Reply #3: I would suggest that you keep posting in the forums you were participating in,

[Peace Patriot]

as well as this one, because there are a lot of lurkers who visit DU, looking for information, a fresh perspective and the enlightened, well-informed views that are absent from the corporate 'news' monopolies. Write for them--for those seeking information and alternative views--not for the trolls.

When trolls assault you, reply with facts and reason, or ignore them, and supply facts and reason for non-participants to consider. In the first case, think of trolls as an opportunity to provide enlightened information to the uninformed who may have open minds. Don't attack the troll directly, sidle around it, with useful comments/info on the topic at hand. If the troll becomes too obnoxious, just ignore the stupid content, and reply (or comment a-fresh) with your own perspective on the issue. Don't get mad. Think of the many non-participating readers who really do want to get better informed. Speak of trolls in the third person, rather than answering directly. (i.e., 'We see some comments in this thread by people who apparently only have the corporate media as their source of information...').

Again--I would like to stress--keep the unseen readers in mind. Imagine that you yourself are an uninformed person seeking information and new ideas. What would you like to see in a thread where a topic of interest has been posted, but stupid trolls have immediately jumped in, to sidetrack the thread, or to decay it into a personal flamefest? You would like to see the well-informed commenters provide the info and analysis that you seek, and bring the thread back on topic, despite the disruption. It's sometimes fun to watch an argument between a stupid, uninformed (or corporate-dis-informed) troll, and someone who knows what they are talking about, and enjoys torpedoing trolls. But that is probably not why you opened the thread--to see an argument, with sometimes bewildering content. You want to know the basics of the subject that are NOT being provided by the corporate media. You are not ready to comment, because you are just getting informed about the issue, or you don't have time, or you are too shy. You are still a "lurker." But you genuinely want to know about the issue.

I think there are a lot of visitors to DU in this category. They know they are being lied to by our corpo/fascist press, and they are looking for alternative info and views. Serve them, not the trolls.

You do NOT have to get into arguments with trolls to participate in such threads. Use some of these techniques, or think up your own, for defeating the purpose of the trolls (to get you into a personal argument, to beat you down and to divert the topic--merely to cause trouble, not to debate reasonably, not to inform). In short, have mercy on the uninformed, and provide them with food for thought.

I have been in the uninformed "lurker" position at times, and have been so grateful to the people who stayed on topic, and filled me in on the subject. Arguments with trolls can become tedious, because the object of trolls is not reasonable and informed debate. I have also closed threads because I could not make heads or tails out of a long, ragging argument back and forth, with little reference to the subject matter. And I really wanted to know about it!

So, if you DO know something--important facts, a fresh perspective, resources for more study--provide it for others.