User blog comment:Sannse/Don't Feed the Trolls/@comment-14250-20120919090010/@comment-8-20120921181233

Those are useful links, thank you.

Something that's said on the first of those pages is: "Forming an internal opinion is fine. It is when you accuse them of having hidden motives that you risk fireworks." I agree with that from two perspectives. Firstly, it goes back to the idea that assuming good faith is always the best starting point - if someone asks a question, it's best to calmly answer rather than assuming they are trolling. And secondly, an accusation that someone is a troll can, in itself, be "feeding"... better to either ignore, or react in a non-confrontational way.

I understand your point about labels and name-calling, there is definitely a risk of mistaking a genuine writer for a troll. But it's also fair to say that there are trolls out there, and it's important that people know not to make things worse with their reactions.