Can we get rid of the no call-out rule for trolls, please?

[Occulus]

Every other forum I've ever been a member of, regarding any subject at all, lacks this rule. The rule allows trolls to exist on DU, allows them to fester, allows them to propagate, and has been dragging this site down from the day I joined. Counting their posts in the Lounge toward their overall count doesn't help, but that's a different story.

Penny Arcade doesn't have this rule (that I'm aware of- they put people in "jail" instead.
Daily Kos doesn't have this rule.
Talk-Polywell doesn't have this rule.

Remember OperationMindCrime? Remember Fredda Weinberg? Remember Vadawg? Remember how excruciatingly long they lasted?

They were all trolls. They were all obvious trolls. We all knew they were trolls.

The membership itself needs to be able to drive them off. Mods are not enough, and never were, as every other discussion forum on the Net already knows- which is why troll call-outs are allowed on every other forum I've ever been a member of.

Please. We need to be able to make it known, publicly, that we know what they are when we see them. It's the only way to stop them in their tracks.

It works on every other forum on the internet. I've been online since Mosaic was the browser of choice. I know this very, very well.

Please. End it.

That is all.

[EarlG]

1. Sorry, that's not the way we want to run the forum.

Personal attacks are against the rules, and calling someone a troll is a personal attack. The mods and admins decide who is welcome on DU and who is not.

Besides, this idea of "driving off the trolls" by yelling "go away troll" at them seems counter-productive to me. If these people really are trolls, then you're just giving them exactly what they want -- attention. My advice to you would be to give them exactly what they don't want -- alert on them so the mods can evaluate their posts, or add them to your ignore list.