1. Collect on time, nothing better
2. City shield is decent, Im using it only when i wont be able to collect my whole production for several hours or want to delay my collections several hours so it fit more with my new schedule (like starting a new job or being on vacation...)
3. Building defence wont really stop good players, but on early ages it will stop most of the attacks (not many good players on the battlefield there, especially if you have units from higher age)
4. Try to be polite, sometimes it may work (Im a big plunderer and like 1 out of 10 times somebody /w about being the victim, he/she says something really interesting and I stop plundering)
5. Donate to their GBs (you donate like X FPs to some of my GB, I might stop plunder because i already got some value of you), but i dont recommend that cuz might not work, but different people, different tastes.
And the bad ones
1. Sending bad messages might get you banned/punishned (many people got warning/short bans because using offensive language after I plundered 'em) + just make them attack you as much possible.
2. And the worst one is probably to level their GB with production, this is garbage behavior, breaking the unwritten rules (might enter in the black list on the server) + sometimes you even help them with that, good players will rarely have their GBs waiting for good snipe
Edit: Typo