Gaylen,
Let nobody doubt the effects of the PA agitators any further. The intent and outcome of their passive-aggressive sniping has an obvious negative effect on this community.
The recommended approach is for responsible parties to get in first with a TROLL ALERT message as soon as it starts. That's all it needs to say- TROLL ALERT. It warns off innocent others who may not realize they are being cynically targeted to create a stink. Any other sort of response, especially any sort of emotional response, simply titillates the culprits and perpetuates the problem.
It does seem sad to have to descend to such policing in a community that used to be mutually respectful by default.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
