Message: 4 Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:45:30 +0100 From: "Thomas Dalton" thomas.dalton@gmail.com Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] My experience with the Avril Lavigne troll To: "English Wikipedia" wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org Message-ID: a4359dff0810141045m6ae94a02sff97ee5aff1fe5b1@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Aside from that, yes, the reference desk is a breeding ground for trolls, maybe even by design. Village pump less so.
It attracts them, but they are easy enough to deal with, so it's not really a problem. This is what I'm talking about, though. Why are we "dealing" with trolls? They want attention, we want an encyclopedia. Conflict of interest.Everything doesn't have to be "ZOMG EVIL PEOPLE BAD PUNISH", sometimes it's just better that some people don't edit.
2008/10/15 Flameviper Velifang theflameysnake@yahoo.com:
Message: 4 Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:45:30 +0100 From: "Thomas Dalton" thomas.dalton@gmail.com Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] My experience with the Avril Lavigne troll To: "English Wikipedia" wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org Message-ID: a4359dff0810141045m6ae94a02sff97ee5aff1fe5b1@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Aside from that, yes, the reference desk is a breeding ground for trolls, maybe even by design. Village pump less so.
It attracts them, but they are easy enough to deal with, so it's not really a problem. This is what I'm talking about, though. Why are we "dealing" with trolls? They want attention, we want an encyclopedia. Conflict of interest.Everything doesn't have to be "ZOMG EVIL PEOPLE BAD PUNISH", sometimes it's just better that some people don't edit.
Trolls on the ref desks are usually dealt with by either removing the question or ignoring it, it only goes any further if it's particularly extreme. My preferred method of dealing with troll questions is just to take them literally and answer them - it rather spoils their fun if they just get treated like everyone else.