There’s a particularly disgusting troll around just now called Mister Wong. I thought I might just point out it may not be a coincidence that he shows just after the troll alert was posted. The alert might act as a sort of challenge or invitation to these creeps. Just something to consider.
If people would refrain from replying at all such trolls, it would help. Responses like “Sicko” or “Damn. Don’t open that link.” are just what a guy like that is looking for. Ignoring him utterly is what is called for, but I don’t know how we can get people to do it.
Troll alerts, while possibly helpful to the Mods, also have a nasty habit of attracting even more socks and trolls. Such threads usually end up with a big ol’ padlock. Same goes for general discussions regarding bannings (as opposed to asking why a single poster was banned). I’m sure the Mods would prefer being contacted directly.
…Which is done easily using the “Report this post to a moderator” link, located in the bottom right of every post on this board, right above the “edit” and “quote” buttons. It only takes a second to do it, and it gets better results than starting a thread.