By the way -- attached is an interesting article on trolls in discussion forums. People who troll tend to score high on negative personality traits like sadism (read the article for the actual list). They can break your experience if you let them, or become a non-issue if you know how to handle them.
In the beginning, I used to be appalled at the kinds of comments people would make. They were extremely negative, provocative, and not even justifiable in reality. I would give a reasoned, reasonable response, and they would respond with more offenses and virtriol.
I wondered why I would hear so much of these comments on discussion forums, but never in real life.
Then I read this article attached below. Apparently, people with sadistic personalities LOVE discussion forums. They love taking pot shots at people (even when they don't believe in their content), they love riling up people, and getting their goat. It's their personality -- and a sick source of supply to their egos and well-being, if you can even call it that.
After a while, you may notice a pattern in certain members' posts that mark them this way. The best way to handle them is to simply ignore them. They hate to be ignored or to be treated as if they don't matter. The best thing you can do is participate in positive discussions, make high value-added comments, and establish productive relationships with others. They HATE this.
Don't do it to get back at them though -- do it for the sake of the richness of your life. Fill it with positivity and let the trolls get their narcissistic, sadistic supply elsewhere.
When behavior is clearly inflammatory, report it to moderators and let a few warnings sink into the people who violate the rules.
Interesting, I was reading an article about a past U.S. president's approach to wild claims about his personal life that weren't true. He decided not to respond to them. He decided not to feed the monster. I see that as the best advice for getting the most out of talk bass, along with making a solid contribution that leads to friendships and groups of people on whom you can rely for good advice or commentary when you need it
