Easy and Effective Tools To Deal With Internet Trolls

Yes, it does. In reference to another site which was notorious for the mods/admins allowing their friends to get away with posts that would get others they didn't like banned. We're equal-opportunity enforcers based on content, not who is posting, over here.

How Your Biased Brain Makes You a Jerk Online (and How to Stop It)
Adam Dachis
August 19, 2013

Whether a temporary asshole or a full-blown troll, the internet makes it easy to become any kind of jerk. This doesn’t just happen because we sit at a computer far from the people who engage us in arguments, but because of our built-in biases. The good news? If you can get a handle on the way the brain’s natural mechanics sabotage your thinking, you can avoid some pretty stupid online fights.

I can’t go forward without first stating the bad news: the people who are reading this post probably don’t need to (and those of you reading who are trolls probably aren’t going to change because of this article). Occasional jerks happen, but no one has perfect control over their emotions and occasional brain malfunctions. Haters gonna hate, and you can’t change them by learning why. Fortunately, you can use this understanding of our overactive biases to understand where the trolls and assholes get their steam. You can feel smarter for not engaging, know exactly why, and move on with your life.

Read more to learn about Halo Effect, Confirmation Bias (and how to combat it), and Truth Bias.

Good stuff. Here's another older article from that article in Lifehacker

How to Stop Caring About Trolls and Get On With Your Life
Whitson Gordon
10/27/11

The word "trolling" actually comes from a fishing technique in which one casts out bait to catch fish—and that's exactly what internet trolls do. They use rude statements and other techniques to try to "lure" you into getting angry or responding. Often, they latch onto powerful individuals, in order to feel more powerful themselves.

One of the easiest ways to spot a troll is their completely lack of reason. Trolls will lash out and be purposely offensive to draw you in, rather than actually saying something of value. In their statements, you'll see a very "I'm right and everyone else here is wrong" attitude.

A positive attitude can get you through anything, and while you can keep yourself from responding to a troll, it's nearly impossible to ignore them altogether... The best defense for keeping your sanity intact is to just have a sense of humor about it. ...if you accidentally get yourself lured into a discussion, you can either try avoiding, or attempt to fizzle out the argument yourself. We've talked about using "cognitive therapy" once before : if you kill them with kindness, you'll thwart their plans much easier.

I was intrigued by the claim that people who read fiction are more empathetic, and thus not as prone to hasty, vitriol-filled instant replies. If that research holds true, I'd like to see if subcategories of science fiction readers are even more so, due to the even greater creative content, forward-thinking ideas, and open-minded equality often heralded in stories of the future.

Regardless, his comment about "an era in which partisans stake their ground and fortify their opinions at the start rather than the end of a discussion, is that people are more likely to be moved by information that challenges their prejudices if they’re prevented from responding to it straightaway" coupled with the suggestion of pausing before responding, I believe would eliminate much rudeness that we see online everywhere. It's not just that we're "anonymous" and missing visual cues, it's that we forget to listen and contemplate what the other person may be saying, or not saying, before replying with our own thoughts. I know when I type up a reply, and walk away for a bit, I always think of ways to improve what I'm saying or have new thoughts occur as I mull over a subject (it's why I haven't been participating in too many debates here in the Courthouse lately, just because I don't have the proper time to do so at the moment).

See if this article resonates, I know it did for me.

For 2014, Tweet Less, Read More
By FRANK BRUNI
Published: December 30, 2013

On social media, on many blogs and along other byways of the Internet, the person you disagree with isn’t just misinformed but moronic, corrupt, evil. Complaints become rants. Rants become diatribes.

For more than two decades, there’s been a celebration of slow food. What we really need is slow debate. It would trade the sugary highs and lows of rapid-fire outrage for a more balanced diet. We’d be healthier. Probably happier, too.

“Count to 10 before you speak,” [my mother] frequently said, and she meant not just that you can’t take back what’s already been uttered. She meant that pauses are the spaces in which passions cool, civility gets its oxygen, and wisdom quite possibly finds its wings. She meant that slowing things down often classes them up.

Lately there’s been a bit of academic attention to our etiquette online, which is where so many of us spend more and more of our time. It rightly notes how much rudeness makes its way onto message boards and into Facebook threads, how quickly the back-and-forth on websites turns nasty.

Conversely, there was talk this year about the benefits of an activity that’s in some ways the antithesis of texting and tweeting with their rat-tat-tat rhythm. That activity is the reading of fiction. According to some researchers, people who settle into it are more empathetic — more attuned to what those around them think and feel — than people who don’t. But I’d bet big on real reading, fiction or nonfiction, as a prompt for empathy and a whole lot more: coolheadedness, maybe even open-mindedness, definitely deliberation.

The author mentioned this book in the article, so I wanted to call it out as it's got a good rating on Amazon (4.5 stars with 431 reviews written) and might also be of use if you're into extra reading:

“The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion,” , Published 2012, by Jonathan Haidt.

If you observe this (or previous identifiers of troll behavior)...
8 Habits of Intolerant People
A psychotherapist makes some observations about people who are quick to anger, resentful and intolerant of others.
By Mark Goulston
January 18, 2014

1. They are often fanatical.
2. They are usually psychologically rigid.
3. They are know-it-alls.
4. They are terrible listeners.
5. They often have tension in their relationships.
6. They believe you are either in control or out of control.
7. They can't leave anything to chance.
8. They are frequently jealous deep down.

...they are not practicing this: