Hector Martin

On why "don't feed the trolls" is bullshit: 'The second you treat them as a “constant” or inescapable part of your community, you have given them permission' Damn good articlehttps://twitter.com/doomquasar/status/1017445656569491459 …

I always saw that phrase used as like "Don't respond to their trolling and give them attention, have an operator kick them"

Yeah except if trolling is present, it's already too late. They talk about zero strike policies in there and how helpful they can be, but in unmoderated spaces (cough Twitter cough) the best thing you can do is name and shame, and then block.

That's the thing though, back in the day the Internet was largely a series of small, to some extent manageable, moderated communities. It's only recently that massive global unmoderated shared spaces are a thing. "Don't feed the troll" doesn't work with those.

I mean even in the past decade or so, my time with console hacking, IRC trolling was rarely a problem. We had zero-tolerance policies about things. It's the larger, loosely moderated forums and communities like gbatemp (and now Twitter) where shit got (and gets) nasty.

You should read the article, there's a lot to be said about "back in my day" thought. There were a few gems, but the reality is this mentality has been a thing long before mass scale social media, and it won't change without a pivot in thought.

I'm still reading it, but my point is that yes, people have always been assholes, but the "don't feed the troll [and wait for an admin to kick them]" formula worked back in the days of small communities. The second part is important.

I'd say actively seek an admin rather than wait for one. Consider also that your view of how things used to be is filtered through a lens of privilege. Not all the assholes were removed or called out.