Posted by Elizabeth on April 14, 2000, at 2:51:12
In reply to Re: disruptions, posted by boB on April 13, 2000, at 18:24:51
In theory, the idea of not responding to people who are clearly just seeking attention by trying to be provocative seems like a good one. In practice, it doesn't work in an internet forum like this one because you can't always convince *everybody* to do it -- particularly if there are always a lot of new people coming in who aren't familiar with the troll, or if the troll alternates between the disruptive posts and attempts to garner sympathy. (He definitely does the latter as well as the former on Usenet, at least, when he is threatened with the prospect of being ignored or shunned. Invariably it elicits sympathy from newcomers, even though the posts are so exaggerated that they read like caricatures of a sincere cry for help.)
An alternative would be to treat him as one would any severely personality-disordered individual. Dr. Bob, do you have any advice here??? :) My thought is that maybe he needs to be confronted with his behavior, and that limit-setting is no doubt important.
To those who are concerned about censorship:
1. Nobody has the right to harrass others, and I think it's clear that much of the behavior of the poster in question constitutes harrassment.
2. Ordering everybody to give this person the silent treatment (i.e., putting him in the cyber-quiet room, complete with cyber-restraints and maybe 5mg of cyber-Haldol for good measure :) ) is censorship as well. "Censor" isn't a dirty word. We have to self-censor, or there would be chaos. Some people with severe character disruption (or with classic mental illness, for that matter) lack the ability to censor themselves in one way or another, so something external needs to be added. That could be a medication; in this case I think it needs to be behaviorally-based.
I personally would be more than content if Dr. Bob were able to block this person's IP address. The attempt at least should be made -- it might not work, it might take a few tries before he gives up, but it might work too. We really don't have any reason to suppose that this person is at all internet-savvy. As I noted above, it's clear he needs help; do we let him destroy this forum in our efforts to give him that help when he does not *desire* it?
poster:Elizabeth
thread:29795
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000411/msgs/29950.html