What Can Bloggers Do About Trolling?

March 18, 2013 Blogging Guide

Trolling is an increasing problem, with more youngsters than ever engaging in online buying. Youth charities, schools and parents are waging their own battles against this phenomenon, but website owners also have a level of responsibility to make it as difficult as possible for trolls to thrive. So how can sites owners help prevent this particularly nasty trend?

Trolls and social media

As you can imagine, places where younger people hang out are more likely to be affected by trolling. Social media sites such as Reddit, for example, are more adult-focused and their emphasis on unrestricted free speech doesn’t tend to generate as many trolls as, say, Facebook. And trolling has unfortunately made extensive inroads into the gaming community, another place where youngsters tend to outnumber adults.

How does Facebook help prevent trolling?

Facebook’s Help facility includes plenty of advice about what teens and their parents can do to deter trolls. They encourage kids to anonymously report incidents of trolling, informing the network itself and also recommending they tell a trusted teacher or parent. They provide ways to block trolls from accessing accounts and posting nasty stuff on people’s timelines. And they give guidelines about how to spot imposter accounts, set up in someone’s name for trolling purposes. But Facebook will only actually remove content that violates its Terms.

 How does Twitter prevent trolling?

Twitter tends to attract a higher proportion of adults, so trolling isn’t as much of an issue. But because the network allows users to block or report spam or offensive content with a simple click of the mouse, it’s relatively quick and easy to get rid of trolls in your community. Once they’re blocked, that’s that.

What about gaming communities?

According to Gamasutra, most people who give up online gaming do so because of trolling. Many sites provide an ignore button. Then there’s Karma, a tool used by the Geek portal SlashDot to enable its community to moderate itself. As a registered user you can vote posts up and down, giving individuals a karma score that highlights when they’re behaving less than responsibly. 

How can smaller websites combat trolling?

One of the keys to keeping trolls at bay is to use human moderators to spot troll behaviour and head it off at the pass. As the owner of a smaller site, you probably don’t have the resources to employ a load of moderators to patrol your community full-time. But because trolls can drive users away in their droves, your business is at risk – so how can you put a stop to it?

Some site owners swear by creating a formal comment policy, which clarifies exactly what’s acceptable and what isn’t. They also set guidelines for dealing with trolls: first messaging offenders to send a warning shot across their bow, then issuing a public warning, then escalating things by going as far as banning IP addresses if people persist.

By creating a solid policy, you put in place the right expectations from the offset, with everyone fully aware of the rules. When people know what’s OK and what isn’t, they have the knowledge they need to police your site for you. And a surprising number of them will do exactly that, collaborating to protect the place they enjoy using.

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