Member Avatar for harishankar

I've considered this question in some detail.

Actually I've seen many "spammers" who advertise their site and then get banned after one warning.

I've also seen unbearable trolls being given a long rope. Some of these trolls reach unbelievable heights of "trollsmanship" by the nonsense they spout regularly without contributing an iota to the community they belong to.

Yet these trolls are not banned because they don't break the "written rules".

What are your thoughts on this? How would you handle a regularly annoying troll as compared to an occasional member who "spams" or "advertises" their site on your forum?

Personally I prefer a "spammer" any day to a troll.

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Persistent, repeat disruptors do far more long-term damage than a one-off promotional post: they erode trust, lower participation, and raise the moderator workload. That pattern shows up across the thread (comments from , , , and ). The practical response is not just a harsher knee-jerk ban, but a clear, short process that treats pattern behavior differently from isolated rule breaches.

Suggested moderation triage (example):

  1. Log and classify — capture timestamps and post links so patterns are visible.
  2. Private warning — quote the offending content, cite the rule, state the expected behavior and next consequence.
  3. Short suspension (48–72 hours) for repeats — gives cooling-off and signals seriousness.
  4. Escalate to longer suspensions or account removal for serial evasion.
  5. Immediate removal for threats, doxxing, hate speech or other severe abuse.

Damage control steps that preserve community health: lock or split a hijacked thread, soft-delete the inflammatory posts while keeping the original context, and post a short moderator note explaining the action. Use reporting tools, post cooldowns for new accounts, and simple automated filters to catch obvious spam so moderators can focus on judgment calls. Encourage the community to use an “ignore/mute” feature instead of feeding a troll.

Policy notes and safeguards: add a concise definition of disruptive behavior to the rules, publish an appeals route, keep brief moderation logs for transparency, and rotate moderator duty to avoid fatigue or bias. Consistent, documented enforcement — not ad hoc tolerance — prevents the slow decline and described, while still allowing legitimate debate.

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Member Avatar for Dani

Trolls are pains because they're hard as heck to get rid of. So I, too, would prefer the spammer to the troll. If someone's blatantly trolling but not violating any written rules, it's time to update the site rules. Every forum's site rules should include a no trolling clause ;)

Member Avatar for stargate3216

Tolls are wose. SPAMers spam a little bit when tolls try to wreck the forum.

Member Avatar for SiteTutor

I definitely prefer the one post wonders, they are easier to ignore. You don't have to even delete those, they will bury themselves in the new threads. It's the ppl that can't stay away, keep coming back and turn good conversation into sling fests, those are the type that make some members leave and others not wanting to join.

Member Avatar for Dani

Tolls are wose. SPAMers spam a little bit when tolls try to wreck the forum.

Very true ;)

Member Avatar for «þ»

Definitely the trolls are worse.

One-time spammers are rare (for me) but trolls just keep on going (not necessarily on my own forum)

Member Avatar for harishankar

You know what I find most amazing? That on most sites, the spammers get banned after a single offence (or after a warning) while the trolls keep getting away with almost anything. Except a few forums, I've seen trolls cause reckless havoc before being ejected. The damage is done far earlier than when the moderators step in and douse the flames. And yes. I think trolls do affect a community because I myself stop posting on that forum (or post less often) and I think that most normal community members will feel put off by them.

I think under-moderated communities stand to lose a lot more in the long run than over-moderated communities. I used to believe that too much moderation is not good, but of late I believe that you can never have enough moderation especially in a large community which attracts a wide variety of people.

I think that there needs to be a clear definition and policy which moderates trolls and not just the occasional technical rule-breaker.

Member Avatar for Dani

Thank you for your feedback. It was a good read.

Member Avatar for harishankar

Thank you for your feedback. It was a good read.

No problem. I recently had such an experience on another forum and I based this on my experience.

Regards. :cheesy:

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