Learn a forum rule: Trolls and Trolling

[Fred Derf Veteran]

5. No Personal Attacks or Retaliation

Personal attacks such as instigating "flame bait", verbal abuse, mocking or sexist remarks of members in posts are not tolerated at Neowin. Such posts will be deleted on sight or moderated accordingly.

As above, if you are a long standing member, act like one. Lead by example and assist other newer members rather than attacking them. Members that reply to posts simply to instigate argument will be warned / suspended from forum areas.

Q. What is a troll?

A. A troll is someone who will state something only with the intention of stirring up controversy.

Q. What is trolling?

A. Trolling is the art of taking a civilized discussion and turning it into a battleground through the use of over-the-top opinions or unverified claims that incite others. It can also be called "flame baiting" since the practice often is intended to get other members to respond emotionally with personal attacks.

Q. Why doesn't Neowin like trolling?

A. Trolling causes two problems. 1) Members get annoyed when their civilized discussion takes a sudden IQ nosedive. 2) It creates work for our moderating staff.

Q. Doesn't Neowin want to hear our opinions?

A. Yes, we do, but we do ask members to be somewhat mature and respectful when posting for the overall health and welfare of the community. There's nothing inherently wrong with sharing even extreme or edgy options but we'd like to see it done properly (a little logic and reasoning combined with some maturity and respectfulness).

Q. Don't you issue warning for trolling?

A. Trolling statements that are successful enough to result in flames will likely result in warning level increases for both the troll and for the person(s) who replied with personal attacks. Other than that, each situation would need to be considered individually.

Q. Why does trolling seem inconsistent on Neowin?

A. Slightly different thresholds may be applied in different areas of the site. We really, really do not like to see support threads where members ask a technical question about a specific problem involving a particular browser or operating system and somebody trolls the thread with his opinion of which browser/OS is the best. There may be a time and a place for that opinion (even on Neowin) but it certainly doesn't belong in a support thread where somebody is asking for help on a very specific situation. Members will stop asking for help, and indeed use other forums, if their technical support questions get hijacked with inane sub-conversations. Above all else, do not use technical support threads to continue personal vendettas against certain platforms.

Q. If I see a troll what should I do?

A. The #1 thing to remember is "Do not feed the troll" as this will only increase the amount of cleaning that our staff will need to do. If you reciprocate in any way, you may end up with a warning yourself, even if you end up reporting the post afterward. The best course of action is to use the report button so that our staff can contain it before it gets ugly.

n.b.

Please do not use this thread to discuss previous warnings. Send a PM to a Supervisor if you need more than general information. Also, do not use this thread to publicly identify potential Neowin trolls. If members fail to heed this advice then this thread will be closed and/or cleaned as necessary. Thank you.

[Shaun N.]

I R Hungorz, Feed me your tears!! nom nom

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Is calling someone a troll, a personal attack?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Can the same anti-troll rules be enforced on Neowin IRC as well please? While things have improved after some culprits were banned there are still certain users - they know who they are, as do staff - whose trolling is downright annoying.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Is calling someone a troll, a personal attack?

It could be. Context is always important. It is one the few words where the truth might set you free.

Other personal attacks, like calling someone an asshat/hole, is going to get you a warning even if we, as moderators, (privately) agree that the other member is one.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Fred Derf

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Can the same anti-troll rules be enforced on Neowin IRC as well please? While things have improved after some culprits were banned there are still certain users - they know who they are, as do staff - whose trolling is downright annoying.

This (Y)

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Can the same anti-troll rules be enforced on Neowin IRC as well please? While things have improved after some culprits were banned there are still certain users - they know who they are, as do staff - whose trolling is downright annoying.

I did not have IRC in mind when I created this thread so you would have to discuss those matters with the chat mods. I, personally, tend to concentrate on the forums.

[Frylock86]

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Other personal attacks, like calling someone an asshat/hole, is going to get you a warning even if we, as moderators, agree that the other member is one.

LOL!

[ANON86364]

A. Trolling causes two problems. 1) Members get annoyed when their civilized discussion takes a sudden IQ nosedive. 2) It creates work for our moderating staff.

This.

[Frylock86]

Q. If I see a troll what should I do?

[amon91]

If a troll bans itself, can they still be considered trolls?</troll>

Other than that, I love this thread.

[Frylock86]

If a Troll trolls, and no one is around to see it, does the Troll still troll?

[BeerFan]

If a Troll trolls, and no one is around to see it, does the Troll still troll?

Yes, but nobody cares.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Thanks, Fred...that's exactly what I wanted to read :p

J/K, it's nice to have a reminder every now and then. Good job, Fred! :cool:

[Draconian Guppy]

Ok so trolling is not allowed? But flame bait is :devil: ?

[muratoner]

Ok so trolling is not allowed? But flame bait is :devil: ?

flame wars are fun to watch lol

[xxxxxx.xxxxxx]

Can the same anti-troll rules be enforced on Neowin IRC as well please? While things have improved after some culprits were banned there are still certain users - they know who they are, as do staff - whose trolling is downright annoying.

+1

this is the main reason why i dont frequent the irc channel

[Lee G. Veteran]

Ok so trolling is not allowed? But flame bait is :devil: ?

No!

No Personal Attacks or Retaliation

Personal attacks such as instigating "flame bait", verbal abuse, mocking or sexist remarks of members in posts are not tolerated at Neowin. Such posts will be deleted on sight or moderated accordingly.

As above, if you are a long standing member, act like one. Lead by example and assist other newer members rather than attacking them. Members that reply to posts simply to instigate argument will be warned / suspended from forum areas.

Neowin Community Rules

[Duality]

The unfortunate thing is "troll" is just the word people use for "that person that has a different opinion to mine" now. The number of times I have read a thread here and found people referring to others as trolls just because they have a difference of opinion is astounding.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Please do not use this thread to discuss previous warnings. Send a PM to a Supervisor if you need more than general information. Also, do not use this thread to publicly identify potential Neowin trolls. If members fail to heed this advice then this thread will be closed and/or cleaned as necessary. Thank you.

[Thread Cleaned]

[LiquidSolstice]

[Thread Cleaned]

Sorry about that, won't happen again.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

The unfortunate thing is "troll" is just the word people use for "that person that has a different opinion to mine" now. The number of times I have read a thread here and found people referring to others as trolls just because they have a difference of opinion is astounding.

No, there is the opinion, which is typically fair enough, but a troll is usually obvious to spot, and will write something out of the ordinary to bring about responses to it. They will do this on purpose, and it can usually be noticed quite easily in comparison.

[Mike]

I do agree that staff should lead by example, and anyone is perfectly within their rights to report those types of infractions.

We may have a right to report them but it's a waste of time seeing as you just ignore it

[Steven P. Administrators]

We may have a right to report them but it's a waste of time seeing as you just ignore it

All thats needed there is a little common-sense. Why report it to me when you know full well I hardly ever participate in #neowin when there are other staff and Supervisors present and interacting in the #neowin channel?

Would you report it to Daniel, Redmak or Frogboy as well, who also never participate in #neowin?

Come on!