User blog comment:PsiCubed2/A proposal for a new rule for this community/@comment-32467027-20170707073548/@comment-30754445-20170708191908

@Chronolegends

"i don't necesarily disagree but i feel like you're getting too salty about these trolls.. (yes guys, you are trolls, sorry not sorry). which imo is the biggest feed you can give them."

So? Does this mean we should avoid discussing the problem?

I'll be blunt:

This community has a problem, and we - as a community - need to decide what we're going to do about it. And for this we need an open and honest discussion.

Whether the trolls themselves are "fed" by this discussion is besides the point. Our goal here is not to "convince" them to stop. Indeed, it is quite obvious that they will not stop unless a wiki administrator physically forces them to stop.

So the goal of this discussion is to decide whether we - as a community - are going to tell our administrators that the current situation is against our community rules. Just like we voted on things like "you can't create an article for your own notation" and "MNiB games are not allowed here", we can vote to ban people who are both unproductive and rude (and if my understand of how wiki communities work is wrong here, I'll be happy to be corrected)

P.S.

Shaming does not makes trolls go away. A troll seeks attention of any kind. Good or bad, it doesn't matter to them. So negative attention feeds them just as much as positive attention.

P.P.S.

I've had plenty of experience dealing with various internet pests, which is why the misguided "common wisdom" regarding trolls is driving me crazy. Trying to tip-toe around the problem due to some "fear of feeding the trolls" is silly and counterproductive and only makes the situation worse. Indeed, I've never seen this tactic work. Ever. OTOH I've seen dozens of forums being destroyed by this very misguided notion.

The only way to make a troll to go away (other than actual banning) is to completely ignore them. And since the entire community can work only if everybody fully cooperates, it is nearly impossible pull off.

It's funny how many people think of this as some complicated "catch-22" situation, where

You're obviously right, but these issues *needs* to be discussed openly once and for all.

Being afraid of having a

'm not going to harp on this topic forever, but I'm not going to be afraid to have an open discussion

You should know by now that "shaming" is feeding them as well. People like supes simply delight in wasting other people's time and being the center of attention. They don't care if you shame them or praise them.