The Trouble with Trolls
Seattle’s famous Fremont Troll
One of the challenges every community will eventually face…if not continuously face… is the disruption of "trolls." Trolls are a particularly disruptive force in online communities. You could probably create some categories for types of trolls in online communities (those with a grudge against you, those with a grudge against a group of other community members, those with a grudge against everything, those who are just plain obnoxious, etc). Thinking through the categories could be fun and I might think on that more for another day.
Communities that don’t force authentication offer uniquely harder challenges with trolls as pure anonymity and difficulty of consequences (banning) embolden some of the worst behaviors. Given the option, a community without some sort of registration and authentication (at least in order to post/comment) is not the best practice.
In general, trolls will hi-jack conversations with off topic and often outrageous claims on controversial topics. In the end, the single best tactic for managing trolls (and hardest to do it seems) is ignoring them. Keep in mind the following principles:
- The Troll’s goal is to draw you into debate and argument - a single response from you is victory for the troll.
- A troll is a troll is a troll is a troll is a troll - you do not have the power to bring them from the dark to the light.
- If you must, type out your response to the troll, save it for 24 hours, and then delete it - that process of writing was your opportunity for therapy! Posting it will not help.
So…some do’s:
- Ignore, ignore, ignore (to a point)
- Moderation is important, especially to new forming communities (we have not always done this - and still don’t in many cases)
- Moderators who have credibility/status in the community are critical (no "drive by moderation"
- Post guidelines for your community and be consistent about them
- Consider providing tools to your top contributors to handle some poster problems
- Use authentication and no anonymous posting
- Consider providing a "wild west" forum - a place where off-topic and random is ok.
- Do NOT get confused or drawn into a "freedom of speech" debate - make no mistake, if your community is hosted on your servers, that is your property, you can be held liable for what happens there - freedom of speech is a brilliant principal, but does not apply here.
What had me thinking about this is that we recently had some issues in some private communities with some of these kinds of problems. It was in a private/"walled garden" community and while I’m not a moderator, I am a pretty well known participant in the space - I guess it helps to mention that I run the program that ultimately entitles the members to be in that community. Now, I’m pretty pro "letting things go" in this scenario, but there comes a point where lines are crossed and a stand has to be made.
I consider part of the purpose of this blog to share practices (they may not always be the best practices…but they are examples from my experience). In this case, I had hit the wall and writing and deleting my post was not the right response (given it was a private community). So, for sake of sharing, here was my very personal post to the community. I have only made minor
Thinking out loud - NOT making a policy decision. I chose this part of the
thread as I like whatsays here. I’m not inclined to create more private NGs - don’t think it will help
really.
I don’t want to moderate - seems a horrible waste of resources to me
I can’t ban users from the private NGs the way they are configured - you are
either aand have access or you are not a and don’t have access. I like the notion of values/principles. As a leader and as a person, I have
to ask myself every day if I am living my values - what do I value?
#1 My family (this is both my home and my work family)
#2 Integrity/honesty/respect
#3 Accomplishment - I like getting things doneThese aren’t all my values, but they are core to me and they have to apply
in both my work and my personal life. If I don’t feel like I’m living them,
then I am failing - not someone else, but failing myself. So, I work hard
to live these values in everything I do and I feel pretty good that I do it.
However, that said, when I look at the kinds of conversations that seem to
occur at times in the, that is where I do feel like my values are out of sync with what is happening around something that is part of my work and "family". I don’t think I can continue to allow these values to be out of sync. I don’t know what to do about it and I’m quite certain not everyone will like any decision I make, but having everyone "like" my decisions is not on my list of values. What would I like? Everyone treated by default with dignity and respect.
If you can’t do that…don’t be here. If you can’t resist, then I guess
ultimately you’d be making the decision mine - and that decision is not
likely to be one that treats a person differently, but one that says that
person is perhaps not aligned with the values of thisas embodied by the current leader of the program. sean
This is probably one of the strongest and certainly most personal posts I’ve made in my history with community - reminder here - when I post in that community it is as an official representative of my company (and myself). On the whole, I think this response was very necessary and overall very well and respectfully received. It was a turning point as well for some recent troubles. Whether the turn lasts or not is to be seen, but either way I have stated where I stand and communicated that action would be taken.
This aside, it’s an exceptionally important reminder that I am a very present, visible and credible (at least I think so:)) individual in this community. If I was just another corporate representative who suddenly took a stand I would have been chased off and thoroughly dismissed. I have authority in this community not because of my role, title, employer or responsibilities - but because of my consistent, open and honest presence there. Turns out online respect is earned just like offline respect.
So, I hope this example is of some use. Good luck with your communities and don’t forget to share your stories. I suppose if there is one take away here, it’s that no matter the situation you need to address in your community, you must be a credible and respected presence there…so go engage!
Sean
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