Due to recent events I am reposting this as a friendly reminder:

-Trolls are basement-dwelling assholes. If they get through, you'll figure them out almost instantly.

-Spammers are broke zombies/robots/both. All they want are your monies.

There is a difference.

And now people:

-If you register multiple accounts with one IP address, you will be considered a troll or a spammer and your account will be axed.

-Troll/spam accounts are deleted. Unless we can do half-assed funny things to their account (see Mike S), there's no use in wasting space in the memberlist.

-Responding to any messages from basement-dwelling zombie robots will get your account axed for a week. All you are doing is giving the orangutans more crap to throw at the spectators.

Read the following crap on Trolls and Spammers

Thank you and have a Merry Christmas.
--Jon

But how do you know if you're responding to a troll? Do they seem like members? Or exactly what is a troll or spammer doing here?
Sorry for asking, but I don't know that I would be able to tell if I was being trolled and I don't want to get kicked off the board.

The first few posts of Best of MikeS should give you an idea.

Hi,

I read the best of mike things. I don't get it. Is it just someone who joins a board to post one line nonsense to irritate people? I thought I had a dull life, but I can't imagine doing that for kicks!

Yeah, well this guy's been pulling this crap on countless coaster boards for the past 4-5 years now, before the Zone was even launched.

They do this because they think I'll shut the Zone down, but now it really has become quite old. How this idiot has not come to the thought of "this isn't working" beats me, as it's not even amusing or worth :bricks: anymore.

Trolls and spambots are usually very easy to spot. The MikeS one was very easy, at least to the astute forum member. Trolls usually will come around forums and say something like, "OMG SFGAM SUCKS! WHY DO YOU LOSERS GO THERE??!!!11" Spammers either post nonsense (like MikeS) or ads. I've been on more well known forums and adbots somehow get through and post trying to sell cheap stuff (either cell phones or shoes in my experience). If you happen to find one of them, there is a "Report" button above the post (right next to the quote button). Click that and it will send an email to the moderator. An easy way to make sure you're not responding to a spambot or troll is to make sure the post has some thought in it. If it does, you're usually good. If not, you're probably dealing with a troll or spammer.

That kind of thing is so bizarre, it's almost frightening. I still can't imagine someone registering, getting logged in, etc. just to send stupid one liners or try to insult people on the board. In my day they had a word for people that do those things, they're called.........nuts!