[Blackmirror]

We have all come across Internet Trolls

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion

They can range from being just a tad irritating to full blown PITA

Why do they do it ?

Have they a disorder that makes them troll friendly peace loving forums with the sole intention of causing mayhem ??

I beleive they are looking for attention
like the left out child in a playground

[Albert Lionheart]

I sort of made this point on the Upcoming Changes thread, but in a sort of trying to understand their mentality way, I wonder if it might be a problem of comprehension.
If people are unable to communicate and understand the response. they will naturally find things frustrating and will tend to think either that everyone is against them or that other respondents think their input is valueless.
If you look at querty's posts I really think this is the problem here - and the anger is only just below the surface sometimes!
There are also the "professional" thread baiters who get their fun from deliberately winding people up - but they are pretty easy to spot because of the way they crash straight into topics.

[Rik]

Some just do it for fun. I remember seeing a message about a specific person who claimed to know everything there was to know about being a mod purely so he could cause major damage and disruption to websites that allowed him to moderate.

The net gives people like that the power of aninimity and allows them to pretend to be someone they are not.

[Dr Strangelove]

"The devil finds work for idle hands" and unfortunately for them, their forum is pretty idle these days.
I wonder why!!

[Albert Lionheart]

Which forum is that Dr S?

[Blackmirror]

Thats another topic Rik
What to do when moderators go bad ?

A future discussion me thinks

I have had Troll trouble each time i have been banned from a forum
they seem to come to my new one to cause trouble .
Motive
I think they miss me :

I can smell a troll a mile off
They will not join in with the community side usually
They lie in wait for a topic to come up that they know may cause controversy

They post a comment and leave . going offline to sit back and watch

[Rik]

We should be very careful about speculating where they come from as we have no concrete proof.

[Blackmirror]

Mentioning no names Rik
this is a general discussion

[Albert Lionheart]

Why not mention names - if a particular forum is spawrning these people should we not know about it??


Edit - and why are they callled trolls?

[Rik]

Without concrete proof, throwing accusations about could potentially get TST into trouble we just don't need or want.

[Blackmirror]

It wuill cause more trouble Albert
Lets keep this on topic and generalise please
I am a member of a large forum with a civilised debate forum that warns do not enter if you have thin skin

I was scared to post for months

They have trolls as well

Usually they start topics that are controversial about religion race etc
It doesnt take long to see them for what they are

when should we be worried ??

this made me laugh

Usually, no, though fractured funny bones and occasional waves of nausea have been reported.

When a troll become persistent and personal, you may need to consider the possibility that it has fermented into an Internet Stalker - equally pathetic, if not more so - but sometimes requiring weedkiller

Thats something else
I have been stalked and its very very unpleasant

[Albert Lionheart]

Sorry to bang on about this, but if a forum is spawing troublemakers then it is best avoided once known about. PM me so I can avoid it!

[Oldie]

Trolls are not to be taken lightly. Having personally been in a situation whereby an individual (being trolled) was exchanging PMs with myself and a long standing lady member on a reputable computer board, wherein suicide by means of an overdose was being contemplated .. and this is as far as I am prepared to go regarding this individual example of the dangers of trolling.

What made this particular case so disturbing, in my professional opinion, was the fact that a senior (Tequila swilling) lady Admin on the board was involved in the lynch mob trolling of this unfortunate (14 year old) individual

Oldie

[Blackmirror]

Yes i agree Oldie it can be serious and most good Admins and moderators will take action swiftly

[Albert Lionheart]

The use of a forum to target the individual was graphically illustrated recently with a teenager being groomed by what was thought to someone of a similar age that then started a slagging off campaign that lead to the death of the teenager. The perpetrator of this was traced and turned out to be a friend of the late teenager's mother.
Decent standards from all forum members and attentive modding would hopefully have prevented that.

[Blackmirror]

Well i have no doubts that it will not be tolerated here Albert

In any shape or form

[Oldie]

Another problem that sometimes flies way over the heads of some, obviously lacking in the upstairs department, is the inability to separate message and messenger. Even when a sentence (article) is in quote tags there is a tendency for some to attack the poster = trolling

[MightyQueenCarolyn]

Darn it ... I have a lovely piece that I prepped for another forum (not the one you're all on about) in response to the idiots (excluding Mods and Admin, of course) whom respond to trolls.
It's saved in notepad for those times that I want to have a go at certain people ... just to admire my ramblings ... not to post it publicly.

I think certain trolls are just bored and looking for something to do, usually negative but always wanting to stir things up and get a rise out of the "victim" be it a forum or a member within one.

Most of us see them for who they are and ignore them ... others feed them.

[Albert Lionheart]

Touching on perhaps a more sensitive side of this, it is really important that because we don't know about subscribers who, like me, insist on preserving their anonymity, we must bear in mind that these subscribers might have some sort of disability, physical or mental.
I am acutely aware that on another completely different forum I belong to (and I use the word belong rather than the word subscribe) there are members who have let slip that they have a problem. It would be too easy to pick on them. It is also important to think about what you say in the same way as you would in a conversation.
If you don't know it is no cause for being insensitive as it is abundantly clear that the internet has given some otherwise isolated souls a life, and we should be grateful for it and should encourage those we know are challenged (horrid word but we know the modern meaning).

[Oldie]

Some very interesting feedback in this thread. Allow me to add this. I subscribe to a (political) debate board, membership being by invitation only. This board has moved on from yesterdays old hat cyberspeak ie "Don't feed the troll rule" to "Trolls will be permanently banned"

Not that we have experienced any noteworthy trolling. We consider ourselves pretty well endowed in the upstairs department