Oh Ed, I was just kidding. Yeah, that’s the ticket 
There’s an easy way to see who registered just before or after a poster.
Put this into your Address window and try numbers on either side to see who turns up.
This is Lynn: ** http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=2 **
This is Ed:** http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=6 **
Wow! By the troll logic of the board, these must be either identical quintuplits, or at least long lost neighborhood chums.
(Guess that’s why I don’t by into the proximity theory. I much prefer the “uses identical odd insults” theory, which is also quite wrong, since we tend to learn all our new insults right here, from each other.)
Oh no…I just realized…barflyer is right…
ED ZOTTI IS CONCRETE!!!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Una (who is now retiring to a cabin in Montana to write a manifesto against technology…)
Una, if Ed is concrete (though I’d say as building materials go terrazo would be more fitting), I’m gonna be your next door neighbor in Montana.
barflyer you’ve stumbled across the secret. There are only 2 posters here. You and Mark Serlin.
Now you must die and I have to find somebody else to study.
barflyer’s absolutely right about one thing though - troll threads should be immediately deleted without comment, and obvious trolls/re-registers should be banned at once. Period.
Insulting them or playing games with their posts etc. only piques their interest and makes them stick around that much longer. How many more times does that have to happen for that fact to leak through? When have we ever seen a troll really rehabilitate? Never, not once.
& I also wasn’t amused by Bodoni’s reindeer games with concrete et al. - and I’m a bit offended that I am seen as “not worth wasting time on”, simply for not bursting into gales of laughter (and voicing how clever and funny I think the moderator is) when that moderator decides to shower a troll with extra-special attention instead of doing what’s really appropriate. (I guess I’m just not one of the “cool kids”.)
Concrete has made it perfectly clear that he’ll be back no matter what we do. At least this way, we can laugh at him, instead of him laughing at us. Plus I hear UncleBeer’s found a real ISP that he’s used for this this shit, so he may actually be dealt with. But as long as there are ways for this shit-for-brains to harass us, he’s going to. SoI really doubt that giving us the chance to laugh at him is going to have any more of a bad effect than deleting his threads.
At least once. Silo started his life here as a troll, but has since become a contributing poster (depending on whom you ask).
Besides, we’re not counting on them reforming (although that would be the ideal). In most cases, the best we can hope for is that the troll gives up. With concrete, we are, in fact, pursuing a permanent solution, preferably one involving Lynn’s cousin Vinnie, and a quantity of the substance which is his namesake. Stay tuned.
Usually I get razzed when I say the troll wars consume more space than they’re worth. This time, with a mod involved, I have to admit it’s maybe 5% funnier.
But if Ed and Lynn are the same person, it wouldn’t explain anything, and would actually create more questions.
Ed and concrete? I don’t know. I’ve never seen concrete’s trheads, only references to them, but I’m pretty sure that’s a long shot, too.
I’m going to stick with my perennial comment: use the eraser. Trolls and troll hunts are both squandering room on an overflowing board. Things float out of sight too fast as it is with real threads.
Just to clear up a few things…
Ed and I have such close user IDs because we are administrators. We were among the first to register, so in one sense, we ARE closely connected, as are all the original moderators. I haven’t checked TubaDiva’s, Eutychus’, and CKDextHavn’s IDs, but I’m willing to bet that they are all in the single digits.
We don’t delete troll threads because we need them for proof. We do, occasionally, bring persistent trolls to the attention of their internet providers. Otherwise, yeah, we’d just delete the threads. We also have a problem with deleting threads, because someone is SURE to ask what happened to a certain thread. I, personally, would prefer to just delete, it’s just that we need to keep the threads as proof of trollery. And, incidentally, that’s why we’ll remove links to something, instead of removing the whole post or thread.
Oh, sure, now you want all sorts of proof and stuff, but when Vinnie finds out concrete’s address, I bet you’ll be all “there’s no proof of anything.” Sheesh, the hypocrisy.
The Board’s overflowing? When’d that happen?
SPOOFE, hadn’t you noticed?
The Board is dripping out of the back of your monitor. Go and get some Kleenex, or something.
I can see why some people think there’s too much troll hunting, but I don’t necessarily agree. I joined up here right in the middle of the CDMilk farrago, and there was a short time where everyone new and British was under suspicion. I laid pretty low for a bit. I’m still lying fairly low, I suppose, but that’s what new people on the edge of a large established social group tend to do. I’m a newbie, it’s my job to be shy.
There are a few examples of people who looked like trolls but weren’t (eg Biffer Spice), but there are probably far fewer examples of people who were really trolling but grew up.
By the way, I found Lynn’s little jibe very funny.
No need to be shy Tansu 
Your example of Biffer is a good one. He came here with a few of his mates to defend his friend. It got heated and then when we started talking it ended and he and a few of his mates stayed and are now just members like all of us.
The term trollhunter was originally AFAIK coined by a troll who didn’t like the fact that people here cared that he was messing up the board for everybody else and kept on catching him out when he respawned with another name. It may seem sometimes that some people are slightly aggressive with new posters but that’s not really the case if you actually look at the reason why it’s all happening.
The best way to trollhunt is to contact the Admin. and let them deal with it. Sometimes the line between a troll and a asshole is hard to distinguish. A flame war ensues and somebody calls the asshole a troll and then the anti-trollhunters kick in. IMO we all should be anti-troll but obviously I don’t want to see the whole of the board covered in threads trying to out them. I’m here to have fun and possibly learn stuff to boot not to argue with children.
When there is no assholes trying to turn this site into their own playground it a great place to be.
I agree completely.
However, that’s not to say that we should sit idly by and let a Troll continue screwing around with other posters. I find discouragement of said Trolls to also be preferable over passive resistance.
SPOOFE, I agree completely.
You are the least likely person to trust with this topic. All of the above is so self-serving it’s strange. No other word for it.
First, the terms trolls and troll hunters/busters/etc. are on many boards. Most boards dispense with both classes by deleting offensive threads by trolls, and also the speculative, accusatory or fingerpointing threads of troll hunters or troll busters.
I’ve personally only seen “sock puppet” here, but some others have said its generic elsewhere on the web.
Lots of sites simply allow or even encourage multiple IDs, so there is no reason to use a special term.
Second, the vast majority of posters accused lately (there are dozens within the last month, I believe) are still with us, and are not “now just members like all of us”. They are members like me, perhaps, but not you, because those accused don’t troll hunt at regular member’s expense. They were never trolls, and the standard reason to accuse someone has dropped from outragious, profane, or biggoted posts to almost any slight. The persons accused are presumed guilty by you and others, for even things like not responding fast enough to false accusations. This is fun for you, perhaps, but not anyone else, accused or just having to read about it.
Third, all those falsely accused are here to “learn stuff to boot not to argue with children”, but you children drag them into endless rounds of defending themselves. Why? For your own amusement, because you have no empathy for regular posters.
Fourth, everytime I read one of you say “When there is no assholes trying to turn this site into their own playground it a great place to be”, I have to think Why don’t you look into a mirror? You have just described yourself trying to make this your playground, and don’t care who you offend or accuse, or how many regular threads you turn into troll hunting threads.
I’m glad to see so many people here saying troll hunting is not a good idea. I was smeared (the only word for it), and the thing is they trick you into making things worse. They said I was polite to be defending myself in the pit, so I add one mild swear and ten hyenas come around with “oh, we got you now bitch” lines. What a freak show they are. And call themselves “respectable” based on post count alone. Not respectable enough for a bar fight, much less a message board.
Fanny May, what is YOUR problem? Yojimbo is trying to help people out here. Yet you feel the need to attack him and imply he himself is an asshole?
Please, go get some sleep, wake up, take a shower, and a good cup of coffee. Then try again.
This is Coldfire’s response to me when I was defending myself against yojimbo and others for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING troll like.
So I guess we can tell how much to believe him.