"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from Chris Bacon contains these words:

The perpetrator of this thread has made u.e.c unusable. Mind
you, some of the blame for this is shared by the small group of posters
there who continue to have dealings with him.

Your second sentence is the clue to the real problem; those bona fide
regular users who continue to respond to obvious trolls when they know,
from long experience, the negative effect the troll habitually inflicts
on a group.



I understood a 'troll' was generally held to be a person who deliberately
posted derogatory or inflammatory messages with the intention of provoking
'flaming' responses. Angus Macmillan is conducting an anti conservation (as
we know it) publicity campaign, not deliberately 'trolling' newsgroups
merely for effect.