Let's talk TROLL

[JVKn'CVO 11]

There seems to be a lot of trolling around the forum. I agree that sometimes it adds a few laughs, but some are disruptive. This was the first forum I ever joined, so I didn't know about trolls, and thought everyone believed in the opinions they posted Some comments upset me...but then, I learned about trolls and what trolling was all about.

So, I decided to start this thread, share your info on internet Trolling!!

Troll Guide: The Return

A troll is a bulletin board participant who posts for one or both of two reasons: 1) to disrupt; 2) to gain attention.

THE MAJOR BREEDS

The Vulgar Troll. These, the crudest of all trolls, make no attempt to

hide their species. Often, they make racist comments, or they may post

porn and other spam. Vulgars usually confine their comments merely to

primitive, profane, off-topic observations. When you log into the

Really Profound Serious Philosophical Discussions board and see the

post, "I smell my farts," you've spotted the Vulgar Troll. Other

species of troll sometimes revert to this form when cornered.

The Deceptive or "Classic" Troll. More sophisticated but often easily

identified and exposed, the Classic Troll gratifies his ego by

pretending to be someone or something he or she is not. Classics make

up elaborate stories about themselves, sometimes weaving some amounts

of truth into their lies. As a web of lies is difficult to build with

consistency, however, Classics are often "outed" by other forumites.

When this happens, Classic Trolls have a bag of tricks to which they

turn:

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 1: If the heat gets too much for you,

claim it was all "a joke." In this way you can excuse any and all

deceit by claiming people just weren't smart enough to "get" the humor

of it.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 2: Create another account, and log on

pretending to be someone else, in order to show support for the Troll

in Question (TiQ). These puppet accounts sometimes claim to be

disinterested third parties. At other times they pretend to be

"friends" of the TiQ.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 3: When your lies paint you into a

corner, claim that your little brother, or some unnamed friend, has

commandeered your account and made you look foolish. This technique can

also be applied in claiming that the puppet account(s) you created may

not, in fact, be disinterested third parties or friends, but that they

are your relatives ("little brother" is most common) only trying to

help support you.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 4: When nothing else works, claim that

now, finally, you're telling the truth about all the lies you told

before. Make up a fresh set of lies, and throw yourself on the mercy of

the forumites.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 5: When all else fails, claim to be

leaving forever. Trolls who claim they are leaving never do, of course;

you can bet that anyone who proclaims, "I'm never coming back here,"

will most certainly at least check back for responses, and probably

will not be able to resist posting again.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 6: Have a tantrum. When all their other

tricks are exhausted, Classic Trolls will become angry and start

shouting. Often they revert to Vulgar Trolls when this happens.

– Classic Troll Tactic Number 7: The insincere apology. Similar to

Tactic 4, this involves pretending to repent for one's trolling and is

accompanied often by great melodrama. Insincere troll apologists

hope that they'll be forgiven if only they act disgusted enough with

their own behavior.

Classic warning sign behaviors may be shared by other breeds.

Virtual Tough Guys are a subspecies of Classic Troll.

Virtual Senseis are a more dangerous breed of Virtual Tough Guy.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Caro

[Hematoma 0]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Reduced to calling people he or she cant answer a troll! Time for a diaper change! heh heh.

the verbal wonder is silenced by a simple troll

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Reduced to calling people he or she cant answer a troll! Time for a diaper change! heh heh.

the verbal wonder is silenced by a simple troll

Must have missed the question

I'm sure a doctor can prescribe something for that psychological disorder you seem to be suffering from.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Hey Hey Hey no trolling in my troll topic!! go troll in the troll-thread you started!!!

I think this pic is cute.

Saludos,

Caro

Edited September 16, 2007 by JVKn'CVO

[Hematoma 0]

Hey Hey Hey no trolling in my troll topic!! go troll in the troll-thread you started!!!

I think this pic is cute.

Saludos,

Caro

No kiddin, number 6 seems to be hungry tonight sheesh!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Reduced to calling people he or she cant answer a troll! Time for a diaper change! heh heh.

the verbal wonder is silenced by a simple troll

Well Hematoma, why don't introduce self to us since you are 'new' here. What brings you here to VJ? Where's your timeline? Why are you only posting in OT? Hmmmm...

[JVKn'CVO 11]

[Hematoma 0]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Reduced to calling people he or she cant answer a troll! Time for a diaper change! heh heh.

the verbal wonder is silenced by a simple troll

Well Hematoma, why don't introduce self to us since you are 'new' here. What brings you here to VJ? Where's your timeline? Why are you only posting in OT? Hmmmm...

Funny you should ask. I was wondering the same about number 6. By the way do you know his name? oooooops might be a her.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Hematoma

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Internet trolling 101

(Cont. from #1 post)

The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent

boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum

dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example,

will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs

in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between

dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not

categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but

due to the manner in which he or she behaves:

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a

poster's Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and

not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry.

Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their

post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with

whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course

of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum

membership as monolithic. "You guys are all just [descriptor]." "You're

a lynch mob." "You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with

you."

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This

is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians

display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they've said,

pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings

significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no

ready answers.

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When

confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is

the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the

Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while

he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath

his notice.

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. Pursued

by Troll Bashers (see Natural Predators below), the Contrarian will

seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her

critics as beneath notice – all the while continuing to respond to them.

– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark of

Contrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly

devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of

such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning

Signs mentioned above.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You tend to lose your timeline when you come back with a new ID

As to why the new ID? VJ had an issue with a lawyer in 2004 that caused a lot of people to leave.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Internet trolling - wikipedia definition

[edit] Identities

In academic literature, the practice was first documented by Judith Donath (1999), who used several anecdotal examples from various Usenet newsgroups in her discussion. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community":[8]

In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity. ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.

Given the inherit ambiguity of internet identity one might question of anyone can ever be called a troll as opposed to a role-player.

Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:

Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they — and the troll — understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.

Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling — where the rate of deception is high — many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Don't feed them. Or failing that - 'Out-troll' them

Reduced to calling people he or she cant answer a troll! Time for a diaper change! heh heh.

the verbal wonder is silenced by a simple troll

Well Hematoma, why don't introduce self to us since you are 'new' here. What brings you here to VJ? Where's your timeline? Why are you only posting in OT? Hmmmm...

Funny you should ask. I was wondering the same about number 6. By the way do you know his name? oooooops might be a her.

We all have gotten to know one another here over the year(s) we've been here, through sharing stories from time to time about our personal lives. So, instead of dodging the question, what brings you here to VJ? And why are you hanging out her in OT?

[JVKn'CVO 11]

The definitive guide to Trolls - By Ubuntu

----Troll Spotting----

Trolls often have many basic characteristics in common:

1. Low post count. Trolls usually do not last long enough on a forum to rack up a large number of posts. Be particularly suspicious of any poster whose count is not yet in double digits and who appears to be causing trouble.

2. Suspicious IP addresses. Puppet accounts will have IP addresses identical to that of the TiQ.

3. Suspicious E-mail Addresses. Accounts that are similar in nature to those of the TiQ can indicate a puppet account. AOL accounts, for example, are particularly suspect, because AOL allows multiple usernames for a single account.

4. Syntax and grammar. Trolls, particularly Deceptives, invariably have trouble hiding their writing styles. Puppet accounts, or serial accounts created after previous accounts have been thoroughly discredited, will display traits similar to that of the TiQ.