If you've never played Xbox Live you might be shocked to learn that the service is infested with cowards who use the veil of anonymity to spew racial and homophobic hate that would get them into trouble here in the physical world.

Gamespy has put together some tips for how to have a more pleasurable experience in Xbox Live. The article falls far short of the Halo Public Service Announcement that made the rounds back in May.

Here's one of Gamespy's impractical suggestions. When faced with a nasty opponent, Gamespy tells us, the best solution is to be better than them, because "a bullet in the head should keep them from running their mouth too much."

There are two problems with this suggestion. First, those who are most likely to be jerks tend to be those who have the highest disposable free time and who therefore tend to log many more practice hours than those of us who must hold down jobs. Second, unless the author meant bullet in the head literally and not euphemistically, nothing shuts a troll down faster than simply ignoring him or her.

[Via Xbox Scene]