Troll identification

One of my posts was recently edited by a moderator after I had responded to what turned out to be a troll. The edit went as followed, along with a delete of the post by the troll:

Originally posted by Q'Anilia
Edited

Mod note- Continuing to talk with trolls will become something we will issue warnings about soon.

Since I don't want to get any warning in the future (Or now for that matter), how do I identify a troll? I've always posted about carelessly and not cared if I spoke to a troll or someone else simply because I enjoyed that conversation in particular, or for some other reason in the past and presence.

As I said, I don't want to receive a warning in the future for crimes I won't know I am committing: How do I identify a troll?

A person with a string of profiles that are a play on the same name being repeatedly banned is the clue. This is simply a common sense issue. Likewise a new poster carriying on a conversation from a banned poster on the same page.

ANY new member making a directly offensive post at you as his first shot is a troll in any case, and attacking them back is flaming in turn, so even if it was not a repeat offender it would be suspect.

If posters make posts you do not like in this way, do not attack them, and do not duplicate their post via quoting. Just report it.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
A person with a string of profiles that are a play on the same name being repeatedly banned is the clue. This is simply a common sense issue. Likewise a new poster carriying on a conversation from a banned poster on the same page.

ANY new member making a directly offensive post at you as his first shot is a troll in any case, and attacking them back is flaming in turn, so even if it was not a repeat offender it would be suspect.

If posters make posts you do not like in this way, do not attack them, and do not duplicate their post via quoting. Just report it.

Are we specifically talking about socks that troll or trolls in general?

There are a lot of people who troll these forums and bait and flame others but have never been banned.

Likewise, there are socks who have come into the forums under completely different names and who have tried to simply carry out normal and non-trolling discussions and whom i've only known they were trolls once the mods banned them (I can only presume by checking the I.P's and finding they match a previously banned member)

That's what will make it so difficult for me. There's little I dislike when it comes to post on a forum. Having been picked on and mocked on this forum has never done as much as had me arch an eyebrow. Since I consider no insulting attempt insultive, I personally just see whoever does the attacking as ridiculous. Sometimes I don't even react to the hostile intent, not knowing he was actually trying to be mean.

It's not that I won't respect this to-be rule (If that's what it is, from how I came to understand it). I'm just worried that I'll end up warned or banned for the wrongs of another without I myself knowing I've done something wrong. I often get downplayed in the versus section and sometimes in OTF, but I don't take it seriously and I simply respond to it as I would to an exact the same phrase in real life.

I'm having big problems with finding the line between bashing/trolling and joking on this site. People insult eachother left and right, make fun of one another and use vulgar language rather frequently. It's laborious for me to define who is serious and not. Who is actually trolling and who is joking.

Having made the situation clear then I am sure you have nothing to worry about. The activities of a repeat spam/troll like this are very easy to discern and no-one is going to get instantly banned for putting one reply in the wrong place. But when posters are clearly trolling repeatedly, it is definitely the case that feeding them is an offence also.

Again, jaden, this is a common sense issue that simply depends on circumstance. The term I used was 'trolls'. Replying- especially aggressively- to spamming trolls whose entire purpose is to get attention encourages them. Encouraging them creates large-scale disruption to the forums and there becomes a point where we crack down on this. We have reached that point now. If people had stopped replying to him he would not have made so many accounts and caused so much hassle.

So this moderator request (Can it be considered a rule?) primarily concentrate on socks and scenarios by people like this Earl? I don't have to worry if I come across a "veteran" troll in VG-Versus forum that I'll get banned? For as long as I don't feed the fire of course.

Your primary intent is to act preventive towards trolling and sock cases?

Obviously. However, in ALL cases trolling is a bad thing and if you think there is one you should report it. If you get into long-term arguments with trolls you may find yourself warned also. That has always been a rule.

But as for identifying posters who have joined just to troll and flame for attention- that is very easy indeed to identify so I only have limited sympathy for those who encourage them.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Having made the situation clear then I am sure you have nothing to worry about. The activities of a repeat spam/troll like this are very easy to discern and no-one is going to get instantly banned for putting one reply in the wrong place. But when posters are clearly trolling repeatedly, it is definitely the case that feeding them is an offence also.

Again, jaden, this is a common sense issue that simply depends on circumstance. The term I used was 'trolls'. Replying- especially aggressively- to spamming trolls whose entire purpose is to get attention encourages them. Encouraging them creates large-scale disruption to the forums and there becomes a point where we crack down on this. We have reached that point now. If people had stopped replying to him he would not have made so many accounts and caused so much hassle.

I've reported a few in the last few days myself and yes, the "earl" variations were easy to spot.

It's actually really pathetic that someone has such a chip on their shoulder from being banned that they would go through all the hassle of creating another account in order to get a couple of posts in before being banned again.

Out of curiousity, can you ban on the basis of several criteria in a vBulletin based forum?

I used to admin another film forum but it was phpbb based and we were able to ban on the basis of whole or partial IP, whole or part registering email address and user name.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Obviously. However, in ALL cases trolling is a bad thing and if you think there is one you should report it. If you get into long-term arguments with trolls you may find yourself warned also. That has always been a rule.

But as for identifying posters who have joined just to troll and flame for attention- that is very easy indeed to identify so I only have limited sympathy for those who encourage them.

Our general principle on sock banning is to make very sure but there comes a point where caution gives way to practicality and we ban on clear sock check matches or name matches or even behaviour of posters who join immediately after a previous one is banned.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Our general principle on sock banning is to make very sure but there comes a point where caution gives way to practicality and we ban on clear sock check matches or name matches or even behaviour of posters who join immediately after a previous one is banned.

I think the email option tends to be the best one for actual human trolls. While it's easy to create an account here, it's generally a lot more time consuming to do a unique email account just to register to troll a forum.

The only problem with it, if this forum has a similar set up to my old one, is that only admin could apply these types of bans and mods were subject to only IP banning which is useless if a router/modem is reset.

It's maybe worth checking with Raz if global mods can be assigned these powers as I know he isn't around a huge amount to implement these things.

I also set up a 24 auto confirm for new members which allowed me to check and delete any suspected spam bots or trolls before their account was activated. Although this option might not be viable for a board with as a large a membership as this one.

Indeed anything email related is not something I have access to.

I know it's off subject a bit but what is socking ?

Originally posted by TwilightxGirl
I know it's off subject a bit but what is socking ?

Basically making an alternate account or any reason.

Oh right thanks for explaining that

I'm sorry but you have been warned for talking to a troll?

That's just silly.

I mean this earl guy is blatant so I won't talk to him but I hardly come on here to notice other trolls so....yeah.

post removed

I didn't say that. Read my post again.

post removed

Whether you think it is silly or not, jacope, responding to trolls encourages them and disrupts the forums- so cut it out.

Thread question answered, so closed