38
votes
Accepted
Why was this question about handling the fallout of a crass joke deleted?
I left a comment on the question when I deleted it, but I'll elaborate here...
The moderators caught wind of a group of sockpuppets operating on the site, and asked me to investigate. It quickly ...
- 401
36
votes
What's the story with this user?
If posting questions like that is okay then we better change site name to Soap Opera Plots Stack Exchange. And change site topics accordingly.
In this case I would also recommend folks interested in ...
- 3,073
25
votes
Accepted
That troll again, what can be done?
Dealing with trolls is counterintuitive, because they're doing it all for the attention. As long as they keep getting attention (and reactions, like this post) they are more likely to keep doing it.
...
- 23.4k
22
votes
What's up with Jase and his nametag?
A troll or someone who does not have a complete grasp of communication or social convention.
Even if trolling is not the intent, the result is indistinguishable.
I'm continually saddened that Jason ...
- 25.2k
21
votes
Why are so many offensive questions here allowed past screening?
They often get downvoted, but why are they even allowed past screening?
There is an automatic quality filter in place (you have experienced yourself this when posting the question) but it can only ...
- 3,011
16
votes
Accepted
Addressing the troll in the room?
Understand what the mod team and SE CMs have done/are doing to try to
block this behavior, and how we can help enable that?
Flag it, flag it, and flag it, and to not feed the troll. I am usually ...
- 84.8k
13
votes
Is calling someone a "troll" against the Be Nice policy
If you find yourself asking a question like: "is calling somebody an X bad?", you can pretty much get the answer from "calling somebody a", regardless of what X is. Name-calling ...
- 52.9k
13
votes
Recent string of trolling questions
Some thoughts:
By far and away the best way is to close questions which should be closed. Whether or not people are trolling or naive or dealing with really unfortunate and highly unlikely situations ...
- 111k
12
votes
Fair to VTC for trolling
Vote based on content, not assumed motives.
If a question is so outlandish that you suspect trolling, if it lacks essential details, if it's more of a rant than a question, then it doesn't matter if ...
- 52.9k
12
votes
Accepted
Is serial downvoting ever appropriate?
Is this type of behavior considered inappropriate for SE?
Yes, because you are targeting one specific user.
From the FAQ:
The user then visits their profile and, like with serial upvoting, ...
12
votes
What's up with Jase and his nametag?
While I'm typically loathe to write users off as a troll unless the content is blatantly trollish I can't even come close to the contortions required to make a case for legitimacy here.
Essentially ...
motosubatsuMod
- 107k
11
votes
How should I flag a question that appears to be the work of a troll?
How should I flag the above question if I believe it to be nothing more than trolling, and I desire to see this forum avoid falling into a never-ending troll spiral? What would be most effective?
...
- 111k
11
votes
Accepted
Please stop that troll
Both accounts are deleted now (even the manager), so I guess it's solved.
- 734
11
votes
Trolls and ESL folks
The SE protocol answer:
"Someone accepted a super downvoted answer" - there's nothing to do about that. Some people want their position justified and will accept a highly downvoted position if it ...
- 35.5k
10
votes
Coincidence = Troll?
If I thought that there was even a chance that this was a genuine coincidence and the question was asked in good faith, then I would try to be more helpful or at least stay out of it. However, if this ...
- 30.1k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was the question on eating coworkers' lunch deleted?
Thank you for your work to improve the question. I'm sorry for the collateral damage.
That post was part of a multi-site trolling incident. For the reasons explained by Shog in this answer to ...
- 52.9k
10
votes
Accepted
This question seemed fair. What was wrong?
This post was deleted because it was (is) part of a coordinated spam attack. We (in this case I) don't delete stuff for fun.
I cannot share any additional information beyond this.
Similar ...
- 84.8k
10
votes
Accepted
How was this question rude or abusive?
The user behind this post was identified as part of a series of troll users that mainly post on agism-related topics. As with the others this user was suspended and most of their posts removed.
The ...
LilienthalMod
- 59.4k
9
votes
Fair to VTC for trolling
Yes, it is fair.
In the case I believe that a question is most likely ( 95% or higher ) trolling or spam, I will either FLAG it as SPAM or I will use the VTC close reason of OTHER option and write ...
- 84.8k
9
votes
We should have a flag or close reason of 'Trolling'
Technically not feasible. We have used all of our custom close reasons (cf previous discussions on adding extra reasons) and I'm not even sure it's possible to modify the flag types.
More to the ...
LilienthalMod
- 59.4k
9
votes
Accepted
How should questions with obviously ridiculous premises (such as how to engage in fraud) be handled?
Flag for mod attention, downvote, and vote to close and/or delete.
Answering bad questions - troll questions for sure, and anything where the poster does not really have that problem - is not helpful. ...
- 35.5k
8
votes
Coincidence = Troll?
I think this particular instance is far more than simple coincidence.
The choice of working and phraseology are nearly identical, as is the tone. A supposed "newbie" on a guest account is somehow ...
- 159k
8
votes
What's the story with this user?
Have you ever heard the expression, "When it rains, it pours"?
Honestly, everything up until 2/22 seems plausible. It isn't until the dating the boss' daughter post and the posts on other SEs that ...
- 11.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Reopen the Boss Tickle question?
I have deleted this question, as it is without a doubt a question from a troll account.
- 111k
8
votes
Fair to VTC for trolling
NO
First a question is not a trolling attempt. The OP asking the question was the attempt. We do not allow voting based on our dislike of the person posting.
A troll can, and in a few cases have, ...
- 49.9k
8
votes
How to flag a user with an offensive username?
Flag any of their content with a custom "requires moderator attention" flag.
If they don't have any content, flag any of your own with the same. Be as descriptive as possible. Moderators can see the ...
- 23.4k
8
votes
Why are so many offensive questions here allowed past screening?
Because there is no screening. Questions go live as soon as the user hits the Post button, there isn’t a person that looks it over and decides it is good. There are some automatic checks (for ...
- 11.8k
7
votes
Deal with trolling
What I am suggesting is if something looks like troll then just vote it down so it can be deleted.
You will need to be very careful with this. What you are doing when you call someone a troll is ...
- 7,588
5
votes
On Dealing With An Obvious Troll
In those cases where there is a community consensus that a user is a habitual troll, is there anything that we, as average Workplace users, can or should do to help identify the pattern of behavior?
...
- 30.1k
5
votes
1 rep user, first post is controversial
Serious or not, this post is highly unclear (thus why it got closed).
However, there are some inconsistencies and issues that suggest this may be indeed a fake post:
The title and questions don't ...
DarkCygnusMod
- 82.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible