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The forum troll phenomenon
DarthDimi
Behind you!Moderator
Like most other forums, ours can't seem to stay troll-proof either. Trolls infest the place like vermin or worse, bugs. They seem to carry a mission:
To provoke and irritate,
return and annoy,
spit and devastate
and happily destroy.
To insult and upset,
and pick a fight,
get us to code red
and spam with all might.
But is that always the case? What are trolls really? Who are they? Sometimes I think that newbies mean well when they sign up but struggle with the honour code and house rules and unwillingly get labelled as trolls. Then again, some members assume the role of troll as a reaction to being criticised by the forum orthodoxy for whatever reason. But I guess most trolls know right from the start that they will intentionally stir things up, get banned and return for more. They enjoy being in the focal point of things, being in the spotlights, wreaking havoc in a digitalised world where one can cause trouble anonymously and remain safe from legal action.
What is the appeal though? Is it a way to cope with real-life failure? Do people crave the power, even if it is only a virtual one? Is it in their nature to seek cheep thrills this way? I think it's all of the above, more or less. I don't have a major in troll psychology but I think there must be some power rush involved.
Yet, I also think it's a sad way to live one's life. Over the years, social media have demonstrated - and continue to do so - that the anonymity option allows people to talk weaker souls into committing suicide or indecent exposure. These very people are often in real life fairly nondescript law-abiding citizens. Often they are suppressed one way or another, feeling weak and powerless themselves, lacking satisfaction one way or another. The Internet offers them an "unreal" playground, with a delete button, something real life doesn't have. Taking a dump on others is to them some twisted form of therapy or worse: entertainment.
As for our own trolls, I guess there's all kinds of them. You have the ones that post subversive posters and pretend being thoroughly confused when we give them hell for it. You have those who persistently sign up again only to deliberately go against the flow with their 'opinions' and political views, so formulated that they realise many of us will feel insulted, humiliated, provoked or at the very least shaken up. They hope we will retaliate with full force, so they can then mock our rules and general forum spirit by flagging those retaliations and complaining to the mods, pointing out that they didn't do anything wrong etcetera. Some of these professional trolls know exactly how to stay within the boundaries of the 'acceptable' yet cause maximum damage to threads and harm to people's feelings.
In this thread, I would like to read your thoughts on the subject of trolls. I would like to learn from our shared views in the matter. And for what it's worth: no trolls allowed!
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Comments
Personally I think the way to deal with trolls, the obvious ones, is that when they are discovered, just zap them right away. No fuss no mus. No warnings. No one need know they even existed. I am talking trolls with zero to single digit post counts, who introduce themselves as trolls from the get-go, as opposed to a member that has been around, even a little while, and goes off the rails a bit.
I'd just bonk them out like whack-a-mole. No warnings no nothing, but I defer to the mods. On any board, the mods have to set the tone, make decisions, and the rest of us should let them do their job, with minimal push back.
The best thing we all can do is ignore them and watch their fire burn out. Starting this topic is not the best way to do that but I'm sure you know that. It can serve as a discussion for those who wish to leave because of these trolls.
That's not what I had in mind, @pachazo. I would very much like us to talk about trolls more generally here. I'd rather this thread wouldn't be used to point our finger to current trolls and complain. ;-)
Unfortunately the authorities who have power to clamp down on trolls are so slow to react to their nuisance that any intervention usually comes too late when the damage is already done.
The really 'good' trolls are very difficult to stop as they usually have multiple IP addresses, which means they'll come back again and again and again. I think the easiest way to fight this is to flag any poster whom you feel is trolling and leave it to the mods.
If I suspect someone is up to no good I will read all of the comments they have made to see if there is a pattern forming. As @darthdimi has said, they will always look to incite provocation to cause a reaction from other members.
And I do agree that lately, there are some of us (including myself, I won't lie about it) who are immediately suspicious of any new member, based off of how it's usually been in the past. Having said that, we've probably had close to an equal amount of new people who have joined and brought up excellent topics and great debates throughout. So in the end, it's still hard for me to welcome every single person with open arms, but overall, it's usually obvious right from the get-go the members who have no idea what's going on/are only here to cause mischief, and those who really want to actively engage in discussions.
Anyway, I consider them the stupid part of the internet, and usually I'm quite good at ignoring them.
That's a very good point, well made. I've noticed that when I've played COD or Uncharted online. There is a definite connection there.
I was accused of being a troll because I did not sign the "Skyfall loyalty Pledge". I was around when the old forum existed, been a Bond fan for a long time. Someone was accusing another for being a troll because they did not like a Judi Dench M.
I am being facetious. When I said I did not like Skyfall, people accused me of being a troll. I have also been accused of being a Craig-hater and a sexist.
i really dont know how much of that comes from about 4 writers working on one story, now that its just john logan working on it how coherent a story coming from one pen will be has me interested.
My favourite James Bond is Timothy Dalton, hardly a very popular opinion although it has gained some popularity over the years it seems. Still, I will make my appreciation of Dalton well known when I feel I must, despite the risk of getting targeted by people who dislike Dalton's Bond. Even then, I welcome such conflicts provided that we continue the debate without getting all personal or hostile. I love the game of searching for arguments that can keep my case strong and alive. But when the game turns into warfare and we no long agree to disagree but agree to fight it out until one of us dies, I prefer to leave the debate.
The problem of course is that sometimes people struggle with accepting others' views. A neutral post begets a slightly harsher reply which, in turn, is responded to with even stronger language, until eventually the central issue is set ablaze by insults and name calling. I've seen it often enough. It saddens me. Sometimes such fireworks are kindled by trolls, sometimes they themselves create a troll, and sometimes they disclose the latent tendency for trolling one may have, consciously or not.
Being a teenager that's a bit thick and that has dodgy grammar is not being a troll. Spouting conspiracy theories, starting arguments deliberately, deliberately trying to insult other members, that's a troll.
What I'm trying to say is that the @DRESSED_2_KILL's of the internet are trolls that deserve to be banned when they join.
The @hullcityfan's of the internet have done nothing wrong and we shouldn't start campaigning for them to be banned.
This is a bit of a problem. People being accused of 'trolling' for going against the grain. I think I've disagreed with you on political issues such as gender, sexuality, race etc but these are all things that boil down to our individual opinions and beyond that our morals and ethics. I don't like the word 'troll' being banded about without thought, it just leads to more provocation. There are clearly a couple of twats, excuse my French, who frequent the boards, but we should be careful not to pigeon-hole those who vehemently disagree with us as 'trolls'. It's easy to see when someone knows their Bond.
Stop lying, the bolded paragraph proves that you obviously have a major in Troll Psychology.
It's sad that the internet gives such people the power, and attention, that they crave. While some want to have an intelligent, or at the very least thoughtful, conversation, these people must come in and ruin everything all for the sake of their own self-importance. What's even sadder, I'm certain a great deal of these people have degrees in anything from clinical psychology to astrology, and could probably be recognized for Nobel Prizes, but they feel that the best use of their time is to come on the internet and destroy everything that others enjoy.
As much as I love the freedom that the internet provides, I wish trolls would understand and recognize that they aren't wanted, aren't needed, and don't have the right to ruin other people's forum threads, YouTube videos, and so forth and so on just because they can.
Disagreeing with the general consensus is not trolling, it is actually an act of democracy whereby a forum becomes enjoyable when there is a respectfull discussion.
I think most of the people on this forum have gone off rail and behave like a looneytune when it comes to other opinions or views (poltics, religion Roger Moore & Pierce Brosnan do have that effect).
Whenever I see a discussion and one member gets called a troll by another I blame both, simply because naming trolls often shows a lack of respect for different opinions and if the person is really out to damage teh site/forum allert a mod. They then can decide and discus the issue.
Trolls on this site a vastly overrated. Some of them have been a great source of fun for me in their lunacy.
Because that would be much too easy on us!
I think this is something of an over reaction. It seems whenever a new name joins up, and doesn't quite adhere to the rules of the forum, or goes off track a little, the suspicions build up, until it eventually culminates to a level where they're being blamed and accused for the assasination of John F Kennedy or some other world or historical atrocity
What defines a troll (I never really did take to that word) anyway ?
Some childish behavior ? Nonsensical discussion ? Saying some profanity in anger at random intervals ? Getting into disputes with more established and recognized members ?
The point is, I for one care little if someone doesn't seem to fit in, because they can't spell correctly, play the fool, or have random bursts of erratic behavior. This isn't an elite club, it's merely just another place on the Internet that caters for a particular subject - that of course being James Bond. That's my take on it. I can appreciate if those kind of actions are frowned upon by others, but I'm not one for jumping up and down and frantically searching for the flag button, should someone dare say a rude word or indulge in a slice of questionable behavior or say a silly sentence. Sometimes, they can actually amuse, although can see why some take umbrage with such individuals. I don't see what harm a little fun and nonsense can do on these pages, so long as they've read the rules and know what the boundaries are. There's been one or two bans on these pages just lately, to participants that I didn't think was overly justified
The one thing I can't abide from trolls, or any individuals wherever you may find them on this forum - is the posting of vile and offensive garbage in picture form, both sexual and other offensive material, that we have been witness to in recent times. We are aware of the names in question. By all means, they deserve to be banished as soon as possible
We can debate this all night, but the fact of the matter being, I don't have a problem with any new members acting a bit silly, or being unorthodox, or even one or two rude words that may slip out. A fair number of new participants have had a raw deal or been treated unfairly by some of the more recognized names on this forum I have noticed just recently, sometimes justified - often unwarranted
I guess we're just seeing things as different to what's acceptable and what goes beyond the pale on these pages, but it's something I feel was a minor issue that needed to be addressed. I myself sometimes get skeptical with new members and their sometimes unorthodox behavior, after the attacks from before, but most are well intended and not out to make a scene or cause havoc. Unfortunately one or two who do managed to come on, only want to cause problems or make a mess for the authority figures to clear up. I guess the bottom line is, one mans 'troll', is anothers new member just trying to fit in, with no real malice intended, but that's about all on this issue
There are trolls everywhere actually, even in professional forums. And I work in sales, I can tell you they exist among customers too.
One of the reasons I wanted to raise the issue of trolls via this thread, is because the school where I teach has organised an anti cyberbullying campaign for the coming school year. We considered it useful, necessary even, after a few rather unsettling incidents, mostly involving facebook. One such incident involved a 13 year old girl (!), stalked by classmates to take off her clothes in front of her webcam, or else. Upon her refusal, it really came to this 'or else' and she got terrorised all over facebook as well as in school. Thank god she was brave enough to alert us after only one day and we managed to interfere. Parents were brought in, even the police got involved. I can only dreadfully imagine what would have happened had the victim not been brave enough to step up for herself, if she had actually yielded. It turned out that those classmates were all but one girls, even the kind you'd normally describe as quiet and gentile. But once in front of their computer, their digital alter egos took control and proved to be nothing other than evil. The truly upsetting thing is that with a straight face they claimed it was 'only for fun', 'just a game', 'nothing too serious'... And lest we forget, nothing happened anonymously here. Everybody knew exactly who everybody else was.
Shows you that bullies and trolls sometimes don't fully realise the extent of the damage they can cause. With a fairly innocent "it's only a game" attitude, how could they ever feel moral objection to the pain they're about to inflict?