I watched a BBC programme on “Cyber Bullying” last week and learnt about “Internet Trolls”. The following is Wikipedia’s definition:
A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: “That was an excellent troll you posted”.
A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: “That was an excellent troll you posted”.
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| A troll! |
“In anticipation of trolling becoming a problem on www.ms-res.org / www.multiple-sclerosis-research.org we need some advice about how to deal with this problem. Any thoughts?”
Take out a hit on VV?
Joking aside (at least I hope that was a joke), you can either block the trolls or have moderators on the page that will remove hateful and/or unhelpful comments. That's what several MS-related pages on Facebook do.
Re: "Take out a hit on VV?"Flushed out one troll already.VV's participation on this site is worthwhile; I simply take his arguments and position as being that of the Devil's advocate. I sincerely hope that VV will come around to view that we are simply a bunch of scientists who have dedicated our lives to helping MS'ers (current and future). We have no hidden agendas despite our conflicts of interest statement.
"VV's participation on this site is worthwhile; I simply take his arguments and position as being that of the Devil's advocate" is a nice statement. I doubt real trolls (abusive ones) will be interested in a site like this. If they do it will be some extra work to delete their comments
Thanks Doctor. Reality has different views. It's strange how conflicting they can be.
If you have spotted a troll don't feed it (in means of arguemEnts)!Instead throw a fish.><> ><(((('> /><{{{{">greetings
come on VV.Take a deep breath. I really value your input (really do), but take it easy on Team G.Mind you that G et al. are under no moral, social, professional or academic obligation to maintain this blog.I value tremendously their input despite all the COI's attached.As for the trolls: I made a suggestion few month ago that anonymous posting favours fiery comments – and was told at the time that patient's privacy should be respected. I still believe that much fewer would steal from a shop if they take notice of security camera (regardless if it is operational or not). furthermore accounts could be clocked, IP addresses could be blocked too (to avoid account duplication)My COI: G has been taking care of me for a year now and I feel blessed to have a "virtual proximity" with my physician. how many other docs invest themselves that much?