What to do with a major troll

[tresmom5]

We have someone on our site that keeps reregistering with new screen names. We have banned the names one by one. She has multiple ISPs. She posts at school and at home. We believe her to be a teenager with nothing better to do. Apparently the girl hops from forum site to forum site doing this because we have already received emails from other forum owners. Anyhow, I have thought about blocking her ISP, but she is fairly smart and I'm afraid to do that. At least now, I can track her if she reregisters. I am afraid if I block her ISP she will just get a new ISP and come back. I would like to know if there is any legal actions we can take to stop her. Or any other advice for this would be appreciated.

[dauction]

Dont engage her that only feeds her.

Warn all other members to not engage her ;once She realizes that everyone is ignoring her no matter what she does She will move on to some place where they will engage her need for attention.

[PatrickDeese]

Someone suggested in a similar thread that you set a cookie for any machines the problem user is on, and make her posts visible only to herself.

[rogerd]

That feature is build into vBB 3, and may be available for others as a feature or as a hack. It's great for trolls, since they thrive on feedback. When they don't get it, they get bored and play elsewhere. It's an imperfect solution, of course, since there is a good chance the poster will eventually catch on (by logging out or using a different computer).

Trolls are tricky to deal with because often they don't violate your TOS in an overt manner. If they are outright spamming you, you can go to their ISPs with detailed info and have a good shot at getting them taken offline. If they are merely posting in a subtly provocative manner, though, it's a lot harder to get the ammunition you need.

I'd recommend tightening up your TOS to include a prohibition on any annoying behavior that is characteristic of this troll, including catch-alls like "failure to follow the instructions of a moderator" and "registering under more than one identity".

[Marketing Guy]

Ignoring the troll is always the best option, but sometimes simply having their posts edited / deleted is all the attention they want.

May not be possible in all cases, but it may be possible to find the source of their problem and deal with it there. In some cases, the troll is usually disgruntled over some preceived injustice, so resolving that injustice would stop the trolling.

Scott

[Webwork]

About blocking her ISP: If she's a teenager wouldn't that make it difficult to change ISPs (at least slow her down)? She's a minor so her parents would have to handle the changes I would think.

Are you certain she is who she appears to be? In the anonymous world of fora, absent a registration that is validated by a credit card payment (I know they can be stolen) I'm reluctant to believe anyone's story without further evidence - like meeting them or knowing that someone else I know knows them, etc. This person could actually be someone intentionally sent to disrupt your affairs, a smaller version of a DDOS attack.

I'm afraid, with the worldwide connectivity of the WWW, we are going to see all manner of disreputable business practices. Though I believe you've got this one right, in believing it's a teenaged girl (the school is a pretty good tell, barring something more sophisticated) you just never know. I suspect fora will go through interesting times - just like search engines - as more people around the globe examine the financial impact of deploying, exploiting, manipulating or destroying fora.

[tresmom5]

Well, thanks for everyone's advice. We finally just blocked all her IPs and hoped for the best. If you do a search for her name, she has posted on about every other forum similar to ours. I started thinking the same as posted above, that if she is a teenager it won't be as easy for her to get another IP.

Thanks for your help,
Teresa

[AAnnAArchy]

Can you redirect her IPs? Don't even let her see your board again, much less reregister - forward those IPs to a site that will teach her some manners.

[edited by: rogerd at 10:49 am (utc) on Nov. 10, 2004]
[edit reason] No URLs please... [/edit]

[rogerd]

The problem occurs when a bad member uses AOL or a similar ISP - dozens of other members could share the same IP. Technically savvy trolls can use anonymous proxy servers, too.

[AAnnAArchy]

We use cookie tracking too, so we get private messages when someone uses the same computer for multiple user names. When that's happening, we turn on the manual approval for a couple of days - they usually get bored and go away. Also, putting new users in probation and only allowing a certain number of posts per day would slow down a troll too.

P.S. That url was basically just saying, "send them to Miss Manners".

[rogerd]

The idea of a persistent cookie is a good one - even though a determined abuser can still delete it, many won't. Certainly handy for problem users with dynamic IP addresses.

[helleborine]

Want to find out how I caught MY troll?

[edited by: rogerd at 5:04 am (utc) on Nov. 20, 2004]

[rogerd]

Without specifics, can you give us a general idea, helleborine?

[FourDegreez]

I hate it when a troll uses AOL. =(

Cookies can be useful, but the surest method I've found at keeping out trolls is to put up significant barriers to entry. Sadly, this also greatly reduces the amount of new users you'll get. I've had major troll issues, so on my newest site I've put up significant barriers. This has kept us troll-free so far. For me, reducing the headache from undesireable users is very important. For someone who wants to grow their user base quickly, putting up significant barriers really isn't an option.

[helleborine]

Well, the basic idea is that a troll that spoofs IPs has only a limited number of IPs at his or her disposal.

You have to provoke them into making a mistake, in this instance, using the same spoofed IP to post under their "real" alias and under the "troll" alias.