Often I see a post in one of the other areas where a GM is asking for advice on how to deal with a specific problem that arises in their game. In my estimation, 99% of the time it boils down to "I disagree with one or more of my player's style." This is, in no way, meant as a dismissal. If you are coming to the board looking for advice, there is a very real issue.
The important thing is to get to the root of the problem. I believe far too much of the advice is only a band aid which may work in the short term only to blow up later. I find Telas' advice spot on.
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In addition to general playing style and preferences, there is also the problem of conflicting or confused genre expectations.
An early Dragon editorial, by Roger Moore, described how he tried to introduce 'Robin Hood and His Merry Men', as potential allies for the PCs, after holding them up and giving them some good-natured teasing.
His players took an instant hatred to these 'criminal scum', and decided to fight them to the death. In hindsight, he agreed they were quite right to do so, since they had absolutely no way of recognising the bandits' true nature, or any reason to believe they would be granted any mercy in return.
It seems sometimes that 'problem' players are actually making perfectly believable decisions, in character, using the information they've been given by the DM.
In fact, in the scenario above, would not a 'good' player who responded with a "Yo, ho, ho, here's my purse, you would appear to have the better of me, my good fellow, now let us away to your camp, where we can tell each other our life stories..." be the ultimate meta-gamer?