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...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...Things to keep in mind and practice when arguing with Trolls.