In my case, I joined this site since it closely relates to my beliefs, that evolved over the decades. Being of Mexican heritage, I was naturally born a Catholic. But when I saw, decade after decade(starting in 1980s where Dallas Catholic Diocese), recently I chose to be more of a Agnostic Catholic: I chose to have Blind Faith in God and Not in any Organized Religious Institution. Of course, its Common Knowledge that there are Other Churches who have used "God" to legitimize Hate, in a variety of forms.

we can hope . The trolls who work it the hardest want to post revolutionary sh-t to make it appear that atheists are a threat to Xians. So I don't welcome them, plus there are some members, self included, who are harassed online by religious family members. Those family members push me & others into relationships with xians, and sabotage life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness. I don't welcome them, because some are monitoring for their churches. So it's real life, trolls happen, and I "get it", but I hope their "conversion" will be achieved elsewhere, this might just be a safe zone for us.

I doubt the kind of person who would come on here out of spite or to troll would be that easily convinced. It is a nice thought though. I wish it were that easy.

Zero interest in "converting" anyone, partly because it'd require a LOT of work, lots of thrashing about in the weeds. And for what?
I DO suspect the universe might be conscious, if you want to call that 'god.'
I think there's a perfectly valid scientific Explanation for everything and it'll be figured out eventually.
But I don't care if anyone agrees with me, or not, because as an agnostic I know my opinions are just that, and not 'gospel.'

Logic winning? That's a nice thought.

Every time it has come up, I've always registered my resistance to barring
those who claim to believe from the site.
While I realize it's generally unlikely, I'm always hopeful that someone will
come to the site and be swayed to eschew their irrational delusions and
embrace logic and reason.

It's been rare for me to encounter believers who come to the site to proselytize.
The ones who have rarely last long on the site.

Do not know of any conversions....caused a lot to leave, though!

Its hard to say, because ive seen several definitions of troll. 1- the definition im used to, someone who makes vulgar off topic comments intended to demean the OP and just be offensive. Ie a post about cooking broccoli has responses saying "you suck donkey balls". 2- less frequently, a newer definition of person who responds just to be contrarian. Ie a post about cooking broccoli has responses saying "broccoli sucks anyhow, people who like broccoli are stupid". 3- The more recent trend, and the most common here, but also becoming more comon in general, are people who respond to a topic with an opinion the OP doesnt agree with, ie a post about cooking broccoli has responses saying "just cover it in hot sauce to hide the flavor" when the OP clearly wants to enjoy the broccoli, and labels anyone who disagrees with them a troll.

Im thinking youre referring to type 2, people who join just to argue with the atheists or whatever their favorite issue is. Honestly i completely ignore those so i don't have a guess if that happens, or how much.

I do think type 3 happens on occasion, eg a person with a specific view on a political issue, changes their stance due to type 3 trolls, or visa versa.

The self appointed lynch mob here goes after anyone who checks the "believer" box on thier profile and bends over backwards to get them booted from the site, so I imagine this is a rarer occurrence than we'd all really like.

But do we care? Somebody is trolling somebody every day. That will be part of our online life for the rest of our lives... online social media, online banking, login to everywhere.. insurance, mortgage, social security, investments, taxes and even for a hair cut. My salon does not take walk in. must login online and make an appointment. The government is on our ass. They just don't tell us.

How long are you going to worry about trolling? Go underground like I have if that worries you. But think about this... "Life is about cherry picking. There is good and bad in this garden of life.. at work, online, at a restaurant, in a park, at school.... There is a lot to worry about but there is a lot to enjoy selectively. It is not a package deal. You can enjoy what you want. You are in a free country. Your perspective and attitude will make you see what you want to see."

The threat to your privacy is very low. Don't put of out personal information and enjoy the journey, make new friends, participate in robust discussions on various good topics.

You are welcome to troll me any time and yes, I like to argue on just about everything.

Long shot!