Feeding Trolls is BAD

I did a bad thing. Well, a couple really. First of all, after a night of Epic Fail, I logged in to WoW to try and pick myself up. The first thing I see is a new member cursing out the guild. Now, if you’ve read that link, you’d know I was already IN Mama Bear mode. I’m fiercely loyal to this guild, they took me in, they put up with me, they have treated me really well. So, Lady Jess went on a Jessyfit with the troll.

Do I know better? yes. Should I have restrained myself, yes. But I did not.  The issue was, he asked a question in gchat, during a 25 man raid, and didn’t get a reply. Well, that happens. We all do it, we all get busy and forget to look at guild chat. Be it in a 25 man raid, a battleground, questing, or just relaxing and farming or working on achievements. Sometimes we are even tabbed out chatting, or reading blogs, strategies, researching something. Or, AFK dealing with something at home.

So, what do you do if you get no response? Go off on a tangent with your oh so intelligent foul language accusing your new guild of utter disrespect and flail about like a two year old? Or do you assume everyone is busy/not looking, and wait until you see some gchat activity pick up and ask again? The second choice, to me seems obvious. It happens to me, mostly I just wait, or if I’m asking a specific person, I’ll jokingly threaten to give them a middle name and “full name” them in chat.

Don’t cause drama in your guild channel over a missed question people. It won’t matter how nice you are when not provoked. You are new, and for many this will be their first impression of you. You likely won’t get any sympathy from the veteran members, and only serve to prove the solidarity that exists between them.

Veterans…don’t feed the trolls. They only bite the hand that feeds them, and troll spit takes days to wash off.