How to Avoid Being an Internet Troll

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Last Updated: January 27, 2022

On the Internet, especially on message boards and chat rooms, there are often trolls. These trolls can be anything from merely annoying to truly offensive, and are never welcome. These instructions will help prevent you from being recognized as a troll by online communities.

Steps

. After all, without knowing a troll's behavior, some would be confused with trolls just because they do not know how to behave. Be informed.
People behind the computers have emotions just like you.
The temptations may be insulting somebody's work, or a thread showcasing low quality images from sites like DeviantART.
This is fairly simple; it is just basic etiquette. Don't swear at others. Don't say rude things, such as "I hate you." Don't post any sort of content which you know is inappropriate. If you can't be reasonably polite to others, being anything but a troll will be impossible.
There are better ways to deal with a troll. Trying to get revenge on a troll just looks bad and only encourages more encounters. It doesn't matter that "they started it", it just matters that you behaved badly.
Stay calm if someone gives you some sort of warning that you are going too far. Figure out what you did wrong and make sure you do not do it again. Perhaps you need to take a break and calm down.
Doing this will help stop the argument, and in many cases, the conflict will just fade away as nobody participates

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Question

Does it count as trolling if you are having a polite argument, and your opponent throws an uncalled for insult at you?

Community Answer

Yes, but everything and anything could be considered trolling on the internet. There are two sides to every argument. When there's a troll, just ignore it.

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Tips

Sometimes there are young children that don't belong on social networking sites such as Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, etc. No, they probably shouldn't be there, but refrain from leaving nasty, sarcastic, or otherwise rude comments/messages to them. There have been instances of children going on Myspace chatrooms not knowing about mature conversations taking place, and they start talking about something while the topic is sexual. They end up getting sexually harassed and cyber bullied. Don't do this. If it doesn't end up making you look like a pedophile at the least, it will make you look heartless and idiotic. Treat children over the internet the way you'd treat them if you were to converse with them in real life. If you really need to, report them if they are underage and it's against the rules, but cyber bullying children is lowly and disgusting. Just don't do it. Even though it's only through the internet, children are more sensitive than teens and adults, and they might take something to heart even if you meant it as a joke.

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Warnings

Disruption of a site community may result in blocking from the site.

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Failure to read the site policy could result in trouble. There may well be rules you do not know about, and you won't know to follow them without prior knowledge.

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