Don’t Feed The Trolls

Their intent is to derail useful discussion and responding to them not only achieves that end but encourages more trolling.

Overnight, a new commenter appeared on the site spewing racist and anti-Semitic rants. I’ve moved  said comments to the spam queue and taken what steps I can to ban the commenter from posting.

My apologies to those who responded to said commenter and whose responses now lack context. It’s a good rule of thumb on the Internet, however, not to feed the trolls. Their intent is to derail useful discussion and responding to them not only achieves that end but encourages more trolling.

FILED UNDER: Blogosphere,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. dennis says:

    You are the man, J.J.

  2. Franklin says:

    I can’t believe you violated his 1st amendment rights!!!

    /yes I’m joking

  3. Mark Ivey says:

    Next Joyner is gonna start grabbin guns….

    😉

  4. aFloridian says:

    I guess if I ever really do want to feed the trolls I’ll need to register for an account at The Blaze.

  5. Franklin says:

    @aFloridian: Is that a new website or something? Sorry I refuse to go there to find out, but I keep seeing their “news” articles coming up on Yahoo (note: I only use Yahoo because of an ancient e-mail address).

  6. Mr. Replica says:

    @Franklin:

    I realize you asked aFloridian, however, TheBlaze has very close ties with Glenn Beck.

    I am not sure if he owns the site, or is a partner, but he is an author on the site. And his show is broadcasted on TheBlaze radio.

  7. Franklin says:

    That explains it.