posted
I was looking for an article I had read about the growing pains of forums and email groups, and was nsuccessful in my search. Instead, I found this guide to trolls which I found interesting.
It is really a strange thing, this trolling business. The Internet has opened up a whole new world of weirdness, for sure.
" The Antrollpologist® Antrollpologists are those fascinated by the psychology, behavior, and identification of trollkind. They tend to write lengthy guides about spotting and dealing with trolls, which makes them particularly troubling to the disruptors in question. (Special thanks to Matt Seling for coining the term.)"
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Hmmm. Interesting. I seem to have known more Contrarian Trolls in my time than any other type.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote: The Limey. Limeys are, as the name suggests, British. It is very important to them that you know they are British. More importantly, it is very important to them that you understand just how obnoxiously British they are. Limeys are usually hoplophobes and prone to pontificating from ignorance (regardless of subject).
I will need training. I am terrible at detecting trolls, but fascinated with what the heck they do it for.
There was a really good site I had found, and darn it, i cannot find it. It was about psychology and the Internet. Not just trolss, but just how people can use the Internet in different ways, and how it has changed how some people communicate. Grr.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I thought this was going to be about those pot bellied plastic dolls with the shock of neon hair. For reals.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I will now admit something: I have a troll collection, you know, those dolls with the Don King hair. This thread made me want to name them all.
Posts: 188 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Oh, on the Flame Warriors site, you have to look at the Suggested Warriors in the forum. Some good suggestions.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
The definition on that site is incorrect; posting to gain attention does not make one a troll. A troll is someone who intentionally antagonizes a community. Gaining attention and/or recognition is often counterproductive to successful trolling. Merely knowing that one's actions will provoke people is not enough; OSC probably realizes that his columns offend supporters of homosexual rights, but he does not write them for that purpose.
The concept has been around for a long time; Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is a frequently-used example. Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction could easily be considered a television troll. Jack Chick is probably not. Political and technical forums tend to have more trolls than average. Light moderation will encourage trolls, but so will a low threshold of offense.
What motivates trolls? Here attention can be an answer, but it is not the only one. Testing theories about group psychology is another, as is effecting a desired change of some nature. Others include actually or apparently disproving an argument, harming an individual, community, belief, etc., and compensation by a third party. Trolls are often (usually) but not always malicious.
How to deal with a known or suspected troll? Do not respond. Do not accuse anyone of trolling or being a troll, even if it should be obvious. Accusing others of trolling just makes it easier for the next person to do the same to anyone with differing opinions. At most, a single response of YHBT YHL HAND* will suffice, but this is still overkill in most cases. You might be offended but the troll does not need to know.
*You have been trolled. You have lost. Have a nice day.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
There is nothing productive about labeling people trolls - it's the web forum equivalent of grade school name calling. More often than not, the person getting the label is not a troll (someone intending to cause trouble) but rather somebody with a contraversial posting style, an emotional temperment, or an unpopular opinion. And even when the label is assigned properly, all it results in is a big fight, which in turn leads the "troll" to post even more.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Something I've noticed in the past little while is people who are not otherwise trolls getting sucked into a trollish-seeming frenzy. I'm thinking here of Resh and Rakeesh, and KoM and Blackblade as getting mixed up and filling pages of largely two sided head-bashing.
But I think it's just male hierarchy displays brought on by springtime. Not kidding.
P.S. Though the Onanism thread was not me, just saying.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Tres, even if a small percentage of those accused of troll-dom (or is that Troll Dumb) are forced to realize, by that name calling, that their controversial posting style is more similar to dumb troll behavior than to civilized conversation, and then change that style, the Troll name calling has done a great service.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Perhaps instead of trolling we could call it chumming. You don't really want to snag anything, you just want to get the water roiling.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
So, Wikipedia lists internet trolling as type of culture jamming, which I don't get. Does anyone see how that works?
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Has anyone ever read Pat McManus?.... I've obviously been reading too much of him, considering where my thoughts went when glancing at this thread title.... if you haven't read his stories, you may not understand.
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I've been called a troll many times here, and every time I asked what a troll is, I got answers that contradicted each other or didn't make sense, or sometimes more accurately described (in my opinion) the person calling me a troll. This website though... now it makes perfect sense.
So what kind of troll am I, if I were a troll? I'd like to think I'm a
quote: Sophist Troll. Sophist Trolls, or "philotrolls," fancy themselves Enlightened Philosophers or Learned Experts of the highest order. Often well educated, Philotrolls are capable of speaking intelligently on a number of topics, and when the spirit moves them they can be worthwhile forum participants. Unfortunately, Sophist Trolls are an extremely hostile and intolerant species.
When confronted by opinions with which they do not agree – particularly when they do not see any means of successfully arguing their contrary views – Sophists resort (repeatedly) to a variety of intellectually dishonest tactics. Most often, this is characterized by an overly snide, condescending, patronizing attitude. Philotrolls consider anyone with whom they do not agree to be "immature," and are fond of quoting that old saw that "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
When cornered they are quick to resort to personal attacks. A philotroll's bag of rhetorical tricks includes a variety of transparent ploys, such as willfully misinterpreting the opponent's words, committing Straw Man fallacies, accusing his or her opponents of engaging in the very tactics used by the philotroll, and so forth.
When engaging in their sophistry, philotrolls are among the most hypocritical and aggravating of trollkind.
I rarely, if ever, resort to personal attacks, I am not "extremely hostile," and I don't think I willfully misinterpret my opponent's words. Otherwise, that's the troll I am... if I'm a troll.
If you were a troll, what kind of troll would you be?
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I saw a bit of myself in the Big Cat from the second link. *hangs head in shame*
Loopy brought back some memories. I remember asking someone not to feed the trolls only to be told the poster in question was an institution. I've never thought he got any saner, but there ya go.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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