Know-a-Troll.

[Guest DRL]

Today we had to write some points

for Computer Science regarding internet,

so I though thata 'Know-a-troll' would work.

I decided later to post it here, in case

anyone wants to that a look at it...

Also, it is based partly on my experience

here, and a little bit on myself.

1_ What is a troll?

      Basically a troll is someone

      whose intention

      is to cause trouble.

2_ Their kind of posts

      To fulfill their purpose, they make

      inflamatory, hostile, annoying, or

      spam posts. Often, a troll's posts do not

      obey the threads rules, or tries to make fun

      of them, or the ones who posted in the

      thread.

3_ In/Direct attacks

    A common way of trolling is a direct or indirect

    attack. Example of indirect attack.:

      "What is your favourite book author?"

        A: I like reading Plato.

        B: To me, Xian Denle is the best writer.

            I love his stories about cats!

        C(troll): Xian Denle is a big idiot, he

                        spent a lot of money in a house

                        that will oviously burn down because

                        it was made of wood.

        It really does not matter if Xian Denle is an idiot or no,

        but B thinks he is great, and therefore C attacked B indirectly.

        In addition, C did not post anything that contributes to the thread.

        Therefore we can classify C post as SPAM and inflamatory.

        Example of direct attack:

        "What is your favourite color?"

        A: Mine favourite color is Blue.

        B: Mine's Teal.

        C(troll): Blue sucks, and so do you.

        As we can see, direct attacks are more

        obvious. It is clear what C is doing.

        This is probably going to earn him a warning,

        and B's anger as well.

4_ Their logic is flawed,

    and is not at their side.

    When logic is applied, many

    trolls fail to defend themselves, and

    leave. Example:

    "Sally's fan board; thread is

    How much you like Sally?"

      A: I love her!

      B: She is certainly cool,

          althrough I like May more.

      C: Sally is the most non-canon,

          awful character there is.

      X: Actually, she is, C. The latest

          book makes her a key character,

          and she even marries the main

          character at the end.

          Just because you do

          not like her, does not means that

          she is not officially canon.

    As we can see, X has succesfully

    proven that C is wrong. The remaining

    comment, 'awful character there is' is

    obviously intented to annoy and/or

    offend those who do like Sally.

    In other cases, trolls might actually use logic,

    but it will not support them for long.

    That is, just as a cheater will be

    exposed eventually, so will be a troll.

    That leads us to the next point.

5_ Is it really worth trolling?

    If you join a forum or discussion group,

    then you registered for a reason. If yours

    is trolling, then expect a negative opinion

    from the members. Note that as the members

    make an opinion of you, the less likely that

    they will reply to your posts, and maybe they

    choose to ignore your posts althogheter.

    And if they do decide to reply to your troll-posts,

    do not expect anything nice.

    As if that was not enought, there is allways the

    risk of ban.

6_Avoid being a troll;

    think before you do

    What if it is not your intention to

    troll, but you think that you

    have been doing so lately?

    The answer is: Think before you do.

    As mentioned in the previous points, trolls

    make inflamatory, offensive, or useless posts.

    Rather than replying to the thread directly,

    read throught the previous replies. It will help

    avoiding confusion and you will take part in the

    discussion. If the post you are about to do has

    nothing to do with the thread, do not post at all.

    Making threads of "I hate Z" in a place where

    everyone likes Z is probably not a good idea.

    When someone does not agrees

    with you, discuss politely the situation. Do not

    insult or offend, as this will not solve anything

    but will make you look like a troll.

    Finally, treat others the same way you expect

    them to treat you. If you troll, you will be treated

    as one. If you treat others with respect, then you

    will be treaten with respect as well.

   

...

Well that is it.

Probably quite incomplete and

contains errors, but this was made

during the subject's single hour...

[Sabre]

I think trolling has to be deliberate. Under your definition, someone who has an opinion that offends someone is a troll.

A- I like strawberry ice cream

B- I like chocolate.

A- WHAT! Chocolate is the devil! THE DEVIL!

B is not a troll, it just happens his opinion angers A. It was not his intent to anger or upset, but it happened.

[Guest DRL]

I think trolling has to be deliberate. Under your definition, someone who has an opinion that offends someone is a troll.

A- I like strawberry ice cream

B- I like chocolate.

A- WHAT! Chocolate is the devil! THE DEVIL!

B is not a troll, it just happens his opinion angers A. It was not his intent to anger or upset, but it happened.

Maybe I worded it wrong.

As I said this was partly based

off personall experience/thoughts.

From my point of view, just because you

disagree does not makes you a troll.

However, how you word it might

make you one. Let me explain:

There, A disagress with B, althrough A

did not think if his comment would offend B.

In short, what would have happened if

A had asked himself "Will calling B's favourite

food 'THE DEVIL' offend him?".

Kind of what happened here

(note that I deleted the origial comment, Althrough

TSA~User's quote shows it complete).

It was not my intention in any way to offend other

users. But, the post I had made did not contribute to the

thread at all, and as we can see,

the reply I had made quickly degenerated

the thread, to the point it ended being locked.

If in the first place I had asked myself "Would depreciating

a person someone else admires offend him?"

it will have been avoided.

[Star Fox Runner]

Well, I can see how when someone gives their opinion, it could be confused that they might be trying to troll, it all depends on how it is worded I guess.

The trouble would probably be trying to differentiate someone giving their opinion and someone who is purposely trying to troll. It's hard to put sarcasm into text so it's hard to tell.

[Kursed]

I think trolling has to be deliberate. Under your definition, someone who has an opinion that offends someone is a troll.

A- I like strawberry ice cream

B- I like chocolate.

A- WHAT! Chocolate is the devil! THE DEVIL!

B is not a troll, it just happens his opinion angers A. It was not his intent to anger or upset, but it happened.

that seems either pretty troll like or something else if your smart enough you'll know how not to word something to look like a troll. Deliberate or not.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I've been to online communities that were poorly enforced, the rules were poorly written, and as a result, insults and flamewars abounded.

The Trolls took over, and the head admin just sat by and let it happen.  Hell, the mod staff was worse than the people that they were supposed to "regulate/mod".

The irony is, those people either called members there like me "Trolls", or treated members there like me as a troll, just 'cause I either A) was not like by the popular members B) Stood up for myself when I got bullied/flamed and C) did not agree with everything they said.  Half of these trolls at sites like this are basement dwelling [quasi-intellectual] snobs who like to bully and put down others, the other half are just stupid creeps who want to cause anarchy style trouble.

I NEVER posted shock images, linked to shock sites, or posted/linked shock videos, or posted stuff to purposely cause problems.  I only flamed someone if they flamed me first, and that's only after I reported that person who flamed me to a staff member, who had received my message, but did nothing about it.

I was still considered a troll by those creeps, so I left those websites.

["User"]

The best trolls from what I've seen in my online history are actually quite intelligent individuals and very crafty and good at what they do.  Furthermore they don't make it LOOK like their trolling - just making themselves out to be damn smart people.  I know one guy from another site that was so good at what he did I couldn't pick apart a lot of what he was saying without KNOWING that if I did he would counter every rebuttal I made.....quite frustrating so I just gave up :P

[Guest DRL]

Well, I can see how when someone gives their opinion, it could be confused that they might be trying to troll, it all depends on how it is worded I guess.

The trouble would probably be trying to differentiate someone giving their opinion and someone who is purposely trying to troll. It's hard to put sarcasm into text so it's hard to tell.

The difference is made by how you

word it.

A: I like UFOs.

B: Ufos do not exist.

This will likely offend A.

But if B said instead:

A: I like UFOs

B: I do not believe in UFOs.

Additionally if B said reasons,

A could say it's own, and start

a (polite) discussion.

that seems either pretty troll like or something else if your smart enough you'll know how not to word something to look like a troll. Deliberate or not.

Like I said the point here is not A's point

of view, but rather, how A worded it.

Calling chocolate 'THE DEVIL' will certainly

make at least B feel bad.

If instead A had said: "I do not like chocolate,

at all." Then we can see the difference. In both

cases A disagrees with B. But in the later, B

will not be offended.

I've been to online communities that wee poorly enforced, the rules were poorly written, and as a result, insults and flamewars abounded.

The Trolls took over, and the head admin just sat by and let it happen.  Hell, the mod staff was worse than the people that they were supposed to "regulate/mod".

The irony is, those people either called members there like me "Trolls", or treated members there like me as a troll, just 'cause I either A) was not like by the popular members B) Stood up for myself when I got bullied/flamed and C) did not agree with everything they said.  Half of these trolls at sites like this are basement dwelling [quasi-intellectual] snobs who like to bully and put down others, the other half are just stupid creeps who want to cause anarchy style trouble.

I NEVER posted shock images, linked to shock sites, or posted/linked shock videos, or posted stuff to purposely cause problems.  I only flamed someone if they flamed me first, and that's only after I reported that person who flamed me to a staff member, who had received my message, but did nothing about it.

I was still considered a troll by those creeps, so I left those websites.

From my point of view, you have to violate

the rules or be repeatedly mean to the others

to be a troll. There is nothing bad in disagreeing

with someone else.

After all, you do not expect

to say 'yes' all the time -

at some moment you will

hear 'no' as well.

The irony is, the creeps who considered

you a troll, are probably trolls themselves.

The best trolls from what I've seen in my online history are actually quite intelligent individuals and very crafty and good at what they do.  Furthermore they don't make it LOOK like their trolling - just making themselves out to be damn smart people.  I know one guy from another site that was so good at what he did I couldn't pick apart a lot of what he was saying without KNOWING that if I did he would counter every rebuttal I made.....quite frustrating so I just gave up

Some trolls use logic. But if you had

the 'knowledge' of what he was saying

then you could expose him efficiently.

Eventually logic is not at their side,

no matter how smart a troll is, a troll

is a troll.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

From my point of view, you have to violate

the rules or be repeatedly mean to the others

to be a troll. There is nothing bad in disagreeing

with someone else.

After all, you do not expect

to say 'yes' all the time -

at some moment you will

hear 'no' as well.

The irony is, the creeps who considered

you a troll, are probably trolls themselves.

Thanks.

They are trolls.

If those websites they are at were bars/nightclubs, then they would be "the type of joint where they sweep up eyeballs after closing time."

If I was a mod, I'd try to be the equivalent of Patrick Swayze's "Sam Dalton" character in "Road House". *kicks*