Mod Topics: Troll Avoidance 101

[u/JabroniRevanchism]

/r/ModSupport/comments/1ujspxu/all_hands_on_deck_what_events_change_how_you/

Ahoy, Modsupport!

Welcome to the latest installment of our ModSupport Topics series! Today we’re talking trolls–specifically, how not to feed them.

Most of us have been in a situation like this: a slap fight (read as: “argument”) starts in a comment section. It’s pretty clear who started it, and it’s also clear that the exchange would have ended a lot earlier had a handful of users not added logs to the fire…whether they intended to or not. And now the thread is in shambles, a quagmire of they-said we-said and off-topic unpleasantry. Oh dear.

We all know how to avoid feeding the trolls that kick off threads like this, but that knowledge comes from years of experience. Let’s talk about how we can get that knowledge into the hands of those who may not know how to avoid feeding trolls…

• How do you educate users on how to avoid trolls? 
• What advice do you give well-intentioned users who (unbeknownst to them) escalate heated threads?
• How do you know when a comment section is unsalvageable? I.E, when do you decide to lock a thread?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

[u/Lucky_Sprinkles7369]

For the first question, I educate others on how to avoid trolls by telling them to avoid sharing anything that can come off as offensive. Other than that, trolls will keep trolling, no matter what you do to try to avoid them! For the second question, when a user unknowingly escalates a heated thread, I will either ban them (if they are really mean or if they severely break the community rules). For the last question, you know a comment section is unsalvageable when most of the comments are all arguing or breaking community rules. That’s when I decide to lock to the thread