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Trolling 101

Started by curiosityandthecat, December 12, 2008, 03:34:53 PM

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curiosityandthecat

QuoteFrom Wikipedia | "Troll (Internet)"

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

* * *

There has been a recent surge in trolling, so I thought I would take the liberty to throw together a little primer on how to spot a troll, and how to best deal with one once you've caught one.  I will refer to the troll as it, rather than he or she, to keep from humanizing such a monster. Google. If you return basically anything, you've got a copypasta troll. If you don't return anything, try with another phrase. Look for discrepancies in writing style from one paragraph to another, things like capitalization and punctuation usage. If it fluctuates frequently, it's a pretty good give away.

Refusal to answer questions or continue a dialogue is a red flag, as well. Sometimes trolls can have the appearance of looking for an honest dialogue, but simply dangle the carrot and wait for a bite. If you question the author's motivation at all, your intuition is normally going to be right.


Combating trolling:
The best method of combating trolls is simply to not feed the trolls. That is, trolling behavior is normally a one-time shot, as 90% of the trolls you will encounter are simply spammers or basic trolls. By ignoring the post, it will fall to the bottom of the New or Active post lists, and we can all go about our day without the interruption.

If you do want to feed the troll, make it clear in your first response that you know there is trolling going on, but you want to "play" anyway. Sometimes it can be a good exercise for a number of reasons: boredom, venting or formulating responses to honest concerns raised by non-trolls on the same topic.

If you've seen any of my troll responses, you'll see that I like to just hijack the thread. I normally do this with a post and a picture about shampoo. Why shampoo? Why not?
Here are a couple macros to use if you run across a troll, as well as a link to the image file you can simply copy and paste, if you like.


http://imageshack.us/a/img688/2748/dontfeedthetrolln.jpg



http://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/+_197783adabe38e19e692a5d2d8705038.jpg


And, finally, my shampoo hijack image.


http://i45.tinypic.com/14j3l9k.gif


I hope this was helpful. Here's a recap:

  • Trolls are easy to spot, most of the time.
  • Do not feed the trolls (or make it clear that you want to have some fun).
  • Ignoring them makes them go away.

Edited: June 17, 2010. Added "most common trolling behaviors seen at HAF" in light of recent trolling attempts.

(Edited to remove formatting issues arising from forum software changes, and to add the Wikipedia link and definition. -- Recusant)
-Curio

karadan

I'm not very up-to-date with my internet language so i've always been a little afraid to ask 'what is a troll?'

Many thanks for the clarification. This thread should be a sticky :)
QuoteI find it mistifying that in this age of information, some people still deny the scientific history of our existence.

McQ

Hoping I did the "sticky" correctly. I still suck at php forums controls.

Great post and topic, Curio! Thanks!
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

curiosityandthecat

Quote from: "McQ"Hoping I did the "sticky" correctly. I still suck at php forums controls.

Great post and topic, Curio! Thanks!

Methinks the sticky worked.  :hail:
-Curio

Wechtlein Uns

Ok.

I knew what trolls were, but I didn't really know how to deal with thim. thanks curio. ;)
"What I mean when I use the term "god" represents nothing more than an interactionist view of the universe, a particularite view of time, and an ever expansive view of myself." -- Jose Luis Nunez.

Kyuuketsuki

Being as old as I am (only exceeded by my extreme coolness  :devil:) I've long known what trolls are though spotting them is not so easy as I have a tendency to flash-read which usually mean I only get a basic overview of some posts but what really gets me is the number of people who think that just because you disagree with them, particularly if you persist on a given line of debate because you don't think the points raised against yours is good enough, that you're a troll. Worse they will continue to call you one even when you point out what a troll is!

Kyu
James C. Rocks: UK Tech Portal & Science, Just Science

[size=150]Not Long For This Forum [/size]

BadPoison

For the troll, trolling can be quite humorous and fun. However, my personal trolling experience was always confined to places where people take a topic that is otherwise unimportant and redefine it as seriousbuizness (more internet slang) - such as most sites in the video game community (the World of Warcraft forum is a perfect example). I think Happy Atheist Forum is far above the immaturity of such shenanigans.

Response to a troll:

Quoteu don't know wut the fuk ur talking about. i would beat ur ass any day of the week irl. i have sex with my pornstar girlfriend and u wouldn't even know what do with her.  because I'm a real man and ur nothing but a fake man. U hav no dik. i will kill u. i swear i will and if u think i wont just wait and see its over and ur mom sux too. she had sex with a dog that probaby had aids and now ur here. stupid piece of hsit. i rest my case. dum internet nerdz not knowing what a clit is.


Isn't the internet great?

Wechtlein Uns

Laughing. My. Ass off.

 :hail:
"What I mean when I use the term "god" represents nothing more than an interactionist view of the universe, a particularite view of time, and an ever expansive view of myself." -- Jose Luis Nunez.

Whitney


Doubting Thomas29

Trolls are really annoying!

curiosityandthecat

Quote from: "Doubting Thomas29"Trolls are really annoying!

You don't say...
-Curio

BadPoison

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"
Quote from: "Doubting Thomas29"Trolls are really annoying!

You don't say...
I doubt it!

Kyuuketsuki

Quote from: "Doubting Thomas29"Trolls are really annoying!

Berserkers (my term) can be worse ... at least a troll, if done really well, can almost be a work of art.

Kyu
James C. Rocks: UK Tech Portal & Science, Just Science

[size=150]Not Long For This Forum [/size]

Wechtlein Uns



Some trolls are cute.  :blush:
"What I mean when I use the term "god" represents nothing more than an interactionist view of the universe, a particularite view of time, and an ever expansive view of myself." -- Jose Luis Nunez.

Doubting Thomas29

Some trolls are cute like Latusthaeos!  Just kidding about you being a troll Latesatheos! roflol