Banning Morons 101
This is not what I was going to rant about earlier, but for the benefit of me not hitting something and for that of others who have this problem, rant I shall.
The problem, you ask?
Trolls.
I'm not talking Harry Potter mountain trolls or LotR cave trolls. I'm taking about serial-adders and malicious spammers. I've had five of them add me since the day HBP came out (not a huge span of time). That first one spoiled the book for me. I commented in their journal about how angry they made me, which was my first mistake in the whole business. I didn't yet know how to deal with trolls.
Today, after being added by yet another troll, I decided to go back to that first one and delete my comments just in case, so they couldn't bother me. I found this just a bit down from my deleted comment.
Warning- the username of this account contains spoilers for HBP -link- (Post no longer there- they said I should have been killed at birth. How nice.).
Now, that really upset me. Almost to the point of 1)wanting to cuss them out and 2)wanting to cry just a bit, but then I remembered that they were just trolls who didn't know me, so the most I could do is get the word out. Please don't comment in that journal. It only encourages them. I imagine they'll be all over me after this anyway. Bring it on, you assholes.
Here's a quick how-to on troll.
Part 1- Spotting a Troll
Some one has just friended you. If they have not asked permission to do so, you should always check them out before friending them back. You should check the list of friends to see if you have any mutual friend. Do the same with their groups. Often if you share some of these things, this person is not a troll. But not always. The next step is to check their last post. Trolls often have only one or two posts which usually contain something offensive. Also the comments will be filled with people asking to be de-friended. THAT'S YOUR BIGGEST HINT OF ALL. Once you've identifed a troll, DO NOT comment on their journal to defriend you. If you do, you're giving them the ability to not only harass you at will, but also to spread your username to other trolls. You should go back and delete all your comments in their journal so they can't mess with you anymore before moving on.
Part 2- Removal
So you've spotted a troll. Now it's time to get ride of them. Saddly, you can't make them defriend you, but you can ban them. Banning makes it so some one can not comment on your journal using their user name and removes them from your 'Friends Of' list. To ban someone do the following
Go to http://www.livejournal.com/admin/console/
In the text area, type ban_set username
And of course, you replace 'username' with their's.
Click 'Execute'.
The Troll is now banned.
So now that troll can no longer bother you. The problem with trolls however, is that they tend to travel in packs. Watch out. You should also consider turning off Anon comments, just to be safe.
Hope that was helpful.
This has been a PSA from your resident Troll hunter,
-Danielle (aka Ender)
The problem, you ask?
Trolls.
I'm not talking Harry Potter mountain trolls or LotR cave trolls. I'm taking about serial-adders and malicious spammers. I've had five of them add me since the day HBP came out (not a huge span of time). That first one spoiled the book for me. I commented in their journal about how angry they made me, which was my first mistake in the whole business. I didn't yet know how to deal with trolls.
Today, after being added by yet another troll, I decided to go back to that first one and delete my comments just in case, so they couldn't bother me. I found this just a bit down from my deleted comment.
Warning- the username of this account contains spoilers for HBP -link- (Post no longer there- they said I should have been killed at birth. How nice.).
Now, that really upset me. Almost to the point of 1)wanting to cuss them out and 2)wanting to cry just a bit, but then I remembered that they were just trolls who didn't know me, so the most I could do is get the word out. Please don't comment in that journal. It only encourages them. I imagine they'll be all over me after this anyway. Bring it on, you assholes.
Here's a quick how-to on troll.
Part 1- Spotting a Troll
Some one has just friended you. If they have not asked permission to do so, you should always check them out before friending them back. You should check the list of friends to see if you have any mutual friend. Do the same with their groups. Often if you share some of these things, this person is not a troll. But not always. The next step is to check their last post. Trolls often have only one or two posts which usually contain something offensive. Also the comments will be filled with people asking to be de-friended. THAT'S YOUR BIGGEST HINT OF ALL. Once you've identifed a troll, DO NOT comment on their journal to defriend you. If you do, you're giving them the ability to not only harass you at will, but also to spread your username to other trolls. You should go back and delete all your comments in their journal so they can't mess with you anymore before moving on.
Part 2- Removal
So you've spotted a troll. Now it's time to get ride of them. Saddly, you can't make them defriend you, but you can ban them. Banning makes it so some one can not comment on your journal using their user name and removes them from your 'Friends Of' list. To ban someone do the following
Go to http://www.livejournal.com/admin/console/
In the text area, type ban_set username
And of course, you replace 'username' with their's.
Click 'Execute'.
The Troll is now banned.
So now that troll can no longer bother you. The problem with trolls however, is that they tend to travel in packs. Watch out. You should also consider turning off Anon comments, just to be safe.
Hope that was helpful.
This has been a PSA from your resident Troll hunter,
-Danielle (aka Ender)