Help:Don't feed the trolls


 * By the Wikia Community Team

One of the most important lessons to learn on-line is don't feed the trolls. This means that every time you react to those trying to provoke you, you are giving them what they want... and the more you do that, the more they will be back for more.

Excited and dramatic reactions encourage them to continue or escalate their bad behavior, to see just how upset you will get. Pages, templates, or categories that "mark" vandals and trolls give them the recognition they are looking for. The creation of "anti-vandal" campaigns can turn the attack and protection of the wiki into a game for them. Angry or derogatory words in block messages or on talk pages can encourage troublemakers to try to return and retaliate, in order to "get the last word in".

On wikis, we have to react a little, by reverting the damage, and that's part of the reason that there will always be some vandalism on Wikia. But our reaction should be as calm and as limited as possible. We fix the mess, and we go back to doing what we came here to do - making this an excellent place for all who love their projects.

Ignore the trolls, and get back to writing the best articles you can. All that needs to be done is to revert, block, and ignore, and contact staff if local admins need additional help with blocking or repairs.