Community Chat

[Shanus]

@x Hedge  I was the OP asking about what is a troll. Appreciate someone finally answering my question. Thank you and have a Happy New Year.

[dooBdoo]

          Hi, @Shanus!   I didn't see this thread before it was bumped back up.   In addition to @gizmogal's excellent post, there are many good discussions online about internet trolls if you do a general search.    As an example, these are a couple of links I've posted in the past on threads here:

 http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/f/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm

and

 http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/02/internet_troll_personality_stu...

[gizmogal]

Nice of you to thank @Hedge for the answer, but it was not her answer to your question. @Hedge quoted me and thanked me for explaining what a troll was. Part of netiquette is knowing who to thank if you get an answer that helps. In the spirit of common human error, I'll understand your mistake, @Shanus.

You're welcome!

[AuberriJean]

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@gizmogal wrote:

@Nice of you to thank @x Hedge for the answer, but it was not her answer to your question. @x Hedge quoted me and thanked me for explaining what a troll was. Part of netiquette is knowing who to thank if you get an answer that helps. In the spirit of common human error, I'll understand your mistake, @Shanus.

You're welcome!

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Part of netiquette is giving credit when you quote someone else's words too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

"In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion,[3] often for the troll's amusement."

[AuberriJean]

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@gizmogal wrote:

I believe the OP asked for clarification of what is a "troll". I saw no subsequent posts giving the answer. Here's what a "troll" is in the context of the Internet and "lingo":

In internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous , or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup , forum, chat room , or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the troll's amusement.

If you express a snippy, snarky, provocative thought and think the defense of being offensive is "your right to your opinion", you are behaving as a troll. You believe you are able to post something you know will get a lot of rousing response, generally unpleasant or negative and not particularly relevant, and you post it on purpose, you act as a troll. The anonymity of having a screen name , not your real name, and the chance that there will be no consequences makes being a troll very tempting. Instead of escalating hurtful nasty posts, call a troll out when you see a post you know is out of line, notify Moderators about trolls, and control your own responses and you get a friendly, pleasant forum of sharing opinions without necessarily agreeing. And start new topics that are reasonable to discuss with  a purpose rather than just dropping a bomb and seeing what happens. 

The Moderators here often are challenged to keep it civil, judging by how many posts are taken off. Don't resent the Mods, thank them for killing off the trolls and troll posting. 

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Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

"In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion,[3] often for the troll's amusement."

[Moonchilde]

LOL. "I'm sorry but" ...

Anyone and everyone who makes a snarky/sarcastic comment that some other posters may not appreciate (or even understand, as is often the case) is not a troll. I see this attitude/"belief"/statement pop up often when there's a "what is a troll?" discussion. 

A post that some don't like/don't appreciate/don't understand is not, by definition, trollish. It's simply a post that they don't like for whatever reason and isn't necessarily any more than that. If that WAS the definition of a troll, then 80% of everything posted here would be trollish. Seriously. "Mine isn't trollish, yours is", like so many things on the internet.

Adults should be able to distinguish between something posted *just* for reaction (our Xmas visitor) and someone's opinion that (the figurative) "you" don't like. One requires the ability to understand and ignore and the other requires the ability to understand, possibly ignore, or put on those big girl undies and provide your own response. Choices.

[gizmogal]

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@AuberriJean wrote:

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Part of netiquette is giving credit when you quote someone else's words too.
 

I was not aware that explanations needed attribution. This isn't journalism where sources have to be acknowledged to distinguish from original material, just a forum for sharing.  I had no desire to represent the words as my own, merely to inform.  I will quote or show links more often if I use a source in future. I stand corrected as to the standards. 

The trend in this board is to be quite  critical and often humorless. Make sure everyone gets ripped a new one for any oversights or skipped details. Makes for a lot of tension and defense, I notice . I guess that's why I'm only an "occasional contributor". Made a useful contribution and the thanks go elsewhere and now I am admonished.  I feel I am not able to meet the standards of this forum. 

[AuberriJean]

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@Moonchilde wrote:

LOL. "I'm sorry but" ...

Anyone and everyone who makes a snarky/sarcastic comment that some other posters may not appreciate (or even understand, as is often the case) is not a troll. I see this attitude/"belief"/statement pop up often when there's a "what is a troll?" discussion. 

A post that some don't like/don't appreciate/don't understand is not, by definition, trollish. It's simply a post that they don't like for whatever reason and isn't necessarily any more than that. If that WAS the definition of a troll, then 80% of everything posted here would be trollish. Seriously. "Mine isn't trollish, yours is", like so many things on the internet.

Adults should be able to distinguish between something posted *just* for reaction (our Xmas visitor) and someone's opinion that (the figurative) "you" don't like. One requires the ability to understand and ignore and the other requires the ability to understand, possibly ignore, or put on those big girl undies and provide your own response. Choices.

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You're just defending bad behavior. Agreed it's not necessarily "trollish" but its lazy or the low road to be rude or offensive in how we write our opinion.  The insult that other posters saying they don't understand or need to put on their big girl undies is deflection and misdirected, more defense of bad behavior. Posters who can't manage to be civil and resort to snark are the ones needing an underwear adjustment lol.

[AuberriJean]

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@gizmogal wrote:

I was not aware that explanations needed attribution. This isn't journalism where sources have to be acknowledged to distinguish from original material, just a forum for sharing.  I had no desire to represent the words as my own, merely to inform.  I will quote or show links more often if I use a source in future. I stand corrected as to the standards. 

The trend in this board is to be quite  critical and often humorless. Make sure everyone gets ripped a new one for any oversights or skipped details. Makes for a lot of tension and defense, I notice . I guess that's why I'm only an "occasional contributor". Made a useful contribution and the thanks go elsewhere and now I am admonished.  I feel I am not able to meet the standards of this forum. 

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You copy/pasted word for word. YOU raised the issue of etiquette and netiquette. It's improper to lift someone else's words and take credit for them..... proper credit is due anywhere including on this board.  And you got in a huff because you felt YOU didn't get proper credit.

😉

[Moonchilde]

"Bad behavior" is very often in the eye of the beholder. I tend not to appreciate it when others believe they get to decide what is appropriate and inappropriate for everyone. I often find it more appropriate to speak in generalities so that individuals are not targeted, but not everyone does that 😎