Afternoon.
Thought it might help to explain our position on this a bit.
First of all, the most important thing you can do is report a suspected troll to us. Otherwise, we don't know they're there and we can't do anything about it.
You'd be amazed how often we get a report, arrive on a thread and find 15 gazillion posts saying "troll" (or equiv). And we've had just this ONE report.
If it is indeed a troll, the sooner we're alerted to it, the quicker we can get rid.
Secondly, it's really important to know that, sometimes, what may seem obvious, as-hairy-hooved-as-it's-possible-to-get trolling can be absolutely genuine. And, in that situation, it's absolutely horrible, when you're in the middle of a hideous real-life situation and desperate for advice and support, to see post after post calling "troll" or worse.
And it happens far more than you'd think. We know because we can see stuff (namechanges etc) that you can't.
It's even happened to one or two of us at MNHQ.
That's why we have a rule about no trollhunting. As we say in our Talk Guidelines: 'we'd rather err on the side of being taken in than of accusing a genuine poster, who's in need of support, of being a troll'.
Yes, there are times when we may look like complete twats but we reckon that has to be better than the alternative.
And finally, don't forget that there's nothing a troll likes more than an almighty hoohah: everyone jumping up and down being outraged/shocked/offended and posting "I've reported this!"
In troll world, that's scoring a bullseye - giving them just the kind of attention they're looking for.
Far better, in our view, is to starve them of that attention, quietly report without posting - and let them be zapped to oblivion if that's what's needed.