Do you alert on trolls immediately, or poke 'em with a stick for a while?

[11 Bravo]

I'm not talking about the blatant, barely sentient, freeper idiots (50% of our trolls by my estimation). Everyone alerts on them, and they pick up their well-deserved tombstones after maybe 10 posts. But what about the occasional, half-bright troll, who manages to avoid being too obvious? Is it better to allow them to sit in mom's basement, scarfing Doritos and giggling about how they have the "libruls" fooled, while we have a little fun exposing them as the asshats that they are; or should we bust them immediately in order to stop them from wasting our precious bandwidth?

[LonelyLRLiberal]

1. I don't know the answer, but I like the picture of poking 'em with a stick.

LOL

[DKRC]

29. Just for you LonelyLRLiberal

Enjoy!



:evilgrin:

[walldude]

31. Hey! You could put an eye out with that thing!

Sorry I'm a parent, I just couldn't help myself.

[DKRC]

42. Yeah?

I'm a parent, too. You don't think I had all these wicked smileys just lying around handy, do you?
:evilgrin:

[JuniperLea]

2. both

sometimes i like to give them enough rope to hang themselves... sometimes they are just too ignorant for life here. sometimes i hit alert then blast them... sometimes i just watch the rest o' y'all do it to it:)

[Horse with no Name]

3. I definitely am a "poker"

:)

[Selatius]

4. Keep blasting them with reason until the mods boot them off.

I think I ran into one of those free-trade neoliberals from Free Republic last night. The man sounds like a Cato Institute doll with all the Libertarian Party talking points in favor of gutting social programs and cutting taxes for rich people.

[uppityperson]

5. Depends.

How am I feeling, how many of them have there been recently, how nasty.

[mmonk]

6. They're difficult to detect sometimes, so I don't bother.

I remember when I first joined in 2003 and had a low post count and all it takes is for one argument maybe over one issue and people get that impression. As it goes along with many posts, its harder to detect unless someone takes a somewhat unprogressive position with some consistency. I just figure they will out themselves and I don't worry about it.

[Ian David]

7. I usually hit "alert" on them once they become blatant...

and then use the DU "search" feature to build a papertrail, which I send to the Mods along with a request that they be given a tombstone.

I'm at something like three for seven on that so far.

[mentalsolstice]

33. I'm backwards from you

I do the "DU search", then I analyze my findings, then I alert (which is rarely). However, I'm new, so I'm sensitive...

[Ian David]

44. The alert-worthy event is what triggers me to do the research to establish a pattern. n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. Alert, then poke.

Sometimes it takes a little while for a mod to get the alert (mods got biological functions too, y'know). Best to get the alert in early. What you do next is up to you.

[catmandu57]

9. I'm a great delagator

I just sic the mods on them.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. Always Alert. But After Having Done So, Feel Free To Poke. :o)

As long as you do so inside the rules, of course. :)

[RiverStone]

11. For the half-bright ones...

I'd give em a little room to be foolish; who knows, it may even be possible to enlighten them as to the rightie kool-aid they have been drinking.

Don't know many rethugs, though I have met a few red to blue converts along the way (including on DU). What better messenger to take the goods back to freeperville then a fundie who begins to question WTF am I doing there?

[unpossibles]

14. good answer. I alert if they are obvious.

If I think they are smart enough to get it, I might try and throw some logic and facts and such at them to see if anything sticks.

[Warpy]

12. I just alert

Otherwise, the troll will alert one of MY posts.

[NNN0LHI]

13. I am not too good at spotting trolls

The posters who I initially suspect may be trolls usually turn out to be better Democrats than I am and have turned into great DUers to boot.

Others who I at first thought were wonderful Dems have turned out to be closet Reagan Democrats or worse.

Thats why I don't apply to be a moderator.

Don

[ecstatic]

15. I don't believe in ganging up on suspected trolls

I think sometimes innocent people are ganged up on and, of course, anybody will lash out if pushed hard enough. To me the ganging up thing is disgusting and more freeper-like than anything a troll can do or say.

[donco6]

16. I like to make them run on their wheel, really really fast.

Then I turn 'em in.

[piedmont]

17. No, I don't usually alert--trolls are fun to play with.

[B Calm]

18. I have no tolerance for the bastards! I immediately turn them in !

[B Calm]

19. I have no tolerance for the bastards! I immediately turn them in !

[tinfoilinfor2005]

20. Neo-andrethals are pretty hard headed...poking doesn't really effect them;

But they do run from fire and rushing water. :)

[aikoaiko]

21. I always figured these types of threads were just cover for trolls.

:shrug:

;)

[niyad]

22. I firmly believe the universe provides them for our amusement, so poking is definitely the order of

the day. besides, I need something upon which to sharpen my claws!!

[etherealtruth]

23. I'm hesitant when it's not obvious

I don't want to confuse expressing an unpopular opinion with being a troll ... I'm not on enough to be able to tell if every opinion a poster expresses is "unpopular" and not in support of the DU community.

[left is right]

24. As someone who lurks far more often than I post, it is

more fun for us lurkers if you poke them before and/or after you alert.

[greenbriar]

25. I like to play

but then I have enough and alert


then when they are gone its kind of a let down

[Greyhound]

26. As the holder of several unpopular opinions, I hesitate to alert and

try to poke 'em and watch the reaction.

[Forkboy]

27. I rarely use the alert function,and it's more fun to poke

[Bobbie Jo]

28. What I want to know

How much progressive thought can the average freep endure before his head explodes. :nuke:

poke...poke...poke :yoiks:

[notadmblnd]

30. it can be a little difficult.

sometimes they spend their first 1000 or so post in the lounge before they venture out to wreak their havoc. But usually they're spotted pretty quick and dealt with quite efficiently by the moderators.

[Horse with no Name]

32. There is one loose now in GD-Politics

See if you can find him...

[notadmblnd]

37. is it starting threads or just throwing in hiw two cents?

nt

[Horse with no Name]

39. Starting them

[chknltl]

34. Trolls get spotted in the lounge too ya'know!!!

From my own observations, they get poked and prodded a bit first though.

Me...I am a hopeless optimistic. I try to convert 'em before I hit alert.

[Rex]

35. Poking them with a stick?

We can do that? :evilgrin:

[flaminbats]

36. what is the difference between trolls and freepers?

I know freepers are the blind neocons who love logging into Free Republic and worship this administration. But what are trolls? Are trolls freepers who harass posters on DU? Are they posters who support no clear agenda and log in only express disagreement? Or are they neocons who do not login at neocon sites, but express those views only to cause fights at DU?

I have been posting on DU for about four years, but I still don't understand what a troll is!!!

[leftstreet]

43. Sometimes none, sometimes a lot

Freepers are easy to spot. Their unfamiliarity with progressive thinking leads them to choose usernames like ChavezIsDaMan, sport avatars they suspect "liberals" would choose, and post things they hope will discredit the validity of DU. "9/11 Was An Inside Job and Originated On Planet Xyphon!"

Trolls are much more clever. They often post their "concerns" about specific candidates in an effort to direct attention to the candidates they support, or are working for.

But most DUers are smart and savvy enough to poke at freepers and trolls until they know they've been busted. Eventually they either go away or continue to enlighten the newbies on the definitions of "trolls" and "freepers."

[sutz12]

38. It worked for Bilbo....

You know, just keep them occupied til the sun comes up. :evilgrin:

[Duppers]

40. heck yeah! nt.

nt.

[Jamastiene]

41. Rip them a new one AND alert.

I do both. Why? Because their dribble needs to be repudiated when they come here spouting it. They need to hear what the other side has to say for real instead of what the liberal lite standins in the MSM says all the time. Of course, alert after making sure they know they are way way out of line first.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. I Pick "B"

I'm either a glutton for punishment, or they are. Either way, somebody has to do it.
The Professor

[conscious evolution]

46. I like to confuse them with IBTTS