Forum Post: Don't feed the trolls - do one of these instead

I believe that the trolls on here are posting in order to distract, alienate, and ultimately waste the time of everyone else on this forum. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done about the trolls short of heavy moderation, which this board clearly does not have.

Trolls make these posts on purpose because they feed off of response. The trolls' language is carefully chosen so that the most people will be compelled to respond. They are trying to create tension, eventually to the point where the people who really care about this movement either leave the boards or leave the movement entirely.

There is a possibility of some sort of concerted effort to dismantle the movement. We would be kidding ourselves to think that there are no entities that would want OWS to fade away. However, I don't think that there is any ulterior motive to these trolls. Most trolls that I run into thrive on the argument. They love confrontation, no matter what it is about or how inane their views are. Its entertainment, and by responding to trolls you are only increasing that person's pleasure.

When helping out with a protest movement against Scientology abuses, the same types of trolls appeared there. I saw a lot of people turned away from that movement thanks to some persistent trolling. I have seen the same types of trolling play out on forum-after-forum, and I don't want to see the same thing turn more people away from this movement.

Instead of responding to trolls, do something productive to help the movement:

1. Post links to pages that you find important on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let your friends and family know that you support Occupy. I know whenever I post something about an instance of police abuse against a peaceful protestor, that it gets re-shared immediately.

2. Take that long 3-page-long post that are about to post here, and send it to your local newspaper as a letter to the editor or opinion piece instead. You have a higher chance of your point being made in front of many more sets of eyes than on this forum, and this will show people who aren't following the movement 24/7 that a) we're still here and b) we have valid viewpoints.

3. Heck, take the highlights of what you want to say, and make a flyer out of it! There are plenty of programs on all of the major OS's that will allow you to create nice-looking flyers. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard, but GIMP is a great free alternative that will provide you with the tools that you need.

Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

Tutorials - http://www.tech-faq.com/make-a-flyer.html http://vimeo.com/23992721

1. Distribute flyers about the movement or your local Occupy in your town. Look around at the local businesses. Some will have community boards where you can put up your flyers. If you are flyering outside on buildings or other structures, you will need some thick tape. I recommend some clear packing tape, 2-3 inches wide. Tape all the way down on each side so that your flyer doesn't get easily torn down by the wind or by someone else. Look at the way that other flyers are posted in your town and try to make yours stand out in a similar fashion.

2. Build an Occupy blog or "fan site." Everyone has their own views on the movement, and getting yours out there on a dedicated site brings more attention to the overall movement. Wordpress and other blogging sites make it incredibly easy to build your own blogs.

Wordpress - http://wordpress.com/

1. Participate in a working group. Chances are that your local Occupy group needs more help. There are things for everyone to do both on and offline. Go find your local group and see where more hands are needed.

2. Participate in the 99percentdeclaration or other political groups. For those of you that are complaining about the movement's activity on the political front, did you know that there are numerous petitions, websites, and projects in the works right now to push for political change according to our common demands? Personally, I am going to help out with the 99percentdeclaration, but there are other movements as well like Free Elect and quite a few calls for Constitutional Amendments, Article V conventions, etc. Sign some of the petitions that you agree with, or donate to one of these causes and help make the National General Assembly or other political actions a reality.

99percentdeclaration - https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/ Americans Elect - http://www.americanselect.org/

1. Post in a forum that isn't troll-infested. It seems that the people on The Multitude are having productive discourse, compared to the troll-fest that we have here: http://www.themultitude.org/forum/index.php

Is there anything else productive that people could be doing right now to help Occupy instead of responding to trolls? Post your ideas below.