Don't Feed the Trolls

My thoughts: Trolls, hmm. I picture Dick Dastardly gleefully rubbing his hands together over driving everyone to the brink of insanity.

I pretty much see trouble on a forum as a group effort lol.

Sometimes I've thought a person who got banned was likely disabled in a way that prevented them from being able to participate very well. Remaining wouldn't
be beneficial for them, either. But even then, there's another side who could simply stop replying.

And it's often one of the regulars, semi-regulars or a newbie who are not a "troll," but just get sideways with a few people at once. After a while, they settle back in and it's somebody else's turn. All but the most saintly probably get their turn. But there's another side keeping at it as well, often with cliquishness or piling on, which is hardly nice.

In my opinion, most of the trouble on forums is caused by third parties. A dispute between the two parties originally involved (when that's the nature of it) is intensified and prolonged when others keep chiming in.

And all of the above is subjective, in the eye of the beholder, etc. and possibly further complicated by carry-over from earlier stuff. So I think it is hard to tell for sure who's the dirty bird. Don't we all sometimes think "Why didn't *I* just shut up?"

Who knows.

I really like how the mods here aren't too quick to pounce.

 

This. Nothing bores a troll faster than being ignored, I reckon.

I can understand folks getting hot under the collar over an issue that matters to them. I certainly do. But I fail to understand the mentality of somebody who stirs things simply to cause trouble.

I am shocked at the sheer number of folks out there in the big bad world of the internet, who make themselves known, anonymously or not, by infesting nearly every thread on nearly every topic, and making what used to be a fun experience into a really unpleasant time.

That's why I appreciate the mods on this forum (and a few other sites as well.) They keep this crap at bay.

 

To add to this perspective, sometimes you can draw lines through the forum base. For example, I've seen members A, B, and C vocally complain about members G,H and I, meanwhile, members X,Y,and Z are (privately) complaining about members A,B, and C. And everyone is convinced they're right.

In that light, sometimes the best course of action is to simply refrain from posting.

 

Yep. Too much discord ruins the fun of it anyway.

 

Attention seeking. Their action causes a response. Often a nice discussion builds around troll posts, though. It can turn into a good exercise for coming up with strong arguments, too Even this topic is eight pages and going. Why are we discussing trolls, actually?

 

My ignore list is pretty short.

My one and only criteria for getting ignored is “deliberately trying to mock and upset other people.”

Usually there’s only one person on it at a time, because generally they wind up getting banned in a few days.

 

You're right. I'm away for my dinner.

 

Because you're not supposed to feed them.

 

I was reading that too quickly and didn't notice the "and" at first

 

What are we defining as a “troll,” anyway?

Like... I’ve always thought of trolling as “deliberately trying to provoke someone because you want to upset them.” So, for example, mocking a rape victim for being weak.

But I’ve noticed other define trolling as “pretending to believe something you don’t.” So, for example, pretending to be stupid and gradually asking dumber questions. Like the infamous internet commenter Ken M. Harmless, but silly.

Or sometimes it’s a combination.

 

Well, playing Devil's advocate could fall under the definition of "deliberately trying to provoke someone." It's more about intent than anything else, which is why it's so hard for moderators to deal with the subtler kind of trolls. Most people on the internet seems to think trolling is the really obvious kind, like someone who signs up on a forum and begins posting GAY PEOPLE SUCK LOLOLOL or FUCK YOU on every thread. Actually the most dangerous trolls are the subtler ones, who are only here to upset people but who do it *just* within the rules of the forum.

Using Phill Mitchell as an example again, there was a strong possibility at the beginning that he was sincere in what he was saying, even if it got people's backs up. That's not trolling. It took a while for the mods to be certain that he was saying those things because he knew they would upset people, rather than because he genuinely wanted to put forward his views. That is trolling.

It's not always obvious, and some trolls are very clever. They're the ones who are still around.

 

I resemble that remark.

 

Well, since I'm one of the ones with the banhammer in hand, here's the meter by which I measure:

The further an action or person pulls the forum away from its intended purpose, the more likely that person is to get banned.

I use the word troll in this thread because that's the word everyone tends to understand and we (the greater we) do seem to have a great deal of investment in what we call things, and as soon as someone like me comes along and says "that's not even close to how I'm looking at it", then confusion ensues.

Regardless of what anyone else's definition of trolling is, the ways a person will garner my negative attention are:

• You've come here because you're bored and want to entertain yourself by randomly fucking with people.
• You don't know how to interact with others and your engagement of other members tends to end in problems with you as the common denominator.*
• You're looking for every way to get around our rules, like asking how you can get crits without giving any crits, constantly posting your writing outside the workshop in order to circumvent the requirements. Generally "above the law".
• You assume every venue (to include ours) is your personal platform to grind your axe, twisting every conversation into something it never was, in order to foist a shoehorned segue so you can proselytize whatever cause is giving you a chubby right now.

This list is not all-inclusive, but those are the major points.

* This one always causes controversy because there are people who genuinely have a difficult time socializing with others. I'm not insensitive to this fact. This fact doesn't invoke some sort of obligation on my part to allow any and all behavior, because, as I am sure you all may remember, we don't ask for ID upon joining, and we certainly will not ask people to provide evidence that they indeed suffer from a condition that restricts or alters their abilities as regards social interaction. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be illegal to ask for such information because we don't have any valid reason to ask for such. We don't provide the kinds of services that might require such validation, and no one on staff is a vetted professional provider of such services. It's a writing forum.

 

[deleted. Decided it was a dumb post.]

 

Yes. I encounter this quite a bit with bad legal advice. I think the best approach is to post the correct information without necessarily addressing the “troll” directly and then leave it at that. Now you’ve got the correct info in the thread and people can evaluate. Maybe follow up is required if people have questions, but you can just put the info out there without engaging in an argument.

 

I've had dick-pics sent to me, so...

 

@PM was the most difficult and perplexing cartoon blend of Trans, mental health and narcissistic disorders - plus audience prejudice. But apparently not so, just asshole...

#metoo

 

I'd send any of you a dic-pic, I love this place.