13
votes
Advice getting rid of Zoom trolls?
So I am a member of a social/hobby group that has been doing hybrid meetings with some people attending via zoom. We have picked up a troll who finds a way to join the meeting, waits about fifteen minutes then starts yelling expletives and insults until he is expelled. He doesn't rejoin until the next meeting.
We are not particularly tech oriented people, and I don't personally organize the zoom link so don't have much knowledge about what is currently being done re security.
Does anyone have tips or advice? I know I haven't given you a lot to work with. Thanks.
Zoom has a waiting room feature where the host can see people who are attempting to join the call and explicitly allow/deny their entry.
Talk to whoever is hosting and see if they will set that up. Also it’s worth noting that the troll could try and get through the waiting room by spoofing their name.
I believe you can also pre-clear people based on their email addresses, but this requires those participants to use a zoom account.
Don't use the same meeting room code every week, put a password on it, and shunt everyone into the waiting room.
This is coming from a slightly different perspective, but do you know why the troll is doing this? What they're getting out of it? Is it something that you might be able to address with them? Sometimes people can't be handled, but surprisingly often they just want to be heard. My husband is a community manager and he's had quite a few instances where acknowledging someone - not even giving them what they want, just hearing them out - turns them from an insufferable troll into an evangelist for his company.
This may not be the case for you, but it's something to think about.
It's a complete stranger and the most coherent things he says seem to be power fantasies, so maybe not, but thanks anyway.
I'm sorry I wasn't more help! I hope you find a solution!
Is there a way for the organizer to limit who can join and/or require a step to admit someone into the meeting? I suppose that won't help if this troll is somehow 'hacking' their way in.
Maybe the best option would be to meet somewhere else first (group chat, discord, etc) and then set up a private meeting that only those people can join?