Kevin, you know I love you dearly. That being said, here's how I see this.

This has been tried in the past and the trolls often just followed into the new thread, linked or not. And sometimes it would spark off a new round of trolling, in reaction to the effort to control what the troll had originally started.

The flaw in the logic of this apparently-excellent idea is that, whatever one attempts, a troll or flame episode can't be controlled. When we think we can, we are doing wishful thinking. The reality of Mudcat is simply that each person is responsible for posting (or not posting) each and every time we post (or do not post). The constant influx of new members and other realities of Life at Mudcat mitigate against most otherwise-reasonable solutions-- because the medium itself defies using solutions that evolved in other settings, other media.

When we try to apply what we have learned in other setting, other media, in the internet, it tends to be less than accurate and less than effective.

So-- nice try, and by all means try it and see what happens-- but sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not-- no matter how you do it, you will not actually be controlling what occurs, although it may seem to you like you have nade a difference until it slips out of control again....

The point is, there are some things beyond our control we just have to live with, and let go.

~Susan