 2008 at 4:44pm: Yes, what you've all said. And "that one" WAS a troll. I'm sorry for following him around awhile, but oooh, i couldn't resist!
I'm ALL for an opposing view and constructive argument, but our basic principles are the same here, or we wouldn't belong to this Party in the first place.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Randy Covington on January 11, 2009 at 10:18pm: Throw the trolls off RTP. They are sucking the fun out of our unstoppable movement!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Paul Franklin on December 9, 2008 at 9:58pm: Thank you for the sage advice, Chris. We will all work towards having a productive discussion that will further conservative ideals, which is the purpose of this site. Yes, we all may like one candidate better than the other, but like when McCain won we all (well, most of us) got behind him and supported him.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Whitehorse (Robin Ray) on December 10, 2008 at 1:52am: I'm an "old hand" discussing politics & issues on forums & blogs. Trolls are a fact of life; I try to get discussions back on track when they've been hijacked. I seldom respond to trolling unless I can "pwn" the troll. You know they're "pwned" when they come back with name calling. Ignoring them can be fun also, especially when they get hungry...; ▶ Reply to This