I have seen a few negative threads where someone interjected that they thought the poster was a troll, and urged everyone not to feed them, and then the thread disappeared. This is my first and only fansite, and I have only been on a few blogs, so I don't quite get it. Is a troll someone who posts things just to stir up controversy and/or upset the real fans? And the idea of not feeding them is to discourage future postings, on the assumption that what they want is to get a massive angry reaction? I'm a bit unsure here.

I may have been guilty of feeding trolls on blogs outside of here before I joined up, but I'm not sure. Even before AI was over, I would see something in the news headlines in Yahoo! about David and find all sorts of crazy posts after it, full of lies and ignorant statements about him. I would reply to try to correct things, but I was always careful to be polite and respectful. I would always find positive things to say about David and his music as well. I admit some of this stuff gets me stirred up, but I've tried hard not to show anger in any replies I've made. But I waver between thinking outright lies can't go unanswered and not wanting to dignify some of it with a response at all. I've noticed on here that before these things get shut down at least some of the facts get corrected usually. I'm just trying to figure out how to address things that show up here and on blogs outside of here.

I look at David and see one of the kindest, most decent, most fan-accomodating people in public life in a very long time, and this brings out every instinct in me to want to defend him (even as he's defended the Archulettas, among others). In outside blogs, I get tired of the assumption he can't be good if he came from AI, usually coming from people who don't know how hard he worked to get where he wass before AI. And I get tired of silly fan war statements, some of them pretty insulting and untrue. It kills me, too, that some fans could demand even more from someone who's already giving so much. The expectations of constant availability, the privacy violations, unwanted touching incidents, the mean-spirited comments, the desire of some to call shots on his private life - they do get me going a bit. Count me as one of those who feels he's gone way above and beyond for his fans, as he really only owes us his music, and he's even given much of that away for nothing.

So, if I defend him here and elsewhere, am I feeding the trolls? Or do I only feed the trolls if I make it obvious that I'm really upset by what was said? Am I right to correct ignorance at least? I don't want to be part of the whole fan war thing. Every artist can stand on his/her own; the contests are over. I just want to enjoy David's music as long as he keeps making it. But it is hard for me not to say something when I see attacks on him. Thoughts? Comments?

I think you should defend David Cook, but not in an obvious way. You should not go after people for saying bad stuff about David Cook. People have their own opinion. This is America, we have free speech. Other people,(who are crazy! ) want to have the chance to say somthing. I mean turn it around. What if you were them. I know, I would not comment on other AI stars. For me, I like to stay out of it, and just post what I think.

Ex) I don't like Ramiel,(no offence to the Ramiel fans) but I just don't like her style of singing.

I know other people just go on and on about who should have won, or David Cook doesn't sing well. Well, I think of it as they are missing out on the fun. I guess it's their loss.

Well that's my opinion! Hope I helped!

In a word, yes. Here's the definition from Wikipedia:

"An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion."

Trolls feed on controversy, so the best thing to do (IMO) is ignore their posts and pm one of the moderators, who generally will delete the thread. I've been a moderator on another forum for a few years and unfortunately, there will always be those who get their kicks out of stirring things up.

Trolls say stuff just for the hell of it - its attention seeking. Ignore them and they will go away.
Fans with genuine view points that just happen to be different from yours are usually easy to tell apart from trolls.

OK, I have a practical example right now under the album discussion, a thread about crush, where I believe a Troll is starting to upset people. How do I PM a moderator? I have no idea what that even means. BTW it is not the person who posted the topic, but a recently added member who has added some rude comments.

Never mind, I just figured out how to PM a moderator and did so. And I just realized my live example was from yesterday. I bet it's been dealt with already. But at least now I know. Thanks for the info.

Under 'Board Statistics' you will see a link for the Mod Team... click on it and you will find a list of all the moderators for the site.

Think that about covers it!

I agree, we don't need this negativity and sadness here, lets just enjoy David for what he is and spread the love .