XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican, alt.fan.barbra.streisand, al   
   .fan.j-garofalo   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats   
   From: liberty@once.net   
      
   HOW TO DEFEAT THIS TROLL   
      
   An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord   
   on the Internet. He or she slanders others and seeks to cause   
   conflicts and upset people. Trolls are malicious, antisocial,   
   and often mentally ill. They crave attention, and care not   
   whether it is positive or negative. The Internet is a   
   convenient venue for their bizarre, misanthropic games - a   
   means to abuse others without fear of retaliation. Trolls are   
   cowards - lacking the courage to be overtly hostile towards   
   people, they hide behind their computers and the anonymity of   
   the Internet. The troll is a less intelligent version of the   
   malicious hacker or virus writer.   
      
   Trolls are impervious to meaningful dialogue. You CANNOT reason   
   with them and you CANNOT cause them to feel shame or   
   compassion. Trolls do not feel bound by rules of courtesy or   
   social responsibility. They are simply not playing with a full   
   deck. It is futile to try to "cure" a troll of his obsession.   
   Trolls are irrational and not accessible through any sane approach.   
      
   Established posters may leave a newsgroup/message board because   
   of troll-created conflicts, and lurkers (readers that do not   
   post) may not want to expose themselves to abuse and therefore   
   never speak up. Thus they unwisely allow the troll to violate   
   their rights of free speech and expression. The Internet is a   
   vital resource - and probably the last stand for free speech.   
   Being antisocial, trolls hate this and try to subvert it.   
      
   When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you curse at   
   a troll, he wins. If he succeeds in angering you, he's succeeded. THE ONLY   
   THING THE TROLL CAN'T HANDLE IS BEING IGNORED -   
   having NO EFFECT on his intended targets!   
      
   So the best way to deal with trolls is to IGNORE THEM and   
   occasionally (and ONLY occasionally) remind others not to   
   respond to them either.   
      
   Hard to ignore? You can set up your computer to AUTOMATICALLY   
   ignore the troll by using your KILLFILE. Just go to the   
   offensive message, and bring your pointer to the "MESSAGE" tab   
   near the top of your screen. Click, and a menu opens. Go to and   
   click on "BLOCK SENDER." You will no longer see any of the   
   sender's posts from that account. This is called "plonking" the troll.   
      
   One spiteful technique used by trolls is to pretend to be a   
   well-liked person. On most systems there is nothing to prevent   
   header forgery - somebody using your name for an offensive   
   message. If you react with anger, the troll wins. So if a troll   
   impersonates you, simply post a reply titled "That Wasn't Me"   
   and type only this:  "I did not write that message; it is a   
   forgery." Most people will know it is not yours anyway due to   
   its uncharacteristic contents.   
      
   IT PAYS TO REPORT NET ABUSE. Many Internet service providers   
   take a dim view of spamming, message flooding, and forgeries.   
   Complaints can cause the troll to lose the account from which   
   his offensive post or posts was made.  To do this, you just   
   right-click on the offending message, and go to the PROPERTIES   
   tab. Under "DETAILS" you will find a list of the FULL HEADERS   
   that identify the message, its route, and its sender. Highlight   
   and copy ALL of this text. Address an email to the address   
   given on the header line "X-Complaints-To:". Now paste the   
   copied full headers into this email. Then copy the full text of   
   the offensive message, paste this into the email below the full   
   headers, and send it. The more people that complain, the more   
   likely it is that the troll's account will be cancelled.   
      
   When trolls are ignored they often step up their attacks,   
   desperately seeking the attention they crave. Their messages   
   become more numerous and more offensive. The combination of   
   IGNORING THEM and FILING COMPLAINTS is the ONLY   
   way to combat them.   
      
   The only effective method to defeat these deranged individuals   
   is to:   
      
   1) REPORT THEIR ABUSE.   
   2) IGNORE them.   
   3) KILLFILE them.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)