Why do some forum owners refuse to ban trolls?

[The_Arctic_Outcry]

On a Forum were I had been a member for years , there is a member who is well disliked by everyone. This person does a lot of violations but he doesn't get banned while other people who tried trolling easily gets banned. This gave members a theory that this person is protected by the admins and moderators. Why would a forum owner refuse to ban someone who is wrecking havok on a forum?

I think it is okay to be opinionated member with unpopular opinions is acceptable because debating is part of a Forum but converting everything into a flame war and bullying people crosses the line.

 

[bluegreen]

I'm also in the same situation you passed a few years ago... But with more than one problematic user, my personal opinion is simply this one: it gives some activity to the forum, he can be hated but if he still posts there and creates activity (even if it's just people hating him) it's good for the people that come for the first time because they will see a very active forum!

 

[Bilby]

Different things can produce this effect. The user may be very good at bending but not technically breaking the rules. They may provide value that compensated for their outbursts. Or there may be some effect of familiarity or friendship. It may even be that they know about some person reason to give this guy more leeway.

I think that a polite inquiry to the forum owner may prompt them to provide some insight, or help them appreciate how this user is effecting you as a user.

 

[GunSlinger]

I have seen a lot of this happen and like the others have said, there are different reasons why he isn't banned. One is that the troll may be in good terms with the mods of the forum hence, he has some protection from the rules. Another which is that he isn't really breaking the rules and is just walking the borders. Another one which is that it generates a bit of publicity. It may not be good but remember that there is no bad advertisement and if that troll attract users to the site, some forums won't ban him but will probably regulate his actions so it doesn't get out of hand.
There are other reasons for not banning a troll but I feel these three are the most common reasons there is.

 

[Danielle Davidson]

I have always wondered this and I have to chalk it up to the fact that they don't care. I have heard stories from people who say that someone was trolling them and they wrote to the owner and they didn't hear anything bad. You would think that the owner would try and do something about that because you don't want people like that on your blog. I heard that it got so bad, people who had started with the blog stopped going on because they didn't want to be trolled anymore. I just think that those owners don't care, because that's the only thing that I can think of.

 

[dyanmarie25]

I have also seen the same thing happen in other forums. Probably these users who keep trolling on forums somehow help with the flow of the discussions, and other forum posters would either argue or agree with them. Thus, increasing the traffic of the said forum because people are interested to see what would happen next so they keep coming back. Just my opinion though.

 

[briannagodess]

I think it is because it generates some drama in the forum. And of course drama increases views or posts. Sometimes, negative things like a troll can hype up a site and even sometimes, make it popular.

Of course, it is up to the owner to remove the troll. But sometimes the owner wants drama to generate views or simply just does not care.

 

[The_Arctic_Outcry]

It is making a hypocrite out of the owners though because the person is doing violations. Now it makes me realize that the owner keep a single troll because of the drama and controversy. They ban all the trolls but they keep that single despicable creature. He got banned once but he kept on registering. Many people theorized he goes to cyber cafes and public WiFi places that's why IP blocking don't work. I felt like they just gave up. I tried to tell people to ignore him but I cant stop them because he is really good at pissing them off. I didn't know that negative publicity can increase website traffic.

 

[Marmar]

I came across a member like that in a forum and the admins or moderators did not do anything to him either. He was horrible and always made people feel bad. His comments were always about making fun of people and being a hueHe skeptic about everything. Like if someone said that they have encountered a ghost before, he would say that they were crazy and should go to a psychiatrist ward. It was annoying and no matter how many times that we reported him, he was never banned and was always able to comment. So we figured that he must have been the owner or one of the admins or moderators of the forum

 

[Marmar]

I'm also in the same situation you passed a few years ago... But with more than one problematic user, my personal opinion is simply this one: it gives some activity to the forum, he can be hated but if he still posts there and creates activity (even if it's just people hating him) it's good for the people that come for the first time because they will see a very active forum!

That's very true. You made a good point there. People would be more interested in the forum because of that. They like entertainment, and trolls really do entertain lol, but they're also super annoying

 

[Alexandoy]

Our office forum has some trolls now and they seem to be enjoying that site. Since they are not robots so they add to the hits that's why we just let them. Besides, we don't see any spamming that they do. From my rough estimates, there are more than 10 trolls that inhabit the site. What's funny is they post nonsense comments in old posts. Even posts more than 5 years ago are being dug out. I guess those trolls have some other intention that's why we are on the lookout for what they would do next.

 

[The_Arctic_Outcry]

The troll I talk about is the only protected troll. Then other trolls gets banned on their first few seconds but this controversial troll is make to get away all of his crimes in the east 5 years. Yes that is how long he had been trolling the site with his bullying, spamming, and caps lock typing. He is doing his best to make people reach their boiling point. Everything about him is just pure annoyance. If I will win the lottery, I will, bribe the owner to ban him for good. Many of my friends on that forum quits the site because of that annoyingly disgusting excuse of a person . I hate the fact this person and I are from the same country, so I just lie about my country so I won't be associated with him.

 

[briannagodess]

It is making a hypocrite out of the owners though because the person is doing violations. Now it makes me realize that the owner keep a single troll because of the drama and controversy. They ban all the trolls but they keep that single despicable creature. He got banned once but he kept on registering. Many people theorized he goes to cyber cafes and public WiFi places that's why IP blocking don't work. I felt like they just gave up. I tried to tell people to ignore him but I cant stop them because he is really good at pissing them off. I didn't know that negative publicity can increase website traffic.

Drama and negative comments really increase a website traffic. I know this one beauty blog where she was bullied by a commenter that she does not look pretty enough to be a blogger. All the other bloggers came to her rescue and of course that post has received a ton of comments from other bloggers. So cyberbullies or trolls, really does generate views or comments to a site.

 

[The_Arctic_Outcry]

I just end out that there are forum owners who hire a person to troll the board to shake things up in the forum. I will never resort to a gimmick like this because if I will create a forum, I want people to go there to have fun and have escape from their problems and not to be annoyed by a jerk who is a negative force that will drive the members away instead of staying. I can't believe that there are actually professional trolls for hire who were paid to stir things up.

 

[bluegreen]

That's very true. You made a good point there. People would be more interested in the forum because of that. They like entertainment, and trolls really do entertain lol, but they're also super annoying

Of course you can be very limited from the beginning and raise a forum without trolls and only the best members and best commentators/writers. But it would be much harder IMHO, unless the main theme is something that interest to all people for example
Haters gonna hate, no matter what you do, so the best option to deal with them is up to you and what you want to do with your forum if you want a more serious one, don't accept a single troll and always warn them as soon as they break the rules. Or you can create a more open mind forum where you just want activity

 

[The_Arctic_Outcry]

I just did something brave today, I confronted the admin of the site where I am an active member, In love that forum so much that I am on that place since I was 12 and I am 30 years old now. If you think about it, the admin must respect me because I am a founding member and I stayed on that site for free. I told the admin how many veteran members are quitting a 17 year old forum because of a troll that he refuse to ban. The admin answered that banning is useless an IP banning is useless because the troll is renting internet in commercial cybercafes. The admin said he banned him before but he kept coming back.