THE BOOK OF TROLL
To lurk in the ethers of cyberspace, insulting those unseen, to devote their being to deface what they may; from a page dedicated to a murdered child to the CIA splash screen, such is the purpose of the Troll.
The Troll is a pothole on the information highway exuding the odor of day old roadkill. Avoidance is desired but not always possible.
The Troll is a pothole on the information highway exuding the odor of day old roadkill. Avoidance is desired but not always possible.
History
Before the advent of the Internet there were Bulletin Board Services. Users would connect to the server and engage with others. The depersonalisation of this mode of communication inspired the weakest among them to venture into realms of fantasy where other people were no more than cartoon characters in a video game.
This creature was called by many names, but the mythological creature of Troll, who hid under bridges to attack those who journeyed forth became the designation.
Often, the Troll was a High School boy, weak, unattractive, bullied, who positioned behind a keyboard before a computer screen, suddenly was endowed with equality. He was no more than his nickname. He could be anyone. Considering his situation, opted to be obnoxious. Opted to insult, lie, spew obscenities, goad and do all that was done to him. Do it from the safety of cyberspace where no one could smack him down.
He was surprised, of course, when an audit trace exposed him. He learned to use computers at school or his parent's work place, learned how to be a bit more careful so as not to become banned too quickly. By the time the Internet became commercially available, (1990 in the US) the Troll knew how to manipulate those in charge.
Then came the halcyon days of the Message Board.
This creature was called by many names, but the mythological creature of Troll, who hid under bridges to attack those who journeyed forth became the designation.
Often, the Troll was a High School boy, weak, unattractive, bullied, who positioned behind a keyboard before a computer screen, suddenly was endowed with equality. He was no more than his nickname. He could be anyone. Considering his situation, opted to be obnoxious. Opted to insult, lie, spew obscenities, goad and do all that was done to him. Do it from the safety of cyberspace where no one could smack him down.
He was surprised, of course, when an audit trace exposed him. He learned to use computers at school or his parent's work place, learned how to be a bit more careful so as not to become banned too quickly. By the time the Internet became commercially available, (1990 in the US) the Troll knew how to manipulate those in charge.
Then came the halcyon days of the Message Board.
YE OLDE MESSAGE BOARDE
Hundreds of thousands of Message Boards sprang up in Cyberspace. They were 'homes' for persons of myriad interests. Many were dazzled by the ability of being able to text to someone on the other side of the world.
Groups of people, interested in a tiny facet of life, able to communicate with each other...and the snake enters the garden.
The Snake
The First Snake was the clear sexual bias. Men who had problems with themselves would abuse females who attempted to participate. This led to women masking their gender by using male or generic nicknames. Many declined to participate in any but Women Only message boards.
The Second Snake was the disruptive Troll who would burst into the most serious discussions spewing invective, making unfunny jokes: being the fart in the elevator.
On serious Message Boards or ones with moderators, the Troll was banned. Locked out of participation. Some would rejoin the Message Board with a different nickname. This led to banning the I.P. address. The Troll learned to use a different I.P. address.
Even in the days of BBS when one could 'telnet', it was child's play to log onto a BBS in Florida and via that BBS log on to a Message Board in New York. This use of 'Proxies' was a way in which a Troll could prolong his incursion.
Having an unmoderated Message Board became a Troll Town, so mods were appointed to prevent disruption. It became pointless for a Troll to make a keystroke when the comment would be deleted as posted or altered by a Mod with editing powers.
This led to a more cautious approach by the Troll.
Instead of springing onto a MB and attacking, the Troll would couch his insults in less obvious manner. Occasionally the person attacked would respond and there would be a 'flame war' for as long as the Mod permitted. Often the User would be banned with the Troll. This meant nothing to the Troll but hurt the User.
Getting a person who had interest in the MB, who wanted to belong, thrown off gave the Troll endless joy. To spoil someone's good time was a 'win'.
In some cases Mods became more astute and would ignore the 'Freedom of Speech' bleat of the Troll moving towards 'relevance'. If the remark wasn't relevant it was deleted.
As protecting a Message Board (or Forum) from Trolls was a full time job, where often there was no pay, and where the 'Owner' of the Message Board was not doing his/her own Moderating, the situation became complicated.
If the Owner backed the Mod's decision there was no problem, but often the Troll, banned by the Mod petitioned the Owner. If the Owner overruled the Mod's decision, the Mod ceased to function. As the Mod stopped performing the MB turned into a Troll Town until there were no users save the Troll and his 'duals' or 'best friend'.
To take down a Message Board, to cause a Forum to close was a 'kill'.
Groups of people, interested in a tiny facet of life, able to communicate with each other...and the snake enters the garden.
The Snake
The First Snake was the clear sexual bias. Men who had problems with themselves would abuse females who attempted to participate. This led to women masking their gender by using male or generic nicknames. Many declined to participate in any but Women Only message boards.
The Second Snake was the disruptive Troll who would burst into the most serious discussions spewing invective, making unfunny jokes: being the fart in the elevator.
On serious Message Boards or ones with moderators, the Troll was banned. Locked out of participation. Some would rejoin the Message Board with a different nickname. This led to banning the I.P. address. The Troll learned to use a different I.P. address.
Even in the days of BBS when one could 'telnet', it was child's play to log onto a BBS in Florida and via that BBS log on to a Message Board in New York. This use of 'Proxies' was a way in which a Troll could prolong his incursion.
Having an unmoderated Message Board became a Troll Town, so mods were appointed to prevent disruption. It became pointless for a Troll to make a keystroke when the comment would be deleted as posted or altered by a Mod with editing powers.
This led to a more cautious approach by the Troll.
Instead of springing onto a MB and attacking, the Troll would couch his insults in less obvious manner. Occasionally the person attacked would respond and there would be a 'flame war' for as long as the Mod permitted. Often the User would be banned with the Troll. This meant nothing to the Troll but hurt the User.
Getting a person who had interest in the MB, who wanted to belong, thrown off gave the Troll endless joy. To spoil someone's good time was a 'win'.
In some cases Mods became more astute and would ignore the 'Freedom of Speech' bleat of the Troll moving towards 'relevance'. If the remark wasn't relevant it was deleted.
As protecting a Message Board (or Forum) from Trolls was a full time job, where often there was no pay, and where the 'Owner' of the Message Board was not doing his/her own Moderating, the situation became complicated.
If the Owner backed the Mod's decision there was no problem, but often the Troll, banned by the Mod petitioned the Owner. If the Owner overruled the Mod's decision, the Mod ceased to function. As the Mod stopped performing the MB turned into a Troll Town until there were no users save the Troll and his 'duals' or 'best friend'.
To take down a Message Board, to cause a Forum to close was a 'kill'.
Troll Tricks
It did not take an inordinate amount of time for Trolls to comprehend how to 'play' a Message Board. They learned how to create different accounts; 'Duals'' and 'Best Friends'' .
Duals have use, even for the most conservative User. Creating more than one account allows the expression of different opinions, to view the sentiments of others in relation to the Prime User. For the Troll, having a set of Duals allows them to create a Repulsion.
There is a difference between being attacked and insulted by one Troll and being ganged by a Repulsion. The average User doesn't realise these twelve 'enemies' are one pathetic loser with a dozen different names. To any eye it seems the entire MB is against that user. The Lemming Effect comes into play.
The Lemming Effect
Humans are herd animals. They follow the 'leader'. Humans want to back the 'winning' side. They want to be in the majority. They vote as they perceive others will vote, they wear what others are wearing. Hence when they see 'everybody' against a User they join the 'Everybody'. A mere user is garbed as the Troll because a Repulsion of Trolls created the impression.
The Mod may be unconcerned, may not even note that twelve users come from the same I.P. Perhaps one or two members of the Repulsion might be banned. But why lose 12 users to preserve 1? Having a legitimate user locked out of an MB is a 'win' for the Troll.
The Best Friend is an actual user to whom the Troll has been especially nice to. The Best Friend will defend the Troll from attacks by others. Sometimes used as a 'Red Shirtt' the sacrifice of the Best Friend gives the Troll a martyr. On occasion the Best Friend turns into a co-Troll. To corrupt an average user is another 'win' for the Troll.
Making Issues is a fairly easy trick. This is to interpret a remark made by another User in whatever inflammatory language can be adopted. The User is put on the defensive. Having to explain a bland response, being attacked by the Repulsion will lead to the User's departure, especially in conjunction with the Lemming Effect.
The greatest victory for a Troll is to to arrive on a Message Board which should have never allowed him at inception. This is where the majority holds certain opinions which he does not. Using 'Freedom of Speech' as a weapon the Troll will demand they allow equal time and credibility for an opposing 'opinion'. Once the Mod falls for this sham, legitimate users leave. Trolls have been able to kill many Message Boards by this method.
Duals have use, even for the most conservative User. Creating more than one account allows the expression of different opinions, to view the sentiments of others in relation to the Prime User. For the Troll, having a set of Duals allows them to create a Repulsion.
There is a difference between being attacked and insulted by one Troll and being ganged by a Repulsion. The average User doesn't realise these twelve 'enemies' are one pathetic loser with a dozen different names. To any eye it seems the entire MB is against that user. The Lemming Effect comes into play.
The Lemming Effect
Humans are herd animals. They follow the 'leader'. Humans want to back the 'winning' side. They want to be in the majority. They vote as they perceive others will vote, they wear what others are wearing. Hence when they see 'everybody' against a User they join the 'Everybody'. A mere user is garbed as the Troll because a Repulsion of Trolls created the impression.
The Mod may be unconcerned, may not even note that twelve users come from the same I.P. Perhaps one or two members of the Repulsion might be banned. But why lose 12 users to preserve 1? Having a legitimate user locked out of an MB is a 'win' for the Troll.
The Best Friend is an actual user to whom the Troll has been especially nice to. The Best Friend will defend the Troll from attacks by others. Sometimes used as a 'Red Shirtt' the sacrifice of the Best Friend gives the Troll a martyr. On occasion the Best Friend turns into a co-Troll. To corrupt an average user is another 'win' for the Troll.
Making Issues is a fairly easy trick. This is to interpret a remark made by another User in whatever inflammatory language can be adopted. The User is put on the defensive. Having to explain a bland response, being attacked by the Repulsion will lead to the User's departure, especially in conjunction with the Lemming Effect.
The greatest victory for a Troll is to to arrive on a Message Board which should have never allowed him at inception. This is where the majority holds certain opinions which he does not. Using 'Freedom of Speech' as a weapon the Troll will demand they allow equal time and credibility for an opposing 'opinion'. Once the Mod falls for this sham, legitimate users leave. Trolls have been able to kill many Message Boards by this method.
Comment Trolls
As many Message Boards have adopted the policy of DNFT (Do Not Feed Troll) the only way to express power is to make insulting comments on the blogs of others. The more businesslike websites will vet every comment made to an article hence the Troll is simply wasting keystrokes. The less businesslike, those operated by a private person, must be constantly policed where there is no screening process.
Many writing sites have the comment held in limbo until the owner of the item Allows or Denies the posting. Trolls avoid these sites. Others allow posting but gives the owner the right to delete the comment if found inappropriate.
Where Trolls have complete reign is in the realm of Networks where they can vote down items and leave the most insulting comments without the slightest compunction.
Often masking their inanity in academic language it may seem this is a real opinion posted by an average user instead of a random attack. The comment section becomes a free fire zone in which the Troll, using various duals launches attack after attack. Any response is a response. And that is the fuel in the Troll's truck.
On particular writing sits, for example, such as Hubpages, Trolls will 'Gang Patrol' and make complaints to the Owners, who, never catching the reality, will come down on the hapless users.
Wikinut also allows Trolls full control of the Comments and although both sites allow you to delete the posts, the Admin is more interested in the complaint of the Troll than the integrity of the user.
Many writing sites have the comment held in limbo until the owner of the item Allows or Denies the posting. Trolls avoid these sites. Others allow posting but gives the owner the right to delete the comment if found inappropriate.
Where Trolls have complete reign is in the realm of Networks where they can vote down items and leave the most insulting comments without the slightest compunction.
Often masking their inanity in academic language it may seem this is a real opinion posted by an average user instead of a random attack. The comment section becomes a free fire zone in which the Troll, using various duals launches attack after attack. Any response is a response. And that is the fuel in the Troll's truck.
On particular writing sits, for example, such as Hubpages, Trolls will 'Gang Patrol' and make complaints to the Owners, who, never catching the reality, will come down on the hapless users.
Wikinut also allows Trolls full control of the Comments and although both sites allow you to delete the posts, the Admin is more interested in the complaint of the Troll than the integrity of the user.
The Why of Troll
Trolls crave attention. Any Attention is good attention. No longer limited to the bullied school boy, Trolls exist whenever there is a need to prove existence.
To get a response proves existence. Contents are irrelevant, that someone with a life took moments to compose a response is for a Troll what applause is for an actor.
Some Trolls adopt the 'academic' persona, pretending to be far more educated and intelligent then they are, hoping to fool others into thinking they actually have a degree or expertise. Some don't even read what they are attacking.
One can not humiliate a Troll, real life has already accomplished that. Whether out-Trolling or proving that their comments are rubbish, the slap down has little effect. Trolls so need the attention of the public nothing can deter them. When kicking a masochist one only gets tired. Hence any note of a Troll is a victory for the Troll.
Do Not Feed The Trolls is often posted on fora and message boards. By not giving them what they crave on this site they will move to that site is the rationale.
To get a response proves existence. Contents are irrelevant, that someone with a life took moments to compose a response is for a Troll what applause is for an actor.
Some Trolls adopt the 'academic' persona, pretending to be far more educated and intelligent then they are, hoping to fool others into thinking they actually have a degree or expertise. Some don't even read what they are attacking.
One can not humiliate a Troll, real life has already accomplished that. Whether out-Trolling or proving that their comments are rubbish, the slap down has little effect. Trolls so need the attention of the public nothing can deter them. When kicking a masochist one only gets tired. Hence any note of a Troll is a victory for the Troll.
Do Not Feed The Trolls is often posted on fora and message boards. By not giving them what they crave on this site they will move to that site is the rationale.
How to Deal with Trolls
As previously mentioned, one ignores Trolls. This is the method of most effect. If one can put the Troll on 'ignore' or 'block' so as not to be annoyed, one does so. If one can not do this, then not reading the posts of a Troll is second choice. The question is, why remain where Trolls are rampant?
There is no particular reason one must be on this Message Board. There are thousand of MBs. Find another and leave without making the pathetic "Good Bye Cruel Message Board" parting shot. Don't resign nor delete your account, just stop visiting. Do not be surprised that within a few weeks the once popular venue is moribund.
If one is beset by Comment Trolls at their every posting, set a simple trap. Use a quote of a expert in the field, post it without attribution, let the Trolls tear it apart, then mention that it was said by Name. You need no further verbiage.
If you are a moderator develop a sharp sense of what will damage the free flow of information. Delete or edit posts made by persons you think are Trolls without apology or explanation. If there is a complaint examine it carefully. "Freedom of Speech" is not a weapon. Other people have freedom of hearing and freedom of reading. Anyone who uses the defense that you have interfered in their Freedom of Speech is a Troll. You counter with; "Your post was irrelevant to the discussion."
There is no particular reason one must be on this Message Board. There are thousand of MBs. Find another and leave without making the pathetic "Good Bye Cruel Message Board" parting shot. Don't resign nor delete your account, just stop visiting. Do not be surprised that within a few weeks the once popular venue is moribund.
If one is beset by Comment Trolls at their every posting, set a simple trap. Use a quote of a expert in the field, post it without attribution, let the Trolls tear it apart, then mention that it was said by Name. You need no further verbiage.
If you are a moderator develop a sharp sense of what will damage the free flow of information. Delete or edit posts made by persons you think are Trolls without apology or explanation. If there is a complaint examine it carefully. "Freedom of Speech" is not a weapon. Other people have freedom of hearing and freedom of reading. Anyone who uses the defense that you have interfered in their Freedom of Speech is a Troll. You counter with; "Your post was irrelevant to the discussion."
The Finale
As with Village Idiots, Trolls are prolific. Every moment of every day another one is created. He may be that ugly kid in third grade, that forty year old who still lives with his Mother, that nymphomanic across the street. The depersonalisation of the Internet allows them the chance to feel master of the universe. No one is bigger than they are. No one has more power. For the first in their lives they can go 'toe to toe' with another being larger than a kitten.
Teach yourself to recognise a Troll from that first keystroke. Do not respond to any but the most cogent posts. If you are unsure, lurk. The purpose of a Troll is to destroy an MB or forum, to disrupt intelligent discourse. Where Mods tremble at the complaint of a Troll get ready to pack up and go.
Your only safe response to a Troll is none.
Teach yourself to recognise a Troll from that first keystroke. Do not respond to any but the most cogent posts. If you are unsure, lurk. The purpose of a Troll is to destroy an MB or forum, to disrupt intelligent discourse. Where Mods tremble at the complaint of a Troll get ready to pack up and go.
Your only safe response to a Troll is none.