Thankfully, our blog friend Sunny is making a good recovery after her recent ordeal and will return to the fold soon. All her friends on the Erastus blog have wished her well and given their support in her hour of need, offering encouragement and letting her know that she has been in our thoughts over the last couple of days.

Unfortunately, there have been others who took it upon themselves to exploit the events of the last 48 hours by ridiculing the Erastus Followers in an attempt to disrupt the cordial relationship enjoyed by regular contributors.

I refer to, as you have probably already guessed, Internet trolls.

One of my faithful followers, Let’s Agree To Differ, has been somewhat confused as to the motive of trolls.

Let’s Agree To Differ is an upstanding member of the blog who is a person of integrity, so understandably he cannot get his head around the reason why anyone should feel the need to disrupt proceedings with inane comments. Let’s has requested that I give him guidance in spotting these spoilers of chat rooms and blogs.

Your Lord was once taken seriously after quipping that he started his career as a troll, which just goes to show how Erastus devotees listen so intently to their mentor.

Your Lord has spent the evening with a renowned master (retired) of the art of trolling who calls himself KING TROLL.

KING TROLL has given Your Lord the following guidelines on how to spot a troll.

Successful trolling is not an easy accomplishment. Subtlety and patience is the key to success, as is wit, intelligence and fast keyboard skills.

Apparently, a good troll will bide his or her time like an expert fisherman, gently reeling in his quarry before landing it ashore.

Trolls derive the most satisfaction from chat rooms and blogs which have a central theme that everyone agrees upon, or a subject that is enjoyed by the contributors as a whole.

A good example of the kind of site a troll loves to intrude upon is a fan site where he or she knows that the fans will defend their cause to the last man or woman.

A favourite technique adopted by experienced trolls is to leave a relevant comment relating to the topic being discussed but at the same time disparaging part of the subject that everyone agrees on, thus inciting argument among the participants.

Inexperienced trolls who are still learning their trade will jump straight in with insulting comments and are soon winkled out and disposed of by trollspotters.

So, how do you stop a troll in its tracks, I hear you all ask?

To put it simply, the best way to kill a troll is not to feed it.

Trolls will starve if not given the attention they desire, so the best way to send one on its way is to totally ignore it.

Your Lord has to say that the attempts by the troll calling itself Nikki on the last two blogs was extremely inept at its craft. I can only assume that it has just set out on its quest of disruption and is still very much at the apprentice stage.

I am sure Sir Alan Sugar would have spotted it a mile off.


I hope that the Erastus Followers now have all the information they need to spot a troublemaking troll.

Your Lord, Erastus Theobald Piggott

PS: Thanks to KING TROLL for his help in writing this blog.