topic Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling? in Community Chat

🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

newziesuzie — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 07:01:53 GMT

One of my cousins just posted this article
on her Facebook and we had a long discussion
and I decided to share part of it here for anyone
that is interested.

😊

::
::

full article at http://webtrends.about.com/od/Internet-Culture/a/What-Is-Internet-Trolling.htm

"If you have a strong social presence online, or at least consider yourself to be pretty active in online communities, you may have experienced what many savvy Internet users call “being trolled.”

Being trolled, or the act of trolling, is something we all have to deal with increasingly as the Internet becomes more social. Here’s a brief introduction to trolling for anyone who isn't quite clear on what it actually means.

(Recommended: 10 Types of Internet Trolls You'll Meet Online = http://webtrends.about.com/od/Internet-Culture/tp/10-Types-of-Internet-Trolls-Youll-Meet-Online.htm )

What Exactly Is 'Trolling'?

The Urban Dictionary has a bunch of definitions under the term “trolling,” but the first one that pops up seems to define it as simply as possible. So, according to the Urban Dictionary’s top rated definition for “trolling,” it can be defined as:

“Being a [jerk] on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it's the internet and, hey, you can.”

Wikipedia defines it as:

"Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog,

with the primary intent

of provoking readers into an emotional response

or of otherwise disrupting

normal on-topic discussion.”

Those who aren’t quite familiar with the Internet slang definition of “troll” or “trolling” might automatically think of the mythical creature from Scandinavian folklore.

The mythological troll is known to be an ugly, dirty, angry creature that lives in dark places, like caves or underneath bridges, waiting to snatch up anything that passed by for a quick meal.

In some ways, the mythological troll is similar to the Internet troll.

The Internet troll hides behind his computer screen, and actively goes out of his way to cause trouble on the Internet.

Like the mythological troll, the Internet troll is angry

and disruptive in every possible – often for no real reason at all.

You can find trolls lurking around almost every corner of the social web. Here are some specific places that are well known to attract trolls.

YouTube video comments: YouTube is notorious for having some of the worst comments of all time......

....Blog comments: On some popular blogs and news sites that have comments enabled, you can sometimes find trolls cursing, name-calling and just causing trouble for the heck of it......

......Forums: Forums are made for discussing topics with like-minded people, but every once in a while, a troll will come in and start spewing negative words all over the place.

If forum moderators don't ban them,

other members will often respond and before you know it,

the thread gets thrown completely off topic

and becomes nothing but

one big pointless argument.

Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Tumblr or practically any social networking site: ......trolling is absolutely everywhere that people can use to interact.

Instagram is especially bad, because it's a very public platform that people use to post photos of themselves–inviting everyone and anyone to judge their appearances in the comment section.

Why Do People Troll on the Internet?

Every Internet troll has a different backstory, and therefore different reasons for feeling the need to troll a community on the Internet.

They may feel depressed, attention-starved, angry, sad, jealous, narcissistic or some other form emotion.

What makes trolling so easy is that anyone can do it, and it can be done totally anonymously.

Trolls can hide behind their shiny computers,

screen names and avatars when the go out trolling for trouble,

and after they’re all done, they can carry on with their real lives

without facing any real consequences.

Trolling makes a lot of cowardly people feel stronger.

Dealing with Trolls:

If a troll tries to provoke you, just ignore them.

They’re not worth your time or emotional distress.

Try not to take anything personally.

If you can, try to have a good laugh and think about how sad it is that people actually feel the need to insult complete strangers on the Internet."

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

iceRedfire — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 21:56:04 GMT

Very good article. Sometimes it's hard to not take the bait or hard to even recognize the bait when someone is good at the tricks of the trade & setting the trap. Then you look back and see what happened......... after the fact... and say "why did I fall for that?!?" Lol! Thanks for sharing this!

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

ChazzyLady — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 21:58:41 GMT

Thanks so much for this @newziesuzie. While reading this what readily came to my mind are all of the truly hateful and nasty comments posted online in response to the truly horrific death of the little two year old boy who was snatched by an alligator at the Disney property in Orlando. The amount of judgement, finger wagging, and general lack of compassion towards the parents who are going through a living nightmare is mind boggling to me.

The word that jumped out for me in what you posted is cowardly. How many of these "perfect" people would publicly confront the parents and spew the garbage they feel justified in saying anonymously? Not many if any I think.

Again, thanks for this.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

Preds — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 22:02:00 GMT

Thanks @newsieuzie! You've just blown my cover! LOL Good info and sad at the same time.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

catwhisperer — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 22:13:26 GMT

I have done my share of making not so kind comments on these boards, but have been trying to clean up my act. It's hard to keep up with the posters who change their nics on a regular basis, but I try to avoid certain posters who have a history of baiting and arguing. There are many nice posters who I prefer to post with.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

hckynut — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 22:38:56 GMT

C'mon now @newziesuzie

I know type very long posts, but they come directly from my brain(?) and my fingers, yes each word. I am not into the Copy/Paste when it comes to starting or replying to threads. And one that is longer than mine and it's a Copy/Paste? I scrolled down and.seen how lengthy it was, so I did not read any of it.

My definition of a troll might not be the same as the author of your Encyclopedia length post to describe a "troll"? I think I could say it in just a couple sentences, at most. Yes me, the long winded novella of posts here.

hnj

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

mstyrion 1 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 22:57:15 GMT

thanks for the article newziesuzie. I appreciate it when someone copies an interesting article here because I don't click on links. It's good to have the source acknowledged too.

I'm learning to just post around and not acknowledge people who exhibit trollish behavior. We don't have the ignore button anymore so it's an exercise in control for me to not engage them.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

geezerette — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 00:26:24 GMT

@mstyrion 1, just a little off topic here. I just wanted to say you have the cutest avatar!

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

Noel7 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 00:36:17 GMT

@mstyrion 1 wrote:
thanks for the article newziesuzie. I appreciate it when someone copies an interesting article here because I don't click on links. It's good to have the source acknowledged too.

I'm learning to just post around and not acknowledge people who exhibit trollish behavior. We don't have the ignore button anymore so it's an exercise in control for me to not engage them.

******************************

@mstyrion 1

Me, too, but I'm getting better

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

ChazzyLady — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 00:46:25 GMT

@Noel7 wrote:
@mstyrion 1 wrote:
thanks for the article newziesuzie. I appreciate it when someone copies an interesting article here because I don't click on links. It's good to have the source acknowledged too.

I'm learning to just post around and not acknowledge people who exhibit trollish behavior. We don't have the ignore button anymore so it's an exercise in control for me to not engage them.
******************************

@mstyrion 1

Me, too, but I'm getting better

Hahaha, hang in there girlfriend 'cause I know it's hard to ignore certain posts!

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

SunValley — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:05:02 GMT

A few weeks ago I posted on a thread that a troll tried to take off topic and stir up personal attacks. Their post was completely ignored, they slunk off, and the thread continued. A victory at least this one time.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

Moonchilde — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 01:32:01 GMT

I would certainly not call every person who makes rude or sarcastic remarks at any given time a troll, and that isn't the definition of a troll as understood by most, Urban Dictionary notwithstanding.

I also wouldn't call every poster with strong opinions that some might consider outrageous a troll. That's too easy. However - if you note that every time, or almost every time, you see a post by a particular person it's in a thread with a controversial subject, and that person *always* says something almost directly opposite to the prevailing discussion and states it bluntly and rudely, hoping people will respond with anger - now you're on to something.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

itiswhatitis — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 02:23:09 GMT

@ChazzyLady wrote:
Thanks so much for this @newziesuzie. While reading this what readily came to my mind are all of the truly hateful and nasty comments posted online in response to the truly horrific death of the little two year old boy who was snatched by an alligator at the Disney property in Orlando. The amount of judgement, finger wagging, and general lack of compassion towards the parents who are going through a living nightmare is mind boggling to me.

The word that jumped out for me in what you posted is cowardly. How many of these "perfect" people would publicly confront the parents and spew the garbage they feel justified in saying anonymously? Not many if any I think.

Again, thanks for this.

Amen!

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

JaneMarple — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 03:48:57 GMT

I've experience trolls almost on a daily basis on fb, especially this election year. People seem to get their jollies by making up fake profiles and posting nonsense.

I wonder sometimes if people here on these very boards are trolls, especially the ones who start threads and don't come back to them, it's like they sit back and watch the action.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

mstyrion 1 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 03:58:28 GMT

@geezerette wrote:
@mstyrion 1, just a little off topic here. I just wanted to say you have the cutest avatar!

______________________________________________________________

thank you @geezerette.

I have a pure black kitty and sometimes all yu can see are her great big EYES!

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

AuberriJean — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 04:41:01 GMT

@Moonchilde wrote:
I would certainly not call every person who makes rude or sarcastic remarks at any given time a troll, and that isn't the definition of a troll as understood by most, Urban Dictionary notwithstanding.

I also wouldn't call every poster with strong opinions that some might consider outrageous a troll. That's too easy. However - if you note that every time, or almost every time, you see a post by a particular person it's in a thread with a controversial subject, and that person *always* says something almost directly opposite to the prevailing discussion and states it bluntly and rudely, hoping people will respond with anger - now you're on to something.

I'm not arguing but I took the definition to mean people who post rude or sarcastic remarks for the purpose of being nasty on the net ~ not that everybody who's blunt is a troll. Probably a fine distinction. It's what the goal is imho. I think trolls come with the goal of looking to disrupt and set fires and then watch and laugh when other people get upset or hurt or angry. Weird personalities who enjoy such things.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

AuberriJean — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 04:40:21 GMT

@JaneMarple wrote:
I've experience trolls almost on a daily basis on fb, especially this election year. People seem to get their jollies by making up fake profiles and posting nonsense.

I wonder sometimes if people here on these very boards are trolls, especially the ones who start threads and don't come back to them, it's like they sit back and watch the action.

I think some posters use the hearts instead of coming back with more posts. Which is ok by me.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

Moonchilde — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 07:34:17 GMT

@AuberriJean wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
I would certainly not call every person who makes rude or sarcastic remarks at any given time a troll, and that isn't the definition of a troll as understood by most, Urban Dictionary notwithstanding.

I also wouldn't call every poster with strong opinions that some might consider outrageous a troll. That's too easy. However - if you note that every time, or almost every time, you see a post by a particular person it's in a thread with a controversial subject, and that person *always* says something almost directly opposite to the prevailing discussion and states it bluntly and rudely, hoping people will respond with anger - now you're on to something.

I'm not arguing but I took the definition to mean people who post rude or sarcastic remarks for the purpose of being nasty on the net ~ not that everybody who's blunt is a troll. Probably a fine distinction. It's what the goal is imho. I think trolls come with the goal of looking to disrupt and set fires and then watch and laugh when other people get upset or hurt or angry. Weird personalities who enjoy such things.

Oh, I agree. I just felt that first paragraph was too generally stated.

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

newziesuzie — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 07:48:09 GMT

I agree identifying and then ignoring

and passing it by is key! 👍

Thanks for posting @iceRedfire @ChazzyLady @Preds

@catwhisperer @hckynut @mstyrion 1

@geezerette @Noel7 @SunValley @Moonchilde

@itiswhatitis @JaneMarple @AuberriJean

😊

Re: 🚧❓What Is a Troll, and What Is Internet Trolling?

hckynut — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 16:14:08 GMT

@newziesuzie wrote:

I agree identifying and then ignoring
and passing it by is key! 👍

Thanks for posting @iceRedfire @ChazzyLady @Preds @catwhisperer @hckynut @geezerette @Noel7 @SunValley

@newziesuzie

You're welcome. Glad you agree. While I like most of the threads you start, I never read anything that is more than a 1 paragraph Copy/Paste. I prefer people/threads and posts that use their own words.

Thanks for sending a notification with a reply. I will "identify/ignore and then bypass what appears to be an interesting thread title to me, but ends up being what someone other than you "newziesuzie", wrote not a Copy/Paste.

Weekend? Enjoy.

hckynut(john)