As some of you may know, there have been imposter accounts going around Tapastic the past few days making unfunny rip offs of existing Tapastic authors comics with the purpose of being as nasty towards said individuals as possible. In other words, these imposter accounts exist for the sole purpose of trolling. In the case you've been living under a rock or you are one of the communities younger users, allow me to explain what trolling is.
Trolling is an internet term used to describe somebody posting offensive sometimes shocking material in forums with the intention of getting somebody to respond to them. To describe it another way, its like fishing. The troll is the fisherman. The fish is the naïve individual who sees what looks like food or another fish and the bait...is the bait that compels the fish to go after it often to their doom. By responding to an internet troll, all you are accomplishing is giving the person on the other end attention they don't deserve and possibly material they can use against you to further anger you leading to a vicious self destructive cycle for the victim while the troll laughs at their misfortune every step of the way.
While I understand what its like to be made fun of for no reason being an aspie (the butt of many an internet joke and what have you) and all, no matter how well intentioned your actions are, its NOT worth calling out a troll for its malicious behavior even if you or a friend you know is the person being made fun of in the first place. Hell, its not even worth responding to them in the first place regardless of how your word your response. Instead, your best bet is to simply report them to the staff who will then permaban the troll's IP address (meaning that they can't access Tapastic on the computer they are currently using). If they have a comic, then you can simply report it for copyright infringement. If they don't have one, but you have proof they are harassing other users, email a staff member (preferably with screenshots as proof) and they'll take care of it as soon as possible.
Now speaking of responding to trolls, I've already said don't respond to them at all, but I've noticed quite a few people being outright RUDE to trolls the past few days. Even I went a little SJW on one or two much to my now regret. Even if you think they deserve it, stooping to the troll's level is both A. what they want you to do and B. doesn't make you any better than the troll. Also, anywhere else on the internet like on a forum for example, you'd get in trouble with the mods for acting callous towards anybody regardless of their own personal behavior so please...don't take the law into your own hands and incite a witch hunt or anything like that. Have a friends back and let your subs know they are being harassed by a troll sure. Just tell them NOT to personally retaliate against said troll. Report the troll and move on. Tapastic is the one place that doesn't have inflammatory content that makes my blood boil and for some its a safe haven where they feel both welcome and loved by the wonderful community the staff has cultivated here the past few years. I and I'm sure everybody else here would like to keep it that way so again, I urge you to refrain from playing internet vigilante to avenge you or a friend who's been a victim of these imposter trolls the past few days.
tl;dr DO....NOT......FEED......THE.......TROLL!!!!!!! The report button is your best friend and barring that, you can always email a staff member if you are having a problem with a certain individual. Tapastic is thankfully not like deviantArt, the comments section of YouTube, 4chan, or Tumblr VS whatever stupid benign thing TRIGGERED them this time. Let's keep it that way shall we?
