On Trolls

So, I have my first comment troll. Although I think I know who it is, and I don't think they had any kind of malicious intent, I still deleted their comments for being off topic and insulting. I also banned their IP from commenting.

So, I guess this means I should make my anti-troll policy clear. Here is a quick policy that I just wrote up. Does anybody have any problems with this?

Comments will be deleted and the writer's IP address will be banned from this site for the following reasons:

1. Off topic comments: A comment that is not in the remotest way on the topic of the blog posting or subsequent comments.
2. Insulting comments: A comment that is meant to insult authors of blog post or comments.
3. Indecent comments: A comment which contains indecent material.
4. Spam comments: A comment intended to sell a product or a service.

If I delete a comment that you have written or ban your IP, you may appeal the ban directly to me. E-mail me at .

It should be noted that I have already been banning comment spammers, but trolls are a bit of a new idea. I know that this policy may seem a bit extreme, and if you think so, please tell me. I do want my blog's comments to be an open discussion, but I don't want that discussion cluttered by trolls. I'm just trying to find the best way.

Posted by Noah Brimhall at May 26, 2004 02:28 PM