Megathreads, or just a good popular post in related popular communities can work pretty well until there is enough traction to warrant its own community. A lot of subreddits arose because half the posts in a sub became what was previously a fringe topic of the parent.
I think your responses were more than forgiving, and the troll responses were so obviously in bad faith that I’m surprised they’re still up?
This is all a bit new to me but holy shit. I don’t want to assume the worst but I saw that other guy puppeting accounts earlier?