I agree, sometimes. I was joking. I didn’t post the comment on which you asked for the citation, but I like aircraft and my mind made a silly link.
A dedicated troll will work at it, but they simply become a minor pest. A sociopathic minor pest, but just a pest.
Boingboing is, I find, very good at dealing.
I win on looks, hands down.
Gotcha. I’ve found, however, that trolls will often stick around and start poking OTHER PEOPLE in the conversation, even if you yourself ignore them. And if you ban them? They just create another account.
But this is in feminist spaces, where trolls are VERY VERY VERY dedicated and hateful.
Keep in mind as well that often when you’re responding to obvious trolls, you’re mostly responding so others can see it (just in case they take well done trolling seriously). Sometimes the response is not directed at the troll, even if you are actually responding to the troll.
And trolls are not just “pests” in feminist spaces. They are awful, and they are harmful.
I can imagine. Funny how they choose that particular space to be weird in, eh? Hellloooo complex!
I’m lucky. I only ever rail against religion, guns, vote-rigging, brutality, poverty, inequity … oh hold on … maybe not so lucky!
Thing is, whenever I’ve waged war against an antagonist, you only come out tired and bruised. There’s no winning, no convincing, because they’re not operating from a position of integrity at all, whether ethical or not. They’re just operating.
Why, I don’t know, but your statement is absolutely correct, since back in the days of @Antinuous. Truly we do miss the gruff yet loveable all-seeing eye.
EDIT: I forgot how it was done, the “at” symbol before the username… wait, what?
I did rather enjoy @Antinous’s shredding of the poor wretches.
So, has anyone invented an online, peer-reviewed quiz/troll-test we can take to determine our current propensity for trolling behavior?
Is it like an IQ test?
Sometimes coming out tired and bruised is okay. Again, we’re not always trying to “win” or to “convince” but rather to educate people who may take them seriously if we let their comments stay unanswered.
Spoofing trolls works well. In the best traditions of satire, bring them into a narrative they can’t escape, that leads to the shuttle out of town.
Starting with the definition of OCPD (differs from OCD), there are lots of wonderful pointers on character traits that can be leveraged to reverse-troll in a subtle and malign way.
I picture the objective - that they go muttering quietly back to their cave - and work towards that carefully.
Or sometimes (confession, sorry boingboing, I do bait just for fun.
Agreed. If they’re recruiting innocents, it’s hard to let it lie.
Pardon the change in topic, but how did you get the username link? All I get from the pop-up menu are those participating in the discussion.
Just type “@peregrinus_bis”
No, you’re there, I mean Antinous.
I did just that and he didn’t format right.
same, just type @ [+name]
He’s retired, so really just phantom typing as it were.
I did just that and he didn’t format right.
Never mind, carry on.
Nah, just two questions in it.
Often, “innocent bystanders” may not even realize they are being influenced by the negative discussion going on. The human brain is interesting. We pick shit up without even realizing it. It becomes part of us. So sometimes you HAVE to work against the negativity/awfulness coming from the trolls, just so that the information being read AND ABSORBED isn’t so one-sided.
Notice that the word “Troll” has by now been used to describe so many activities that we now have to define it each time we use it. It’s probably time to seek out better terms.
Once identified, internet trollies could be sterilized
I see what you did there, my tetrad brother.
