Personal Attacks

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A cold shiver of dread moves through my body. There's the name and you know nothing good is going to come of it. Out of the blue their hate and pain coming pouring out and hits you like a bolt of lightning. What do I do?

In real life, stepping on a personal landmine happens too often. Apologizing and backing away usually works.

In cyberspace, it is not so easy. The outburst is not always about you. Some trigger set them off and they are trolling to hit back. But, all that hate still hurts and is very difficult for me to understand or process.

How should I respond to a personal attack on WP?

In the long run, the most efficient response is likely to ignore the personal attack altogether.

However, I think this is difficult to do for a lot of people, especially those on the autistic spectrum.

The second-best option is to report the personal attack to the moderators in the Moderator Attention thread:
viewtopic.php?t=237032

The worst response is to start fighting back. If you are encountering an internet troll, that's essentially what he/she is hoping for.

Thank you, that is excellent advice.

I don't like to report people. I just like to get my two cents in sometimes, then put the person on Ignore.

It's better to ignore idiots. Responding to them provides attention and credence for them.

If they go too far please feel free to report it to us as personal attacks are not allowed on WP, and we can't open every single thread on here.

Why would anybody attack a Goatfish, anyway?

You seem like a nice person.

LOL, I learned from the master

Report the offenders to the mods, and then do your best to ignore them.

Failure to report an offense is giving what's called "Tacit Approval" to the offender's activities - this is where "being nice" actually contributes to the problem.

To answer your question, goatfish are good eats.

What happens when you report a member?

Goats are hard to catch, though...and they have lethal horns.

How effective is "Foe" status? It seems when I have used it, the person still shows up in a thread, still shows up on the index (for any threads started or last reply); as far as I can tell, the only thing that changes is you can't search the person's past comments.

It depends on the frequency and severity of the offense(s). If a person is an obvious troll from the start, they might get a warning, then a suspension, then a banishment. If they're a sock-puppeteer or a spammer, then they get banned, and their posts are moved to an inaccessible location. If the person seems to be having personal issues of their own, then the mods may take more effort to counsel the individual in acceptable behavior.

There are more variations on these "rules"; but know that once reported, the offenders are watched more closely by the moderators of this website.

Just be careful about what you report. A different opinion is not an attack. Correcting erroneous data is not an attack. Pointing out false assumptions, bigotry, invalid opinions, and superstitious nonsense are not attacks.

As long as the alleged "attack" addresses only want was said, and not the person who said it, the alleged "attack" is not a personal one.

You should ask yourself if you're really the target of a personal attack, or if you were just overthinking it, or simply just misinterpreted them. In either case, a second opinion from a different perspective couldn't hurt, right?

As to your response, I find that it's best to simply turn the other cheek, or give them the benefit of the doubt, because maybe their not really angry with you, and are simply having a bad day. As I always say "forgive, and forget", three little words that have never steered me wrong.

Though if their persistent, then perhaps contacting a Moderator would be for the best, at least in the long run.

Thank you, repeat offenders seem to be a problem

That's what happens when you "Turn the other cheek".