7. I wasn't belittling Kenya. Please buy me a ticket. I will fly there tomorrow morning. Only an idiot doesn't see any redeeming value in visiting Africa ... ie the idiots YOU quote.

8. The links YOU posted are trash journalism.

10. That has nothing to do with the original topic, which means you are a weasel for bringing it up in the context of this thread. You like to hit below the belt and sucker punch much?

Yes, comments that incite racial hatred are bad, but I don't want to debate free speech with YOU.

There is no perfect approach to dealing with a hateful online troll. However, online trolls can be aggressive and unpredictable, so there are a few responsive actions that should always be avoided.
1. Down voting. Doing so can escalate the negative behavior, sometimes prompting the troll to post another more ridiculous and negative post. By engaging in even this negative way, you are feeding the ego of the troll.
2. Get defensive. It can be tempting to respond in defense of your previous comment or resort to threats or accusations. Sinking to the troll’s level will only fuel the fire.
3. Give them what they want. Trolls are looking for a fight; they want to make your response the punchline of a long and elaborate joke. They thrive on attention, so responding with anger or aggression will only satisfy and encourage the behavior to continue. In fact responding in anyway gives the troll the sense of validation, which they need.

@DanDare, curious, and I'm not being facetious here, isn't your post also giving attention to the troll? Any response, regardless of on-topic or off only perpetuate the thread and elicit more responses. My post, this post, being a prime example (and I'm sure more will follow either by you to respond to this post or by others responding to yours or mine)

Regarding trolls, aren't we all, by definition, trolls? If we do not seek attention, do not want to stroke our own egos, then what's the point of posting on anonymous forums? We want to lay-bare our true feelings and viewpoints without the associated consequences. After all, did you not create a new account, DanDare, specifically to say things that will not be associated with your regular account, thus bringing unwanted attention?

And let's be honest, GoKunming's best days are behind them and the mismanagement did not help. It started as a vibrant meeting place of the minds for expats where people genuinely had a sense of community and worked to uphold certain standards and decorum. Then came the dark ages of censorship, disappearing posts, and deleted accounts that had a chilling on condor and bred resentment. I guess management eventually came to the conclusion that without controversy, people no longer visited the site which is not good for advertising revenue and hence, the lack of active management or sights of locked threads in recent times.

Make no mistake, this site has already become a breeding ground for trolls, the only reason long time posters keep coming back is for trolling and not to contribute.

@ASatiricalBloke:

"It started out as a vibrant meeting place of the minds for expats..."

"Then came the dark ages of censorship..."

The following thread shows some background for the current situation on GoKunming's forums. It wasn't all daisies and unicorns back in the day.

www.gokunming.com/[...]

I think that the forums have greatly improved since then. Which is not to say that I don't occasionally miss the entertainment of Dudesons and Napoleon flaming each other for weeks on end.

@herenow, you are right, it was and is what it has always been, being the the old man that I am, I am remembering things better than it was. I'm guilty of memory embellishment.

However, to be objective, we would need to go back more than 3 years to make comparisons, go back to the beginning when the expat community was quite small and people were really starting to discover Kunming. I would argue that by 3 years ago, GoKunming users have already coalesce into distinctive cliques battling each other for moral supremacy.

At any rate, the fact still remains, the regular posters here are trolls, always ready for a good dust-up. If it weren't for trolls, GoKunming would be awfully quiet and boring. For better or worse.

Right, it's a difficult balancing act: too much trolling degrades the quality of conversation, but too much moderation can suck the life out of things. Hmm... Maybe there could be an Octagon-type thread into which the moderators would shunt flame wars for those who wish to participate or spectate -- sort of the equivalent of a bartender saying "Take it outside."

Musashi, some of us have responded to your original questions. I, personally, reject every one of your 10 points - I don't know how you got them out of the discussion - they are all straw dogs.
As for the video, it is xenophobic and I don't like it, ok? Now what do you want me to do?