Over in NAF's thread in The Hive, What_Exit? said
I'm in a weird position here--I post here some, I chat a reasonable amount and I like it here. I hope I'm not coming across as an intruder telling you what to do, but this point is making me nuts. (PS--I asked a couple of mods and they said that they didn't mind if I went ahead and posted this for discussion)But on issues like dealing with trolls, we do need faster feedback. We should be able to at least make a decision within 24 hours I think.
Look--you're all using the term "troll" to mean too many things and none of you are on the same page. In part, that's because we all come from the SDMB which used a couple of terms incorrectly and/or interchangeably (as far as the rest of the internet is concerned)
1) Spammers and Spam-Bots. there's no discussion necessary. Delete their stuff and ban their asses. This isn't a transparency thing.
2) Socks: You can't stop them. Give up. Fix your rules to recognize that. Unless you're going to ban Anon IPs (which would be a disaster) and IP check every poster / spot check IPs (which will make you insane) it's pointless to try. Therefore, your existing rules are moot. All you do is handicap your regular posters from having fun and there are socks anyway. I know this sounds like "relax, lay back and enjoy it" but Giraffe ended up with some funny socks like Panda, Hobo and the Roach swarm.
3) Actual trolls: People posting to get a reaction: Anger trolls (MC--he posts to piss you off), sympathy trolls (Remember LilTassie and her kid with cancer?), concern trolls (oh gosh! You're not being 100% transparent! I just now joined to point that out), racist trolls---they're just not that big of a deal. Let the posters handle 'em and if they get out of hand, 101 'em for a few hours. No discussion needed. If you've got someone disrupting a conversation for everyone else, warn once, then 101. Don't wait 24 hours and let them derail a thread in progress.It's just not that big of a deal to be 101'd. If everyone says "I don't think that was a good 101ing. You made a mistake", you apologize and move on and the worst that happens is that someone can't post for a few hours.
The point is, it seems like the mods are spending more time worrying about trolls than having fun on the board. To me, the level of concern and stress over trolls is overblown. The only time a mod really needs to get involved with trolls is if they're actively disrupting conversation.