The past few days have been slightly more hostile than normal. There have been a few locked threads for baiting and what appears to be a record-number of moderations within a short period of time; just look at the number of members banned within the past few days. Of course people have responded to these events with their thoughts and opinions on the source of the problem. Unfortunately, instead of blaming the few individual users who are causing the problems, they have condemned large pools of people. This line of thinking is incredibly ineffective and is frankly quite stupid.
One thing everyone needs to realize is groups aren’t the problem. For the most part, the community is pretty good. There isn’t some giant mass of powerful, troublesome users running rampant causing mayhem. Instead, ten times out of ten, there’s a rather small group of individuals causing problems. Oftentimes there’s just one troublemaker. Condemning large pools of people is a very stupid way to respond when a situation gets out of control. Firstly, it blames innocents who had no involvement with the situation, which makes the environment more hostile than it needs to be. But most importantly, instead of pinpointing the true source of the problem, blaming entire groups will do nothing but spread the blame away from the true troublemaker and disperse it across the entire group of people. Needless to say, this does not help moderators pinpoint the trouble.
So instead scorning entire groups when you feel upset, instead you should confront the troublemakers. When confronting these individuals, I recommend using the D.I.P method, a pH.D certified procedure for dealing with trouble in forums. Following the D.I.P method means being direct, immediate, and persuasive. Direct can mean two things; it can mean either directly confronting the troll himself or it can mean directly seeking a moderator when the trouble arises. What you should NOT do is watch the trouble take place and say nothing, only to let it fuel a hate rant in some completely unrelated thread – that’s borderline trolling in itself. You need to attack the problem at its roots. By being immediate, you confront the trouble as quickly as possible when you see it happen. Again, this can be via confronting the troll as soon as he makes a bad post, or seeking a moderator. The quicker, the better. Psychology has shown us that the best way to eliminate unwanted actions is by initiating the punishment as soon as possible after the action is committed.
Perhaps the most important component of the D.I.P method is the last: persuasive. If you want to stop a problem and influence change, there’s only two ways you can do so; either by convincing the troublemaker that he’s actually wrong (this is tough), or by convincing a moderator someone is wrong. Either way, you have to make sure you submit a persuasive argument if you want to influence any change. If you are truly correct and the person you’re confronting is truly wrong, then you should have no problem articulating why they are wrong. Don’t just post “ahh GTFO Troll!” Remember, you’re trying to be convincing. A good rule of thumb is to leave a post that even you would find convincing. If you know you wouldn’t take “you suck you Atari fanboy!” seriously, then you know for sure no one else would. And even if the person is beyond reason, by being persuasive, you are also much more likely to get other people, including moderators, on your side.
tl:dr - If someone does something wrong, don't bottle it up letting fuel your hatred of an entire group of people. Recognize that the troublemakers are individuals and are not representative of any large group. If you really want to improve the site, then follow the D.I.P procedure, which has proven to be very effective when dealing with trolls. Confront the troublemakers at an individual level for maximum improvement.
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