What's the mod/admin policy on trolling?

We don't put up with trolling, spamming, thread-jacking or any other nonsense as a policy. If you think a thread might soon cross the line into something illegal or immoral, an early heads up is appreciated. If the worst that's going to happen is that someone gets away with being a jackass, well lets wait till the jackass crosses the line.
l

tread-jacking is a common practice here, sometimes innocently done as a side-issue and sometimes purposefully by members who think they have the right.
How should we handle that?


Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.
 
tread-jacking is a common practice here, sometimes innocently done as a side-issue and sometimes purposefully by members who think they have the right.
How should we handle that?


Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.

Me, too.
 
We don't put up with trolling, spamming, thread-jacking or any other nonsense as a policy. If you think a thread might soon cross the line into something illegal or immoral, an early heads up is appreciated. If the worst that's going to happen is that someone gets away with being a jackass, well lets wait till the jackass crosses the line.
l

tread-jacking is a common practice here, sometimes innocently done as a side-issue and sometimes purposefully by members who think they have the right.
How should we handle that?


Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.
Yes, this is what I'm referring to as well.

I'm not talking about the normal humor and banter and fun, or even the fact that threads take on a life of their own and move into areas of discussion that aren't necessarily what they started out to be at the outset, or even what the OP or the other thread participants had in mind. I think that's all normal.

No, this is about the posts made to deliberately disrupt and get people worked up, like a pyro setting something on fire just to enjoy the chaos that it causes.
 
tread-jacking is a common practice here, sometimes innocently done as a side-issue and sometimes purposefully by members who think they have the right.
How should we handle that?


Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.

Me, too.
Give an example.
 
The problem is what one can read as deliberate intent can be read as innocent banter to another. Furthermore sometimes it depends who is saying what to whom - a comment that might be insulting normally might just be two members bashing at each other in a jovial manner.

It's a difficult area and, as mentioned earlier, different members and indeed different mods will read situations differently. That is why we will often discuss matters in private. Many times what appears as a simple single choice to the membership is the result of debate and internal discussion behind the scenes as we weigh up the various angles and viewpoints that we each bring to the table. This is an important part of moderation and why we keep a working team not just a few individuals with their own "sections" to rule over.

In the end this matter is something that is tricky to moderate, as said its walking that fine line between too much and too little; yes sometimes we will make mistakes, sometimes we won't get to things in time or will read a situation wrongly. I can tell you that it pains us, we seriously do not like locking/banning/dealing with disruption so will try to keep it as minimal as we possibly can.
 
We need a court system such as in The Dark Knight Rises.

Do you choose death? Or exile?

"I'll never go to exile."

"Death, then. By exile!!!"
 
tread-jacking is a common practice here, sometimes innocently done as a side-issue and sometimes purposefully by members who think they have the right.
How should we handle that?


Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.
Yes, this is what I'm referring to as well.

I'm not talking about the normal humor and banter and fun, or even the fact that threads take on a life of their own and move into areas of discussion that aren't necessarily what they started out to be at the outset, or even what the OP or the other thread participants had in mind. I think that's all normal.

No, this is about the posts made to deliberately disrupt and get people worked up, like a pyro setting something on fire just to enjoy the chaos that it causes.

A general rule of them is to report threads when you see something that you believe warrants the attention of a moderator. No more, no less. As ffarl pointed out, reported threads generate emails to all of us, so please be sure to include your reasons for reporting the thread. Simply being annoyed at someone's comments "this guy is a tool...can someone shut him up, please?" is not always the best reason. We need to appreciate that this is a large forum and we won't always agree with or like other people's comments. That doesn't make someone a troll. OTOH, the deliberate and willful posts made by someone that are virtually guaranteed to cause an uproar, chaos, anger, etc., are definitely those posts we need to review as quickly as possible, and we do rely on the judgement of our regular members to alert us to them.

If you find yourself struggling with whether or not to report something, err on the side of caution and report it.

It really is as simple as that. :)
 
Maybe I have a different definition than most. Conversations go off in different directions sometimes. I'm talking about malicious acts. Something done for the sake of causing a disruption.
Yes, this is what I'm referring to as well.

I'm not talking about the normal humor and banter and fun, or even the fact that threads take on a life of their own and move into areas of discussion that aren't necessarily what they started out to be at the outset, or even what the OP or the other thread participants had in mind. I think that's all normal.

No, this is about the posts made to deliberately disrupt and get people worked up, like a pyro setting something on fire just to enjoy the chaos that it causes.

A general rule of them is to report threads when you see something that you believe warrants the attention of a moderator. No more, no less. As ffarl pointed out, reported threads generate emails to all of us, so please be sure to include your reasons for reporting the thread. Simply being annoyed at someone's comments "this guy is a tool...can someone shut him up, please?" is not always the best reason. We need to appreciate that this is a large forum and we won't always agree with or like other people's comments. That doesn't make someone a troll. OTOH, the deliberate and willful posts made by someone that are virtually guaranteed to cause an uproar, chaos, anger, etc., are definitely those posts we need to review as quickly as possible, and we do rely on the judgement of our regular members to alert us to them.

If you find yourself struggling with whether or not to report something, err on the side of caution and report it.

It really is as simple as that. :)

I am going to be the Master Reporter! People are driving me crazy. One post I think I can have a beer with someone, and the next post I think I would throw my beer in their face (if I did not like beer so much).

I have to remind myself to not care so much.

There is a big deal going on now about in part, someone that seemed to care too much! A young life is gone and many others affected.

" err on the side of caution and report it. It really is as simple as that."

Wow, am I a drama queen?
 
What I find annoying and some what amusing is some one will take the time to register then spam us.I remember one of a list football games.I think it was the camera equipment forum. The Admins or modes did a good job closing it down.They also title it so it looks like it belongs here and then you view it and it's some idiot pedaling crap.
 
What I find annoying and some what amusing is some one will take the time to register then spam us.I remember one of a list football games.I think it was the camera equipment forum. the Admins or modes did a good job closing it down.They also title it so it likes like it belongs here and then you view it and it some idiot pedaling crap.

Happens occasionally.. sometimes I report a dozen of them at once. Have also gotten good at spotting spambots...
 
Thanks for your responses so far. The thread that prompted me to ask is this one:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/digital-discussion-q/332708-raw-jpeg.html

To my way of thinking, the members and the thread got trolled there. It could easily have kept going to the point of a frisky fight followed by a lock, but the instigator decided to give it up, and basically admitted to trolling.

I just wonder if it would have been the right thing to do to report the first comments that seemed destined to touch it off and, if so, how that might have been viewed and dealt with by the staff.

Obviously, it's over at this point, and hopefully won't start up again, at least not in that particular thread, but for future reference...


I read through the thread.

The trolling in that thread should have resulted in a suspension or ban of that member. It is abundantly clear that the purpose of his comments were to derail the thread and get a rise out of other members.

There should be zero tolerance for that type of thing.
 
I would also like to point out, that when threads start to get censured, people complain about the forum being "over moderated"
when the people are left to their own devices, to play nice as adults, and things go bad....people complain about "not enough moderation"
It appears to be an extremely delicate balance, and finding a happy medium not an easy task at all. someone is always unhappy about the way things are being run.

Mods are just the forum police... and cops are never the "good guys"... damned if you do, damned if you don't. :lmao:

I think the site has some pretty good moderation overall.. there are always going to be debates and disagreements when you throw a hundred opinions into one thread, that's just part of it. I prefer that for the most part, members are left to handle it on their own unless it just gets flat out ridiculous. It's been my experience here so far that I can speak my mind and I actually appreciate that. I don't require anyone to agree with me and honestly, if everyone DID then I wouldn't learn anything.
 

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