Trolls: A Field Guide
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Jäger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,491
Likes: 5
From: Northern Arizona
Trolls: A Field Guide
I've seen a few threads about Trolls and thought this might assist my fellow FTE Brethren ( and 'Sistren') in identifying when a user has cast out a line with tempting forum bait.
THE MAJOR BREEDS
The Deceptive or "Classic" Troll. More sophisticated but often easily
identified and exposed, the Classic Troll gratifies his ego by
pretending to be someone or something he or she is not. Classics make
up elaborate stories about themselves, sometimes weaving some amounts
of truth into their lies. As a web of lies is difficult to build with
consistency, however, Classics are often "outed" by other forumites.
When this happens, Classic Trolls have a bag of tricks to which they
turn:
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 1: If the heat gets too much for you,
claim it was all "a joke." In this way you can excuse any and all
deceit by claiming people just weren't smart enough to "get" the humor
of it.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 2: Create another account, and log on
pretending to be someone else, in order to show support for the Troll
in Question (TiQ). These puppet accounts sometimes claim to be
disinterested third parties. At other times they pretend to be
"friends" of the TiQ.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 3: When your lies paint you into a
corner, claim that your little brother, or some unnamed friend, has
commandeered your account and made you look foolish. This technique can
also be applied in claiming that the puppet account(s) you created may
not, in fact, be disinterested third parties or friends, but that they
are your relatives ("little brother" is most common) only trying to
help support you.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 4: When nothing else works, claim that
now, finally, you're telling the truth about all the lies you told
before. Make up a fresh set of lies, and throw yourself on the mercy of
the forumites.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 5: When all else fails, claim to be
leaving forever. Trolls who claim they are leaving never do, of course;
you can bet that anyone who proclaims, "I'm never coming back here,"
will most certainly at least check back for responses, and probably
will not be able to resist posting again.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 6: Have a tantrum. When all their other
tricks are exhausted, Classic Trolls will become angry and start
shouting. Often they revert to Vulgar Trolls when this happens.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 7: The insincere apology. Similar to
Tactic 4, this involves pretending to repent for one's trolling and is
accompanied often by great melodrama. Insincere troll apologists
hope that they'll be forgiven if only they act disgusted enough with
their own behavior.
Classic warning sign behaviors may be shared by other breeds.
The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent
boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum
dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example,
will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs
in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between
dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not
categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but
due to the manner in which he or she behaves:
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a
poster's Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and
not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry.
Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their
post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with
whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course
of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum
membership as monolithic. "You guys are all just [descriptor]." "You're
a lynch mob." "You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with
you."
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This
is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians
display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they've said,
pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings
significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no
ready answers.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When
confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is
the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the
Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while
he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath
his notice.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. Pursued
by Troll Bashers (see Natural Predators below), the Contrarian will
seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her
critics as beneath notice – all the while continuing to respond to them.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark of
Contrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly
devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of
such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning
Signs mentioned above.
Contrarian warning sign behaviors may be shared by other breeds.
The Agenda Troll. Agenda trolls are those participants who join a forum
specifically to pursue an agenda of their own – often a feud or grudge
with another member, or perhaps a dispute with some party not
participating in that forum. When a flame war erupts on another board,
for example, Agenda Trolls will follow their opponents to other forums
in order to continue the spat.
Agenda Trolls may also be of the milder Spam Agenda subspecies; these
are Trolls who join a board specifically to advertise some venture of
their own. They are not often troublesome, though their shameless
plugging is met with varying degrees of irritation.
The Artistic Troll. A higher species of Classic Troll, Artistic Trolls
are intelligent individuals who understand the subtle art of trolling,
and who do what they do specifically to make others look foolish. Often
employing the techniques of Deceptive Trolls, Artistics will string
forumites along until some point in time designated by their own
desires, at which point they will reveal the ploy, admit that it was a
ploy, and laugh at everyone for being stupid enough to fall for it.
Artistic Trolls delight in sowing discord, but do it in a highly
developed and fully aware manner. They do not care if they are
despised, and do not seek the approval of forum participants. Chaos is
their only goal, and preferably chaos with a humorous bent to it.
Without a doubt, this is the most dangerous species.
The Bitter Troll. Bitter Trolls are a curious
cross-species. They can be trolls of any breed in their larval
stages, but become Bitters after their previous activities are seen for
what they were. What sets these trolls apart from other
classifications is their behavior after they have been spotted and
labeled as trolls. Angry, frustrated, and resentful about being
"outed," the Bitter Troll will wage a campaign of indignant complaints
intended to focus attention away from the troll and on whomever is
responsible for identifying the creature. Often, a troll mutates
into a Bitter just prior to becoming a Vulgar.
The Marketing Genius. A Marketing Genius is absolutely convinced
that you are profiting from your participation in an Internet
forum. If you have a link or a graphic block in you signature,
the Marketing Genius just knows that this is your subtle attempt to
assert your hypnotic powers on other bulletin board participants,
luring them with the siren song of your complex and inscrutable
advertising of your site. It does not matter to the Marketing
Genius that forum members have been placing links and pictures in their
signatures since the ability to do so was first created. Having
never created anything of value themselves, Marketing Geniuses have
only their bitter envy and their firm belief that you are a Dot Com
Billionaire to motivate and occupy them.
THE MAJOR BREEDS
The Deceptive or "Classic" Troll. More sophisticated but often easily
identified and exposed, the Classic Troll gratifies his ego by
pretending to be someone or something he or she is not. Classics make
up elaborate stories about themselves, sometimes weaving some amounts
of truth into their lies. As a web of lies is difficult to build with
consistency, however, Classics are often "outed" by other forumites.
When this happens, Classic Trolls have a bag of tricks to which they
turn:
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 1: If the heat gets too much for you,
claim it was all "a joke." In this way you can excuse any and all
deceit by claiming people just weren't smart enough to "get" the humor
of it.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 2: Create another account, and log on
pretending to be someone else, in order to show support for the Troll
in Question (TiQ). These puppet accounts sometimes claim to be
disinterested third parties. At other times they pretend to be
"friends" of the TiQ.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 3: When your lies paint you into a
corner, claim that your little brother, or some unnamed friend, has
commandeered your account and made you look foolish. This technique can
also be applied in claiming that the puppet account(s) you created may
not, in fact, be disinterested third parties or friends, but that they
are your relatives ("little brother" is most common) only trying to
help support you.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 4: When nothing else works, claim that
now, finally, you're telling the truth about all the lies you told
before. Make up a fresh set of lies, and throw yourself on the mercy of
the forumites.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 5: When all else fails, claim to be
leaving forever. Trolls who claim they are leaving never do, of course;
you can bet that anyone who proclaims, "I'm never coming back here,"
will most certainly at least check back for responses, and probably
will not be able to resist posting again.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 6: Have a tantrum. When all their other
tricks are exhausted, Classic Trolls will become angry and start
shouting. Often they revert to Vulgar Trolls when this happens.
– Classic Troll Tactic Number 7: The insincere apology. Similar to
Tactic 4, this involves pretending to repent for one's trolling and is
accompanied often by great melodrama. Insincere troll apologists
hope that they'll be forgiven if only they act disgusted enough with
their own behavior.
Classic warning sign behaviors may be shared by other breeds.
The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent
boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum
dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example,
will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs
in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between
dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not
categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but
due to the manner in which he or she behaves:
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a
poster's Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and
not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry.
Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their
post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with
whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course
of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum
membership as monolithic. "You guys are all just [descriptor]." "You're
a lynch mob." "You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with
you."
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This
is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians
display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they've said,
pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings
significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no
ready answers.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When
confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is
the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the
Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while
he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath
his notice.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. Pursued
by Troll Bashers (see Natural Predators below), the Contrarian will
seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her
critics as beneath notice – all the while continuing to respond to them.
– Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark of
Contrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly
devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of
such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning
Signs mentioned above.
Contrarian warning sign behaviors may be shared by other breeds.
The Agenda Troll. Agenda trolls are those participants who join a forum
specifically to pursue an agenda of their own – often a feud or grudge
with another member, or perhaps a dispute with some party not
participating in that forum. When a flame war erupts on another board,
for example, Agenda Trolls will follow their opponents to other forums
in order to continue the spat.
Agenda Trolls may also be of the milder Spam Agenda subspecies; these
are Trolls who join a board specifically to advertise some venture of
their own. They are not often troublesome, though their shameless
plugging is met with varying degrees of irritation.
The Artistic Troll. A higher species of Classic Troll, Artistic Trolls
are intelligent individuals who understand the subtle art of trolling,
and who do what they do specifically to make others look foolish. Often
employing the techniques of Deceptive Trolls, Artistics will string
forumites along until some point in time designated by their own
desires, at which point they will reveal the ploy, admit that it was a
ploy, and laugh at everyone for being stupid enough to fall for it.
Artistic Trolls delight in sowing discord, but do it in a highly
developed and fully aware manner. They do not care if they are
despised, and do not seek the approval of forum participants. Chaos is
their only goal, and preferably chaos with a humorous bent to it.
Without a doubt, this is the most dangerous species.
The Bitter Troll. Bitter Trolls are a curious
cross-species. They can be trolls of any breed in their larval
stages, but become Bitters after their previous activities are seen for
what they were. What sets these trolls apart from other
classifications is their behavior after they have been spotted and
labeled as trolls. Angry, frustrated, and resentful about being
"outed," the Bitter Troll will wage a campaign of indignant complaints
intended to focus attention away from the troll and on whomever is
responsible for identifying the creature. Often, a troll mutates
into a Bitter just prior to becoming a Vulgar.
The Marketing Genius. A Marketing Genius is absolutely convinced
that you are profiting from your participation in an Internet
forum. If you have a link or a graphic block in you signature,
the Marketing Genius just knows that this is your subtle attempt to
assert your hypnotic powers on other bulletin board participants,
luring them with the siren song of your complex and inscrutable
advertising of your site. It does not matter to the Marketing
Genius that forum members have been placing links and pictures in their
signatures since the ability to do so was first created. Having
never created anything of value themselves, Marketing Geniuses have
only their bitter envy and their firm belief that you are a Dot Com
Billionaire to motivate and occupy them.
Thread Starter
|
Jäger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,491
Likes: 5
From: Northern Arizona
Troll spotting and Troll enemies
How to spot the pesky buggers:
TROLL SPOTTING
Trolls often have many basic characteristics in common:
1. Low post count. Trolls usually do not last long enough on a forum to
rack up a large number of posts. Be particularly suspicious of any
poster whose count is not yet in double digits and who appears to be
causing trouble.
2. Suspicious IP addresses. Puppet accounts will have IP addresses identical to that of the TiQ.
3. Suspicious E-mail Addresses. Accounts that are similar in nature to
those of the TiQ can indicate a puppet account. AOL accounts, for
example, are particularly suspect, because AOL allows multiple
usernames for a single account.
4. Syntax and grammar. Trolls, particularly Deceptives, invariably have
trouble hiding their writing styles. Puppet accounts, or serial
accounts created after previous accounts have been thoroughly
discredited, will display traits similar to that of the TiQ.
NATURAL PREDATORS
Trolls have certain naturally-occurring enemies. Among them are these:
Moderators. An active moderator is the bane of trollkind, as a
moderator can lock a troll's efforts before they come to fruition, see
to it the troll is banned, and generally make the troll's existence
unfulfilling. Moderators are normally above more direct efforts to
humiliate or expose trolls, which makes them ultimately more dangerous
but less intimidating to all breeds.
Troll Bashers. The worst enemy of trolls, Troll Bashers appear to
possess an almost pathological hatred for trolls. Fully aware of the
tools and tactics of trolling, Troll Bashers expose trolls whenever
they see them. Often the first to identify Contrarians, and unforgiving
in the pursuit of Deceptives, Troll Bashers are experienced and
venomous. Often accused of being trolls themselves, Troll Bashers
understand the difference between the initiation of trolling and the
retaliation against it – and believe any amount of retaliatory abuse is
justified when a troll rears its ugly head.
TROLL SPOTTING
Trolls often have many basic characteristics in common:
1. Low post count. Trolls usually do not last long enough on a forum to
rack up a large number of posts. Be particularly suspicious of any
poster whose count is not yet in double digits and who appears to be
causing trouble.
2. Suspicious IP addresses. Puppet accounts will have IP addresses identical to that of the TiQ.
3. Suspicious E-mail Addresses. Accounts that are similar in nature to
those of the TiQ can indicate a puppet account. AOL accounts, for
example, are particularly suspect, because AOL allows multiple
usernames for a single account.
4. Syntax and grammar. Trolls, particularly Deceptives, invariably have
trouble hiding their writing styles. Puppet accounts, or serial
accounts created after previous accounts have been thoroughly
discredited, will display traits similar to that of the TiQ.
NATURAL PREDATORS
Trolls have certain naturally-occurring enemies. Among them are these:
Moderators. An active moderator is the bane of trollkind, as a
moderator can lock a troll's efforts before they come to fruition, see
to it the troll is banned, and generally make the troll's existence
unfulfilling. Moderators are normally above more direct efforts to
humiliate or expose trolls, which makes them ultimately more dangerous
but less intimidating to all breeds.
Troll Bashers. The worst enemy of trolls, Troll Bashers appear to
possess an almost pathological hatred for trolls. Fully aware of the
tools and tactics of trolling, Troll Bashers expose trolls whenever
they see them. Often the first to identify Contrarians, and unforgiving
in the pursuit of Deceptives, Troll Bashers are experienced and
venomous. Often accused of being trolls themselves, Troll Bashers
understand the difference between the initiation of trolling and the
retaliation against it – and believe any amount of retaliatory abuse is
justified when a troll rears its ugly head.
Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 0
not trying to be a troll here but it seems that everyone is a troll according to this guy..at least at one time or another. Anyone who disagrees with someone could be classified as such and yeah where is the description of the Natural Predator?
on edit there is another thread that is part two of this one
on edit there is another thread that is part two of this one
Last edited by ranger1999 Bob; Sep 15, 2007 at 11:08 AM.
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