Can anything be done to stop the trolls infesting this forum?Will you unite to boycott/ refuse answering?

I'm afraid the answer is no. For one of those few times we seem to totally agree it's sad to have to answer no to this question but it's my honest opinion. I think nothing can be done unless yahoo cleans up its act. I've all but left, can't take this place serious if they don't and you're obviously correct. Decent people showing any sign of justified outrage and discontent with this nonsense do risk losing their account. That's a farce

To me it's pretty obvious the group you refer to is using payed services to hide ip addresses. I think only Yahoo can fix this and won't be wasting my time here anymore until they do. No offense to you and all the other good people participating here. I even hope I'm wrong, it happens but for now my patience has run out.

Good luck to those willing to continue to try but I'm done

As long as you stay within the community guidelines, you should be fine.

If someone is being really hateful, I call them on it. I even get upset when someone else reports them, because I think it's important that they are revealed for who they are. The silliness of partisan politics is just a symptom of the idiocy of politics. I ignore those.

As far as Freedom Of Speech and the First Amendment, they do not apply here on Y!A. Yahoo is a private company, and they own this forum. They have the right to put forth whatever rules and regulations they see fit, even curbing one's First Amendment rights. You have the right to agree or not agree with their guidelines. How sad it is that so many Americans haven't a clue about their own rights.

EDIT: I just read Justgoodfolk's answer and his link. In hindsight, I realize that I haven't been around much either, and perhaps have really missed something going on in this section. I mostly hang out in the silliness of Polls & Surveys, where there is constant complaining about trolls. I take it in stride there, as most of it is not serious content.

Today, I read someone's profile who is a top contributor in Fast Food. He too, was complaining about a troll who follows him around. I had no idea how impassioned people are about McDonald's and Burger King.

I guess the simple answer is, you just can't get away from people.

If you don't like the disgusting questions just pass them by and don't answer them, ignore them. Otherwise it is freedom of speech and should not be silenced. If they break the rules of Y/A such as cursing, that's another story. The nonsensical or childish questions are sometimes very funny and keep this site from being a snooze fest. What may be offensive to you may not be so for others. The day they start telling us what we can say, that is the day y/a becomes irrelevant.

P&S. BQ: Moneyball 9/10

I don't answer the obvious trolls and the questions that I find particularly vulgar, I report. I can't figure out why people create so many phony accounts. I assume they just don't have a life, after all, we can't exchange our points for cash, so why bother?

There are many adolescents that rant on these boards. There are also many very intelligent people on both sides of the issues. Focus on the intelligent ones, ignore the others. and don't take anything here personally.

You know, I wish I had an answer. I don't wish to silence those I disagree with. I don't want to increase violation notice power because people who disagree with me already use it to off me when they don't like what I say.

I hope someone has a good answer.

Even though I say I don't take their bait, I admit I still do. I'll try to be better about it.

How exactly can somebody else posting get you suspended?

And if you do get suspended, who really cares? It's not like you can't create a new account to post with in 30 seconds.

You can't be hurt by them.

What do you have against free speech?

What evidence do you have knowing that one person has several accounts? That is an assumption. Sure it must happen, but one has no way of knowing the 'who' for sure.

just speak your mind when you feel like it. Let the silent voices on some questions speak volumes and let the loud voices speak volumes on good questions too.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, even childish opinions, like O's economic opinions and policies.