Attention Forum Members,
With Linkin Park's new album coming out in a little over a month, and forum traffic dramatically increasing as a result, we here at The Linkin Park Association have felt it necessary to put our collective foots down, and address a growing issue on our forums... which is the existence of trolls.
What is a troll you ask?
Courtesy of Urban Dictionary, a troll is:
"One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark of such an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. 'you're nothing but a fanboy' is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevance to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue."
With every new album release, the existence of trolls posting in threads increases ten fold, and unfortunately the hype surrounding A Thousand Suns has been no exception. Since the announcement of "A Thousand Suns" over a month ago, we have had many new members sign up solely for the purpose of causing arguments in threads or with the intention of spreading malicious behavior and negativity in every thread they come across.
These trolls not only represent everything that is inherently wrong with the internet, but also cast a negative cloud of the forums they inhabit, driving old members away, while creating the appearance of an unwelcoming forum to those who have yet to join and contribute to the boards.
Therefore, due to the recent rise in trolls, we have been left with no choice but to implement a new policy. For now on, any member deemed to be a "troll" by a majority of the forum's staff and it's members, will be put on a two strike policy...and will be given only two chances to quit their antagonizing/trolling behavior before they are banned from the forums indefinitely. While this may seem a bit strong, we refuse to let our peaceful and positive forum community be derailed by attention seeking trolls, and will do whatever we can to protect the integrity and community aspect of The Linkin Park Association for our existing members and new members alike.
It should be noted that this policy does not apply to all members, and those who break a rule (but are not a troll/antagonizing member) will still adhere to the normal three infraction policy currently implemented on these boards. The LPA will also only deem a member a troll if the majority of the boards have remarked or complained that the member in question serves no contributing purpose and is only here to cause a problem on these boards.
We hope these new changes, while sudden...will help the LPA continue to grow, and will help to maintain the community aspect that has made it such a welcoming forum over the past nine years. Thank you for your understanding, and we appreciate your continued support.
Also one more thing in closing: we here at The Linkin Park Association do not tolerate members bringing feuds over from other fan sites onto our boards. This happens far too often, and we do not need the forums to be littered with such mindless garbage. Therefore, if you have previously gotten into an argument with a member of our boards on another fan site, please leave your arguments on that site as they have no business being on here. We are not the site you just came from. This is The Linkin Park Association, not [insert site name]. Thank you.
Thanks,
LPA Staff
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Originally Posted by Simonnnnn
