# Note to fellow posters: DON'T FUCKING CALL PEOPLE TROLLS! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 4, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527 "2003-04-04T19:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/1 "2003-04-04T19:40:43Z")
You know, this really chafes my ass. It says right in the Guidelines for Posting at the SDMB: > [@](#): > > Q: What should I do when I see a user “trolling” at the SDMB? > A: Do not publicly accuse someone of trolling at the SDMB. Use the “Report this post to a moderator” facility below the “trolling” post. Do not reply to the troll in any way in the thread, that will only encourage the troublemaker. That being said, comments like “There’s a word for people like you, but I’m not allowed to say it” are fucking moronic. You don’t have to have the sentence “You are a troll! Blah!” to be publically accusing someone of being a troll. Insinuating someone is a troll is still publicially accusing them of being a troll. So don’t fucking do it. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/2 "2003-04-04T19:50:37Z")
You trucking foll. You pock suppet. You floddamed gamer. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/3 "2003-04-04T20:10:16Z")
And this needed a whole thread devoted to it why? An appropriate link below the offending person’s post wouldn’t have done? ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/4 "2003-04-04T20:14:05Z")
**a\_i\_w** , are you making a statement, just to provoke a response? Y’know…um, nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/5 "2003-04-04T20:18:05Z")
No. I wanna know why **RL** felt the need to start a whole new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/6 "2003-04-04T20:18:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alice\_in\_wonderland \* > \*\*And this needed a whole thread devoted to it why? An appropriate link below the offending person’s post wouldn’t have done? \*\* Only if you wanted to go through a ridiculous number of pit posts and find **every** offending post by **every** offending posters. There are a lot of people out there - many of them long-time SDMB members - who seem totally unable to stop smugly playing the “I smell troll!” card. Therefore, a thread (not the first on the subject, by the way) is a lot more economical as far as time goes. What these people think they’re accomplishing other than looking like fucking idiots is utterly beyond me. I don’t know how many hundreds of times it’s been said, “The ‘report this post to a moderator’ button is there for a REASON,” but you’d think they’d’ve caught sight of it by now. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/7 "2003-04-04T20:41:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alice\_in\_wonderland \* > \*\*And this needed a whole thread devoted to it why? An appropriate link below the offending person’s post wouldn’t have done? \*\* I think he tried the 1/4 and 1/2 thread options, but they weren’t available so he had to go with the whole thang. You have to do that at times when you start a thread, it’s either all or nothing. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/8 "2003-04-04T20:48:24Z")
Oh, wait. I just got it. Nevermind. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/9 "2003-04-04T21:07:03Z")
(I’ve never posted in the pit before, she said timidly, but…) There is some utility, for me at least, in having someone pointed out as a troll. If you’re not used to the whole message board medium, it takes awhile to learn to recognize trolling for what it is. After seeing people denounced as trolls a few times, I have a much clearer idea of what to watch out for. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/10 "2003-04-05T00:54:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamadryad \* > **Only if you wanted to go through a ridiculous number of pit posts and find every offending post by every offending posters. There are a lot of people out there - many of them long-time SDMB members - who seem totally unable to stop smugly playing the “I smell troll!” card. Therefore, a thread (not the first on the subject, by the way) is a lot more economical as far as time goes.** Plus, telling people to stop calling a particular troll a troll is just another way a troll gets fed. And so is linking to a troll’s thread. ---
**Author:** ![DrLizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DrLizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLizardo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/11 "2003-04-05T01:06:18Z")
Not to mention a pointless post that bumps the “troll” thread back to the top of the list. Yep, that’s more troll food too. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/12 "2003-04-05T01:07:59Z")
You’re all trolls! ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/13 "2003-04-05T01:20:24Z")
Don’t listen to the naysayers, **robertliguori** , you got it right. So how’s the family? How’s the redecoration going under your bridge? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/14 "2003-04-05T01:47:57Z")
Yeah, the OP is right but troll feeding and subsequent pleads to stop the troll feeding have been going on here for, what, six years? That’s counting when we were hosted by AOL. Bringing this topic up again and again serves no purpose other than to help the threadstarter feel better. No matter what the guidlines say and no matter how many times someone puts the Don’t Feed the Trolls sign up, there is no way the practice is going to stop short of the Mods bashing a few heads. Not gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-fellow-posters-dont-fucking-call-people-trolls/166527/15 "2003-04-05T03:07:30Z")
So long as we’re on the topic, I have question about trolling. Where do you draw the line? Frex, I just visited a thread where one of the posters was clearly creating posts jsut to piss off the OP. I would call that trolling, even though the expressions weren’t outrageous. It was just clear over several posts that it wasn’t an honest disagreement, the poster was mad at the OP and taking out his anger by arguing with him with the express purpose of making him angrier than he already was (the post was in the BBQ pit). I agree with Alto’s comment that it can sometimes be useful to piont a troll out. Would a troll get a kick from reading just the word “troll” in response to their posts?