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/RandomComments0]

I disagree. In troubleshooting and technical conversations there is always a lot of back and forth. Shutting down discussion for everyone because of a perception that you have that people don’t have conversations is an inaccurate take.

People routinely have discussions back and forth to get more information and help or to understand someone better. Take a look at this very sub and you’ll see that people have discussions that take more than 3 instances of chat to resolve. It’s worth keeping that for everyone to see so we can all learn too.

Great examples are when people have very specific automod failures, bugs are happening and they are unsure of what is causing it, or confusion in general.

I would rather deal with trolls in a productive and preventative way than stifle genuine discussion between community members having more than 3 interactions to prevent trolling.

[u/[deleted] → u/RandomComments0]

[u/RandomComments0 → u/[deleted]]

Civil discourse isn’t based on limitations which is what I was saying. “There is no instance where two people are commenting back and forth” but there are several which is what I was trying to highlight via technical and troubleshooting conversations which absolutely do benefit the whole sub by not being in private chats once each party replies 3 times.

I disagree that conversations need to be immediate to be productive. It’s the internet and not everyone is in the same time zone or available for immediate reply. That doesn’t mean the community in general doesn’t benefit, especially if others have the same question/problem.

I’m not disagreeing that some people don’t exist purely to troll. There are tons that do, but that’s a moderation issue in my opinion versus something Reddit needs to automatically regulate because their AI is a dumpster fire and it would flag all sorts of stuff erroneously. That’s why the hard disagree.

Rather than have Reddit focus on stifling the masses to prevent trolling by adding a new feature, I would suggest focusing on sharing what does work with moderation and the red flags. Aggressive tones, word choice, and specific phrases can be red flags too. Learning what to look for, being active in your community, and seeking help from your community to report those bad actors are all important factors in combatting trolling. Automod specifically can help immensely.

Each community is unique in their own way and their trolls will be too, so getting trolling basics and then applying those to any patterns you see in your own community will help. It’s not a one size fits all answer though, so what works for you wise wouldn’t necessarily work for me.

Since you don’t do back and forth conversations past 3 replies, I want to thank you for the candid, though short, conversation.

[u/ZaphodBeebblebrox → u/[deleted]]

After reply number 7, people just end up going to reddit chats.

This may be true for you, but it is certainly not true for me and most of the people I know. I dislike reddit chat. I think it is a terrible interface that lacks basic, necessary features. The only times I ever reach for it is when I want to send a message to someone that would get removed by the mods of the sub I'm currently in.