and how. I usually find myself having to say something then it is pretty
easy to shut up and ignore them. Most of them have very little wit actually,
so they are not particularly interesting as a whole. Like you say, the
occasional bored but intelligent psycho is kind of fun to argue with if you
have lots of time, but I never do any more.

Sounds like a good plan to me but sometimes it takes a bit of interacting
with the newcomer before we determine he/she could be a troll.

There are a couple of problems with the usual "ignore the troll and
he'll go away" advice:

1. People won't, no matter how much you say it, because there are always
people joining the group, people who don't recognise the troll for being
a troll etc. Even "multiple personality" trolls posing as other people
to argue with themselves!

2. Trolls sometimes deliberately make statements that unwary people can
believe and be upset by if those statements aren't challenged. For
instance, trolling on this group by saying "Carbs are bad for you" or
"WW's is useless and harmful".

3. By ignoring a troll who is being deliberately offensive, say racist,
sexist or whatever, you could be apparently condoning bigotry by saying
nothing. I would hate for a person of colour to join the group and come
across a racist troll, for instance, and see no one taking any notice. I
personally have been in this situation, not with racism but with
disablism and it can be akin to walking by in real life.

4. Most trolls are by nature very lacking in empathy and insensitive to
their effects on people. This means they can be very cruel without
caring, but also means they don't necessarily realise when no one's
biting. You could ignore then until the cows come home, but they don't
necessarily learn from it!

One troll on an autism group I'm on spent literally months involving
himself in pedantic discussions about semantics (high functioning
autistics can be particularly good at being entirely logical and totally
unemotional about things they're discussing - to a robotic degree!).
Someone finally found out who he was in real life (a pathetic,
friendless, computer student with fewer social skills than most
autistics) and discovered he imagined he'd been *upsetting* everyone for
months! Meanwhile, what everyone had actually been doing is having a
blooming good laugh at his expense and congratulating themselves on how
clever they were being. He never picked up on that, however, even though
no one was the slightest bit subtle about it.

Of course, once we knew who he was and understood his modus operandi, no
one could be bothered discussing things with him any more and we all
kill-filled him. He still posts on a regular basis. Still thinks he's
been so upsetting, I'm sure, and occasionally actually does get to some
newbie who hasn't been warned.

I used to agree with you and tried to encourage other people to ignore
trolls, but after 15 years online, I've concluded that strategy does not
work.

So, what are the alternatives? I believe you can challenge the troll but
the trick is to remain cool and not get emotional about it, or get
personal. What trolls want is for everyone to argue and fall out - one
of the reasons this slimming group is less prone to bad trolls than
other slimming groups is that people generally get on and are supportive
of one another. Other than that, treat trolls like flies - annoying, but
mostly harmless, as long as you keep them off your food!

I for one (a) can't spot a troll even when he's sitting under a bridge
trying to lure billygoats (b) believe in the adage "All it takes for
evil to triumph is for a good man to do nothing".

Besides, I'm a pragmatist: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Just don't
take them too seriously - mostly they're pathetic runts who need to get
a life.