re: #8 iceweasel

I always thought that ‘no attention at all’, for a new poster, drives them off faster than either upvoting or downvoting does. If you put yourself out there to make a comment at all, you want some kind of response, and just like with little kids, they consider negative attention to always be better than no attention at all.

…but how do the infamous “dead-thread heros” factor into this equation? To me, that kind of thing seems to result from a “Ha-ha, I got the last word, therefore I’m right and you’re wrong” type of mindset. So, I’m thinking it probably is a good idea to leave a mocking, dismissive response if you want to defeat that type of troll.

I’m also reluctant to advocate ignoring as an automatic response because, unfortunately, silence is still interpreted as consent :/ (i.e. a failure to rebut or downding an odious position implies agreement or acquiescence…to say nothing of letting lies just sit there unaddressed)