Understanding forums: Trollspotting

[k'sha]

When I first started posting in forums I was in complete innocence as to the online phenomenon of 'trolls'.
A little wiser now I think it is valuable to be able to spot them as they can wreak havoc,not only on a thread but in the whole forum.

These are some insights I have about them.

Usually they don't go to much trouble to create a persona,they just use any word and don't bother with an avatar.However some of the more inventive ones do go to the trouble of creating a fake identity.

They are usually unknown to the members who regularly post in the forum and have put their time and energy into genuinely discussing issues and events in order to increase their (and everyone else's) knowledge.

Trolls have not contributed to these conversations in any meaningful way.

Their contributions are usually vitriolic or they belittle using sarcasm.Personal attack is also popular.Its easy to indulge one's shadow side when anonymous.

How to deal with them? Particularly in a forum that upholds freedom of speech.

Ignore them.They usually fade away with lack of oxygen.

Pound them.They usually don't have the strength of character to deal with someone who has it.Online bullies tend to cave easily.

Use them to sharpen your rhetorical skills.You can never have too much wit or pithy comments.

Challenge their anonymous status.They generally don't like to be called on what they do or what they are.That is,trolls.

Have fun with it.Keep it light.After all,they are a fact of online life.:taz:

[Norval]

K'sha,
A most profound recognition of attitudes and psyche, and what if one had an alchemical
knowledge? Would they be so profoundly caustic and insatiable in their endeavors to demean
humanity too? Maybe a bad ET too, in woolly attire.


A most excellent post, Thank you.

[k'sha]

Thanks Norval,for your appreciative comments.I must admit I posted the thread above with some trepidation,like a few of us here I have been burnt on other forums which makes me a little gunshy when entering a new one.
But I feel that a thorough understanding of online forums and our experiences of them and the insights we have into the phenomenon can only be helpful in making this one fulfil its purpose.
'If one had an alchemical knowledge'......definitely a useful thing to possess in these times as an aid to deeper understanding.
Bad ET...definitely possible....I thought I was generally wellread when it came to ET's but I am going to have to get up to speed with your research before I can answer with any confidence.
....where I come from with relating to others online is that all we are here are the words we write...and it is in that we reveal ourselves for who we truly are.

[Norval]

Burnt? Hell, Gale and I have been slaughtered. Drawn, quartered, sliced, diced, and hung up on a
stake for all to see. But, "We're alive, we're alive!" is what we are. You mentioned this in your OP
above,


Trolls have not contributed to these conversations in any meaningful way.

IMHO there is much we all can learn from their, "Troll's" as you called them, posting methodologies. :bananen_smilies035:

[Swami Salami]

Rockin the Trolls

[zorgon]

TROLLS

Trolls can not be bad ET's... why? Because Trolls lurk in the underground of Earth and have been here a very long time. They are mostly evil but they are home grown.

Ignoring a Troll is the best way... banishment from the Realm works well too...

But feeding the Troll is a bad idea... because their purpose is to disrupt and derail. Look at it this way... One Troll enters an active thread and posts ONE nasty comment...

Then 20 people in the thread get mad at the Troll and feel the need to make a comment, witty or otherwise...

NOW you have just achieved the Troll's desired result... I have seen this at AT go to five pages of counter bashing as everyone jumped on the Troll. It got so bad in one thread I just left it... this after having just dropped a bombshell called "MISTY"

[zorgon]

Now let's talk about the REAL problem...



Over at 'You know where' Henry Deacon made a big fuss about deleting his threads and a big drama about leaving. Yet all along he was there as SEVERAL sock puppets watching people and causing trouble. I had 7 identified and several more at ATS, OM and GLP...

It was actually this whole mess with HD that made me see what PC was becoming. Once you identify the deception there is no going back. The problem with the mods started because they were expected to go along with the deception, to the point some felt threatened

Simon was sent packing because he banned one of HD's sock puppets. 'Orionsbelt'

Over at ATS I have seen an increasing number of threads started by 'newbies' who come in an deliberately pick a topic that has caused issues in the past... and they will do a tag team deal getting it started. They know the regulars will come in soon to take over. Seems planned to me to keep things stirred up.

So SOCK PUPPETS are PUBLIC ENEMY #1 for forums. If admin does nothing else but watch for multiple accounts from the same IP it would knock out a LOT of dissent

[Gary]

Well, I have to come clean with Zorgon here and I offer my hand in friendship, I am Bazil, who on ATS was responsible for the Avalon thread there recently which caused Mary Lou to blow a fuse, I was just trying to drive traffic to the new forum, sorry Sir. :bananen_smilies035:

[Swami Salami]

Well the Swami is the Swami, always has been and always will be. No sockpuppeting for me, I'll take it right in the face. Lets go bananas....

:bananen_smilies105::bananen_smilies105:

[k'sha]

Sock puppets!...lol....well,I learn something new everyday.....I can't for the life of me fathom why someone would want to damage their integrity for the sake of blowing off steam and causing havoc as a sockpuppet.

Not to mention their lack of guts...sorry,courage is the nicer term....in standing by what they say.

I think its fine to use a different name on different forums though.I was monkeyblood at RS but after the reactions I got from it,I decided to change it when I came here.

['zac]

Purple Heart, here.

My message is too short. Is this better?

[k'sha]

Sockpuppets,trolls...like Norval said,there is a lot to be gained from being aware of their methodologies.

Trolls also come in to back up their friends...they don't post regularly on the forum where they attack but their friend does and so they form a cabal but make it look as though they are disinterested observers giving an authentic opinion on the issue in contention.

[Norval]

Trolls, by another name, some times have a very distinct agenda. They are there to disrupt any
"truth" that is being posted to the web. When it comes to bad ET's trying to keep it hidden that
they are for real, after losing the war in our solar system and being thrown down to the earth, they
will stop at nothing to keep ones from talking about them here on the web. They don't exist. The
devil isn't real, just a sore loser. There will be few that dare to come up against those that know
about them in any forum where they don't have the control of that forum. They are cowards, with
out honor and integrity. :cheers2:

[Gary]

Purple Heart, here.

My message is too short. Is this better?


Glad your here buddy! :bananen_smilies022::bananen_smilies070::

[Norval]

One just never knows for sure with "whom" they are posting.
Just some food for thought.
Imagine the typing you could do with 6 digits!



This is Big Johns first print for the forum. Thank You Big John. :bananen_smilies085:

[Swami Salami]

Is that an aircushing under his butt or..............:censored:

[Terran]

I like the foot operated keyboard. It might be useful for avoiding repetitive strain injuries...but then it looks like our poor ET is going full bore with both hands and feet - courting trouble IMO.

['zac]

:bananen_smilies053: That's a great pic! Hope to see more of those.

[Gale]

Actually, the keyboard is designed best for six digits!!
:eek:

[Heretic]

Well, I have to come clean with Zorgon here and I offer my hand in friendship, I am Bazil, who on ATS was responsible for the Avalon thread there recently which caused Mary Lou to blow a fuse, I was just trying to drive traffic to the new forum, sorry Sir. :bananen_smilies035:

hehe I was wondering which one of you was Bazil

hey that is what led me to the craterchains work so thanks, as I had never seen it before

zorgon I shamelessly ripped off your troll definition JPG to use elsewhere when it suites me LOL so add that to the dozens of other graphics I have ripped from your posts to add to my collection
:bananen_smilies066:

[Norval]

Is that an aircushing under his butt or..............

Big John FOCL on that one there Swami, he never thought about that, so I told him about your "weapon" of choice, , :) Guess the cushion is just a "channeler" for the gasses.


I like the foot operated keyboard. It might be useful for avoiding repetitive strain injuries...but then it looks like our poor ET is going full bore with both hands and feet - courting trouble IMO.

If PAC (Avalon Camelot) has gone for the greed, then AV has gone trolls only?


hehe I was wondering which one of you was Bazil

hey that is what led me to the craterchains work so thanks, as I had never seen it before, , :bananen_smilies066:

Gale and I have run up against these "trolls" and many seem to have an agenda when it comes to certain topics "they" don't want discussed.

Great posts one and all, we all are learning something here.

[Swami Salami]

Even Trolls love Rock & Roll

[Heretic]

I hate it when two of them work together in tandem. They both come into a thread and take opposing sides yet proceed a major flame fest that hardly even touches the issues thus no one else can really back either of them up. They usually toss around bland propaganda ideology as a reality so even if you read it you feel like you are being indoctrinated. It is genius really.

They will eat up pages and pages, causing people to abandon the thread out of disgust and dis-interest in the direction the thread has taken. Some people hang around, seeing what is happening or at least determined to continue the discussion of the real issues but it is like trying to hear someone whisper while sitting next to couple arguing on megaphones.

This is also one of the scenarios in which ignoring them isn't the simplest answer.

:gunsmilie:

[Norval]

Not to worry, that aspect is under control by the Janitors, , , FOCLMAO, , grins

[k'sha]

Norval...I am so glad you are onto that...I remember there was this great conversation going on over at RS and there was this one troll poster who was doing his best to dominate it...a few of us kept getting it on track only for him to destroy the continuity....in the end everyone just gave up...which was a shame as there were people who really had high calibre perspectives about the issue.
The 'moderator' system at the time was almost non-existent...now they are hot and heavy with the delete button.Don't know which is worse.

And if it is not too contentious,can I ask about the forum's policy on banning?

[₣яэđĸĊ]

Their contributions are usually vitriolic or they belittle using sarcasm.Personal attack is also popular.

Anonimity, it is one of the great marvels of this communication medium, and it's worst bane.

Forum trolls haven't been much of a problem, for me. luck of the draw, I guess. Where I've had more experience with them is in chat rooms. Surprisingly I had a pretty good run with chat rooms for a few years. (Yes, for years I too held the opinion that "chat" was something you caught off of bus station toilet seats)

I haven't been doing that for the last 3 months or so. There is so much and so many kinds of insanity rampant in political chat rooms nowadays, I just decided to drop it, for now. Life's too short.

But one thing about chat is, it's sound bites, not dissertation. But it also makes it "sudden school" for some things. So let me add another "tell".

Yer average troll will over a very short period of time, come out on both sides of any issue. They have no values to elaborate, purely stirring the pot.

Their goal is what my mom described as, "Lets you and him fight!

[Norval]

Then there is the BIG problem with MISinformation, DISinformation, MISdirection agents, or what we call IAC (Information Acquisition and Control) agents. Maybe this would be a good new thread?

[₣яэđĸĊ]

Then there is the BIG problem with MISinformation, DISinformation, MISdirection agents, or what we call IAC (Information Acquisition and Control) agents. Maybe this would be a good new thread?

A new challenge for me, really, as I have devoted 95% of my forum/chat time before September to politics and such. The closest you get in that arena is the occasional ideolog, who wouldn't call a pig pork if he was chewing on bacon.

The subjects like religion, spirituality, mechanics of the universe, etc. were something I avoided like the plague. Especially in chat - "no intelligent life there". aka FUBAR.

In 8 years of chatting I don't think I saw more than a handfull of genuine conversations that didn't last 5 sentences before someone involved wasn't "going to hell for sure!" from another quarter.

This tends to put a damper on things. ;)

[Norval]

Hey yah Fred, nice to meet "real" people on the web now and then, it helps me to keep the faith in that there are other intelligent life on here. :)

When it comes to the bible as a Document from ETs it presents a whole new picture from what the religions have offered up for believing what it says. Me personally, I aint gots a religious bone in me body. Yet that does not preclude me bending, or bowing to one knee before the King of the known universe out of respect. Much like I would do so to any King or Queen here on earth at this time. I think all in those positions deserve the just due respect for the responsibilities they carry. (some presidents would only get a nod from me, , , if that, :rolllaugh: )

[corleone]

Big John FOCL on that one there Swami, he never thought about that, so I told him about your "weapon" of choice, , :) Guess the cushion is just a "channeler" for the gasses.



If PAC (Avalon Camelot) has gone for the greed, then AV has gone trolls only?



Gale and I have run up against these "trolls" and many seem to have an agenda when it comes to certain topics "they" don't want discussed.

Great posts one and all, we all are learning something here. And I just found out about this thread just now....LOL:bananen_smilies050: