I agree with your rationale to some degree. Most trolls will just go away after awhile if you don't respond to them. However, some tolls are psychotic and may need to be dealt with if after time they continue to insult others. The same situation is currently taking place in the political forum and has for a long time now. Far too long in my opinion. It does get a little bothersome after a while when personal attacks are continually being lobbed and tolerated by site moderators. Its one thing to disagree with someone's posts, but its entirely a different matter to attack them personally for their posts. The "shoot the messenger" approach. For a blaring example of this, go to the political forum where you can see this currently taking place. This type of aggressive insulting likely detracts decent people posting . Many sites give warnings to people who are offensive, and if they can't be decent, they are banned all together.