Usually I spend 5 minutes typing out an angry reply. Then I realize I have no interest in hearing back from this person, hit cancel and move on with my day.
Yeah, I've been there. Halfway through typing a reply I usually realize, the most likely outcome of this is more bad faith arguments and more frustration.
I will sometimes just leave a purely factual reply or a link, and not respond further if they want to debate it or move the goalposts.
There's no great way to handle people whose only goal is to drag you down or lessen you. Just block and move on to better things.
This is especially true on platforms where engagement = content is promoted (ex. Instagram)
You'll notice that the most controversial comments show up first, and that's because a lot of people have replied to it to argue or tell the person off. I'm willing to bet a lot of those controversial comments just do it to get views to their account.
Instead of engaging, block the user. If an account usually has bad behaviour in the comments, drop the whole account.
Over time you might see less of the trolls, and it will tell the algorithm that people don't want to see it. If the platform is engineered to increase engagement, it should try to avoid users hard blocking content
The same way I dealt with regular trolls; make sure to deal fire damage to stop their regeneration.
As a mod and instance admin, it varies depending on the variety of the troll and whether they're under my jurisdiction:
Otherwise, I just downvote, block, and/or move on. Life too's short to care what some internet troll has to say.
I may have a bad habit of engaging, but if they post something clearly wrong I like to provide context as to why.
It's not likely going to change their mind, but it's for the benefit of other people. If someone is scrolling the comments of the post, it's possible that they're on the fence or unsure about whatever bigotry is being talked about. I figure if I can help one stranger see both sides of the argument, I can stop the "radicalization" that many of these trolls are going for.
But maybe that's just naive wishful thinking on my part. I certainly don't use social media with the traditional "classic" slur spamming trolls though.
I think you're absolutely positively spot-on with this mindset.
I have a habit of engaging as well, and I also have a bad personality trait of liking to be correct. But. I also think that people spewing bullshit online is at least as bad, probably/usually much worse.
Engaging for the benefit of others is the key. Although sometimes, once in a blue moon, you'll get these chads who will go "oh yeah, good point" or something similar, and actually admit -- with a comment! -- that they were in the wrong. I always make sure to let them know they are good people for being open minded like that.
Spread truth, but also love.
Short answer: you don't.
Trolls are people who like getting a rise out of others. They're provocateurs. The best thing you can do is ignore them. Let them feel like no one cares and their effort is being wasted, and they eventually get bored and stop. On Lemmy, downvote if you want to, but personally I don't even like giving them the satisfaction of knowing someone read their message.
If you've got a persistent troll who is bothering you, block 'em so you don't even see them. And don't even tell them you're doing it, just let them scream into the void obliviously.
#Don't feed the trolls Common knowledge back in the old days of the internet. Block, report, downvote, whatever, just don't engage!
What communities are you hanging out in that have no trolls‽ The fact that most places have had to defederate from entire troll instances shows that this isn't some enlightened utopia we're in.
You don't. They want attention, any attention, even negative attention, and when you reply to them with anything, you are giving them what they want. Don't feed the trolls.
I block them. My treshold for blocking is super low and I do it several times a day. I don't have time to deal with people who comment stupid shit that brings zero value to the discussion. One comment like that and you're gone.
When it's.clear my words are pointless, I copy+paste and get AI to respond, allowing me to set tone, length, all that. It's great because it takes seconds and is fascinating to see where the troll and the AI end up going.
I block them. Once I started blocking trolls as a matter of habit I have found my online experience improve dramatically.
Love being able to block people and whole instances. It's easy to curate and clean yourself. Don't feed the trolls
Don't feed the trolls. My rule of thumb is to make a judgement call: is there anything I can say to convince the other person? If the answer is no, then ignore the message
Treat 'em like a zoo exhibit. They want to be taken seriously. You don't have to do that.