07 MAR 2011 by ideonexus

 Advice for Dealing with Trolls

What to do instead So what should we do instead. It's very simple: Ask him what he means. ; interrogate him: "Why do you feel that Python is so bad? What do you find wrong with it?" Agree with him (but use a softer language): "Yes, Perl is a nice language, and I agree that Python has its downsides and/or trade-offs in comparison to Perl." "It's OK to prefer Perl, we'll still accept you here." This will make the troll lose steam and help you find a common ground. And eventually nego...
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An interesting take on the issue, which borrows a page from Wikipedia's suggestions for debate.

07 MAR 2011 by ideonexus

 Advice for Communicating with Trolls Properly

Some Advice for Communicating with Trolls Properly Relax: don't worry if you don't get everything exactly right. Communicate clearly: write in the best spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalisation, idiomatic speech, etc. that you can, no matter how bad the troll's messages were in this respect. It may be a good idea to avoid too high or complicated words, because many foreign speakers of English often have poor English vocabulary. Don't criticise what he says directly or the way he...
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Things to keep in mind and practice when arguing with Trolls.