Yes, this is something that goes on for sure. Whatever they are, spies, munchies, troublemakers for the fun of it, or the sickness of it, they're all trolls. We had one here recently (still posting on BT1, I notice).

Trust is everything on a forum like this; we have some very experienced forum-goers on this one, one or two can spot a troll a mile away; some don't post very often, but you develop an instinct for it and I always trust their judgement. Inconsistency is the key to spotting them...and a continual assertion of facts which are basically wrong.

I'm afraid I am very severe when it comes to this; I would prefer to chuck off someone who's innocent than run the risk of leaving them loose in the group - it does considerable damage to all the other members' self-esteem.

BTW, this is also why new members are encouraged to post their story or at least say "hi, I'm new here"; the trolls often just barge into a post with no nod to the fact that no one here knows them from Adam. Also, look at the number of posts they've made, occasionally you get "hit and run" trolls. And look at the profile and previous posts of anyone you are worried about.

Some forums have a code word to alert people and warn them not to encourage the troll by responding to their post (only to be used if you're pretty certain, you understand). Perhaps we should too, it could be PMd to everyone here as of, say end of January, and renewed every 3 months - if we have any here now then they'll know it too, but you've got to start somewhere. Just a thought,

all the best