Ignoring internet "trolls" is the best way to deter people who surf the internet picking fights and abusing people on discussion forums, says an expert.

ABC News Online this week scrapped its 'Open for Comment' panel in a bid to deter trolls, who constantly start arguments and hurl abuse at other participants.

The move has been criticised by some people, as has ABC policy to moderate comments before posting them to the site.

The role of moderator is to act as a filter to keep debate civil, constructive and on topic. But some feel it is a form of censorship.

"If you start trying to decide what's worthy of being posted then the comments section will be nothing but an extension of the moderator's ego and opinion (as it is now). Vibrant debate and content worth reading will only thrive under a low censorship policy," said ABC commenter, Az.

But others agree with the idea of moderation.

"I find a lack of civility predominates and on occasions it becomes quite abusive ... My concerns are not about an inability to handle 'robust debate' or the 'emotional nature of things'. It is the deliberate attempts to belittle other people," said News Online reader, Annie.

Dr Jason Wilson, lecturer in digital communications at Wollongong University, says many people like to hide behind the mask of anonymity on the internet.

"It allows you to say things you may not say face-to-face or under your own name because you don't have to take responsibility for those comments," he said.

Reformed troll 'Mozart's Ghost' says many people get into trolling for the "thrill" of it.

"You suss out what bothers particular users, get to know them and their weaknesses and play on them," he told ABC News Online.

"You try and engage them in some sort of debate based on logic when you don't really care. You'll say anything just to get them to waste their time talking to you."

He says more seasoned trolls generally learn how to cleverly word their abuse in order to slip past moderators.

"You've got to be a lot smarter than that - that's level one of trolling," he said.

"You've got to get to level five where you're more subtle and subversive where people don't actually know if you're serious or not. It really mucks with people's minds."

Dr Wilson says crying censorship is a common complaint from trolls.

"There's a number of tried and true tactics that you'll find trolls using - saying something that's completely unacceptable and then immediately resorting to that complaint that they're being censored," he said.

Ironically, Mozart's Ghost is now "on the forces of good" and runs an internet forum.

Don't feed the trolls

He says the best way to make a troll go away is to simply ignore them.

"You can hardly go back into a thread and post if the last post is yours," he said.

"If you just ignore us, it's probably a good tactic because we do want some material we can come back at you with."

Dr Wilson agrees that the best way to take a troll down is to not react.

"People who run blogs and moderate comments need to be firm and not let any of this stuff through," he said.

"The good old motto is 'don't feed the troll'. Don't acknowledge them, don't give them attention, don't react because that's what they want."

He says in his experience, serial trolls tend to be men up to the age of about 30 and sometimes they can take things too far.

"[I've heard about] threats of violence, various kinds of low-level stalking," he said.

"It's something that does happen and people really do go after each other when they're having blog wars and what have you.

"But that happens in the mainstream media as well - people get vilified and attacked by mainstream journos as well, so it's all swings and roundabouts really."