Tarm: Yes. It's how you use an opinion that makes you a troll. ;)
Abuh?
tinyE: You replied to a troll that you should ignore trolls. :P
Get it?
Ah!
I should have been more clear. A troll is only a troll as long as he trolls, moderator talking, and therefore only his trolling behaviour should be ignored. I'ts not uncommon for trolls to be contributing members once broken of their trolling ways.
That said if the troll person is truly an unmitigated troll ass person complete ignorance might be the only way to handle said thing to get it to leave. :P
Tarm: I don't need to be. Having used computers and the internet since they were available for ordinary citizens and also having been a forum mod here and there made that conclusion pretty self explanatory.
You ignore a troll or mute its attention seeking or controversial posts it goes away seeking other places on the internet.
thomq: Yep, seems to me like a standard tactic used by communities with homeless people, too. In essence perhaps reality is all in the eye of the beholder: ignore what's going on and the resulting lack of relationships becomes perceived as a value more than as a symptom of a disease. No need for participation because comfort is found by thinking differently or prioritizing everything else. OTOH, is anyone practiced enough to establish and nurture relationships anyway, let alone have the time to do so? So yep, ignoring can feel like least effort.
Plain english please?