Do you respond to trolls?

[Ando85]

I often peruse youtube, Escapist of course, and a few other forums or social networks. Also get hate mail on online games a lot. I'm trying to break the habit of responding to trolls at all. I notice if you feed them you are just giving them what they want. If they just go ignored they don't get any satisfaction.

Do you respond to trolls, or do the likely better thing which is ignoring them completely?

 

[JoJo]

It depends, if someone is just acting like an arse then I'll usually try to find a 1up on them for my own amusement, however if they appear to be genuinely trolling for response rather than hating then I ignore for the most part, or call them out on their trolling.

 

[Nouw]

Ignore 'em. Responding to them is just a waste of time.

 

[Hazy992]

I try to yeah but sometimes you have to feed a troll until it bursts

 

[ZehMadScientist]

It depends on my mood I guess. Most of the time I ignore them, but I occasionally pull out a super effective Counter-troll.

Like when they send me a pseudo intelligent message, I send it back with correct spelling (If my crappy English allows it, at least)and/or punctuation + retard tag.

 

[4RM3D]

Everybody knows trolls are weak to fire. Just incinerate them. Oh wait, you mean *those* trolls. Hmmm, no, fire still works great on them also. But whatever you do, don't feed the trolls. Or else they grow bigger and become more resilient. We don't want that now, do we?

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Rarely. Report and move on is usually my method of operating around them.

 

[iDoom46]

It depends on how good the troll is or how amusing I find them. A funny troll can entertain me for hours.

 

[lobster1077]

The only way to beat a troll is to out-troll them.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

If they are trolling something I like, I out troll them.

If they are trolling, but are incredibly bad at it, I ignore them.

If they are trolling and are clever, I congratulate and join in!

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

I treat trolls the same way I treat train, I De-Rail them.

 

[chiefohara]

Dry wit sarcasm tends to be an effective anti troll spray.

One obnoxious one i remember got quite upset when i said that they were the funniest person on the Escapist, that their post was not only hilarious but that they should drop everything there and then and pursue a comedy career. Don't know why, but i hit a nerve

 

[Jessta]

Depends on the mood and the situation, if I feel there's a viable argument I can make that could 'win' me the conversation I'll make it but if its just one of those LALALALALALA I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY YOU SMELL LIKE PENIS ones I just ignore em, generally speaking you can tell by how fast they are responding and wether they are using an excessive amount of CAPS and swear words.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

If its obvious I ignore them, but I have been sucked into the less obvious ones! Sometimes people make comments, that are just so profoundly stupid I cannot help responding! (For instance the ammount of people who proclaim that we went to Iraq because of Sept 11, I instantly get on my high horse and correct them!!)

 

[DownWind]

Kill it with fire.

Troll when they're being stupid kids with nothing more than age-old memes, or if they're wiser, kill them with silence.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Can't tell if OP is world's craftiest troll or not....

OT: sometimes, but only when I'm trolling back.

 

[White_Lama]

I usually respond if I think they are really bad at trolling really.