A few observations from a relative newcomer to this site regarding the "Martin Gibson" affair.

If the PM to Donuel from MG is legitimate I think some inferences can be made from it.
    * the MG persona was totally fictional except for being Jewish   
       and knowledgable about music.
    * his sole purpose at this site (other than some serious
       contributions to the music threads) was to engage posters with   
       socio-political views opposite to those of his created persona.
    * he did this by getting them to respond to his increasingly
       outrageous statements and personal attacks.
    * responding to him served no purpose at all since he didn't hold
       to the beliefs he was championing - if the posters had held
       right wing views he would have assumed a leftist persona.

I believe that this vindicates Joe in his assertion that the ONLY way to combat these trolls is by not responding to them.

There must be some weird subculture of trolls out there in cyberland who get together to boast of their trolling exploits - now if someone with a lot of time on their hands could find it and troll the trolls.

The next time a suspected troll shows up at Mudcat suspicious posters should raise the alarm so that we can at least all be on our guard - forewarned is forearmed.