We are all familiar with the concept of the messageboard Troll, but there are a variety of opinions about what a Troll actually is, and how they should be treated. This entry attempts to clarify what Trollish behaviour is, and how it should be treated.

When dealing with Trollish behaviour, I believe that it is less than useful to label the poster "Troll". It is more fruitful to deal with the posts directly, and work on the assumption that the appropriate treatment of the behaviour will encourage individuals and groups to modify their behaviour voluntarily.

I propose dividing the messageboard behaviours generally classed as "trollish" into groups, and treating each differently.

Type 1 Trolling: The nasty stuff. Impersonation, personal insults, windups with ill intent, posting unacceptable material (racist/sexist/beyond the pale).

Treatment: Refrain from responding (hard to do at times), and employ the complaints procedures ("Yikes" the post). We can all recognise nasty gits, same as we can all recognise a rabid dog.

Type 2 Trolling: Banter. Quips and humorous posts that may be off-topic, but are genuinely meant to raise a laugh, without causing pain.

Treatment: If you're in the mood, join in. If it's going/gone too far, just leave it. If somebody is offended by banter, they really need to log off for a while, calm down, and join back in. When the joke has run it's course, the thread will die.

Type 3 Trolling: Propaganda and lies. Some trolls insist on posting over and over things that they claim are facts, but are not. Whether it is a bizarre idea they are presenting as a scientific theory ("gravity isn't real", "0 = 1", or ID), they are simply declaring that an established fact is wrong ("Evolution is a lie"), or presenting myth as fact (Creationism, biblical literalism etc), these are the worst kind of trolls in the long run.

One way of identifying Type 3 trolling is the repetitive nature of their posts, frequently starting new threads to ask questions which were clearly answered in an earlier thread. Presumably this is an attempt to gain converts to their ideology by keeping them away from threads where the weaknesses of their logic or claims have been exposed.

Treatment: Everybody can recognise Type One Trolling, most people here are grown up enough to deal with banter correctly, but there is a chance, however slight, that a newbie or a lurker may not realise that lies and propaganda are just that.

For their sake, Type 3 trolls must be responded to. Their lies must be exposed, their mistakes corrected. As scientists posting on a science board (and, personally, as a science teacher), it is my firm opinion that we have a duty to correct, and attempt to educate, Type 3s (I sometimes refer to them as Emperors). Whilst our overt targets may remain wilfully ignorant of the facts, others will be exposed to the facts presented at least as clearly and decisively.

Although this may initially encourage the Type 3s to continue posting, it prevents their posts being taken at face-value, exposes the deeper motives, and, occasionally, helps the Type 3 see the error of their ways¹. Although I said at the start of this article that it is not useful to label an individual poster as a troll, this is not the case with many Type 3s. Clear labelling prevents contamination of others by the Type 3 posts.

Since first authoring this entry, I have been forced to formulate more classes:

Type 4: Pardon? or the brick in the path of the bicycle of logic.

Every so often, a post is added to a thread that has absolutely no reference or relevance to the thread, even when viewed as an extreme form of Type 2. It may be a random comment, or something that seems to be a reply to a post in a different thread.

Treatment: Well, none, really. It's either a deliberate attempt to disrupt the thread (a bizarre form of Type 1), or somebody suffering a Senior Moment. Either way, they are best ignored for the first time or two (after all, they may be genuine Senior Moments), and then yikesed after that (although just how randomness breaks the particular board's rules may be hard to explain to any active moderators...).

Type 5: "Feed Me, Seymour, Feed Me!" or The Lonely Puppy or The Open Stalker.

Some posters simply crave attention. They are not trying to be nasty, not really trying to cause trouble, they simply have a need, even a full-blown compulsion, for response from other people.

They will say anything, to anybody, just to get a reply. They do not care if the response is positive or negative, as long as somebody, somewhere, acknowledges that they exist. They will pose as a scientist on one thread, a theist on another and frequently adopt a Woo-Woo persona² to stimulate a response. Some Type 5s will constantly ask questions of specific regulars, others will make a series of small personal digs to trigger a response without triggering Moderation.

Treatment: Since Type Fives thrive on attention, deprive them of it. It may take a while to register that a poster is a Type 5 (some trolls do possess a wily intelligence), but as soon as you do, declare them to be a Type Five so that others do not get caught out by them, and then ignore them. No matter what they do, ignore them. Watch their posts if you want, Yikes the occasional post that steps over the mark, and add warnings³ to any new threads they start to attract more attention.