Can Trolling be Put to a Stop?

     Unfortunately, the simple answer (as of now, that is) is no.  While people have taken a few different angles to try and do so, their solutions have either proven to be ineffective, come with negative consequences, or both.  There are two common suggestions that people bring up in order to stop trolling: ignoring the trolls and trying to ban them and monitor comment sections.
    The problem with ignoring trolls is that it does not directly confront the issue.  It's somewhat passive, so to speak.  Now, sometimes, passive solutions can be the best for some problems, but in the case of trolling, it doesn't seem like it would stop a troll from going to another site and finding a different target who might "take the bait".  Furthermore, people have been suggesting this method for a while and trolling, if anything, is still on the rise.  There is no proof that this method works.  In her article, Lindy West perfectly sums up this problem by asking the questions "Does ignoring trolls actually stop trolling? Can somebody give me concrete numbers on that?"(Paragraph 13).  Also, when addressing the logic of this "solution", I might add to those questions by asking "Does ignoring trolls make them reconsider their actions and make them find out that their behavior is unproductive?"
     On the other side of the coin, there is the somewhat smaller group of people who want to track down trolls, ban them, and monitor comments.  The problem here is that banning trolls fails almost instantly, as the troll can just wait a bit, create a new account, and continue their uncivil behaviors.  Monitoring comments has some problems with the logistics of the method.  It would require a ton of micromanaging, since people can comment at any time on any day, and any number of people can comment on a post.  This means that a large number of people would have to be on watch everywhere at all times to filter out every troll comment. While one might be tempted to remove anonymity to decrease the likelihood of trolling, that comes with the cost of the democratic principle of free speech, as many people who want to speak on controversial issues in private(well, sort of) will be unable to, eliminating some valuable discourse.  For protecting free speech, trolling only becomes a small price when put into perspective.