As someone who has seen some of the personal attacks, it's natural to try to respond to illegitimate accusations. Not answering is kind of a tacit acceptance and who wants to do that? The easiest attacks to accept are the ones that are partially true or opinions. (call me a fat old bald guy, so what, it's true!)

While the most difficult are lies, twisted fabrications and outright libel.

The troll has no interest in the truth or the answers. Their main goal is to disrupt and draw attention to themselves. This isn't about right or wrong it's just about creating chaos. It's a control issue. Control the discussion, disrupt the peace or the conversation. Whether they admit or know it, that's their goal.

The way to avoid these fights is DON'T TAKE THE BAIT. Ever. No matter how easy it is; no matter how much you think "He can't SAY that to me!" Always respond to the presupposition, not the personal attack.

Keeping to the premise, if one must respond, will keep things more about the question or accusation and not about the people or personalities.

I also believe that anyone coming to read here, has been exposed to the Internet before and isn't so fragile and inexperienced that they haven't seen an angry forum troll before. Trolls seem to be distributed equally around the world, all subjects, places and topics. New people are smart enough to see it's something out of the normal circle of people and conversations.

When reasoning won't work. Ignoring will.

Simple enough - NO