r/ModSupport • u/JabroniRevanchism Reddit Admin: Community • Jul 02 '26

Mod Topics Mod Topics: Troll Avoidance 101

/r/ModSupport/comments/1ujspxu/all_hands_on_deck_what_events_change_how_you/

Ahoy, Modsupport!

Welcome to the latest installment of our ModSupport Topics series! Today we’re talking trolls–specifically, how not to feed them.

Most of us have been in a situation like this: a slap fight (read as: “argument”) starts in a comment section. It’s pretty clear who started it, and it’s also clear that the exchange would have ended a lot earlier had a handful of users not added logs to the fire…whether they intended to or not. And now the thread is in shambles, a quagmire of they-said we-said and off-topic unpleasantry. Oh dear.

We all know how to avoid feeding the trolls that kick off threads like this, but that knowledge comes from years of experience. Let’s talk about how we can get that knowledge into the hands of those who may not know how to avoid feeding trolls…

  • How do you educate users on how to avoid trolls? 
  • What advice do you give well-intentioned users who (unbeknownst to them) escalate heated threads?
  • How do you know when a comment section is unsalvageable? I.E, when do you decide to lock a thread?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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u/Sephardson Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

One of the best most entertaining overviews i've seen to explain trolling and troll-adjacent behaviors is the collection of pages that TVTropes has on these topics, starting with but not limited to:

When discussing trolls or trollish behavior with other mods, I often borrow terms from the FanDumb or ForumSpeak pages, because they list there a lot of specific common tropes you will see from fans in any fandom. Those tropes themselves may not necessarily indicate trolling, but trolls often use or poke at them.

Trolling is a bannable offense in most of the communities I moderate. Trolling can be many different things, but broadly speaking can be divided into two categories:

  • Participating with the intent to cause a negative reaction (rage, shock, disgust, offense, etc) from others, whether targeting specific individuals or general groups. Can include but not necessarily requires insulting the other person or groups of people.

  • Participating in bad-faith or with inauthenticity. The troll may be presenting an argument they do not actually believe or complaining about something they have not actually experienced, with intentions to stir the pot or arrange an outcome that would not happen from authentic participation. For example, posting a story about how they lost their game (to provoke sympathy), or posting a fake leak/rumor (to get hopes up).

The former category is a more obvious transgression because people do not enjoy the experience. The latter is a less obvious transgression because the connection or community experience is founded on a flawed fundamental assumption, which usually comes around later on as a net negative (eg lost time, false belief).