Posted by Minnie-Haha on May 25, 2005, at 15:06:45
In reply to Re: Dealing with trolls, posted by crushedout on May 25, 2005, at 13:47:52
> well, i still think it's better the more people ignore them. i actually think that positive feedback, like you might be inclined to give them, is less satisfying, and thus if that's all they get, they might go away anyway.
I think ignoring them is a good policy in principle, but not in practice. If everyone did ignore them, all the time, without fail, it would probably serve its purpose. But the fact is not everyone does. They might not know to do it, or they may choose not to do it. But whatever the reason, anytime someone doesn't do it (ignore them), you're reinforcing them even more than if everyone responded every time. What's that psychological thing about intermittent (unpredictable) reinforcement? (Or something like that.) It's way more likely to draw repeated behavior than predictable reinforcement. I know I'm botching the terms, but I think I've got the principle.
poster:Minnie-Haha
thread:502728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050517/msgs/502785.html