How to Deal with Trolls

[Bluelicious]

Cambuulo iyo bun;787868 wrote:

lool blue ninka waku khafiiftay ma is tiri

Lool no just telling how it is because that's not acceptable. My job is done so I have closed the case now. Have I told you before that I find your name so cute

 

Ps; These following quotes are so true I have seen them during the political war.

 

An "Internet troll" or "Forum Troll" is a person who posts outrageous message to bait people to answer. Trolls delight in sowing discord on the forums. A troll is someone who inspires flaming rhetoric, someone who is purposely provoking and pulling people into flaming discussion. Flaming discussions usually end with name calling and a flame war.

Trolls are immune to criticism and logical arguments. True trolls cannot be reasoned with, regardless of how sound your logical argument is.

An insecure person can get a sense of power online, without ever having to face someone directly. With the Internet being a world of imagination and fantasy for some, cowardly users can forge an alter ego for themselves, and act out their feelings of anger and inadequacy. It's sad and unfortunate that our advanced communications also brings out the darker side of many people.

Trolls will incite broad arguments and provoke angry responses by making controversial statements. (e.g. racism, religious intolerance, bigoted or elitist views, mysogyny, extreme political views)

Trolls will start many off-topic threads, seeking to derail users from the focus of an online community.

Trolls will post abusive and hurtful comments directed at a specific person (aka "flaming" another person)

[Somalia]

^^ What do you call a troll you can't describe in those quotes? A successful troll.

[kingofkings]

 

Section 7: The Successful Troll

 

A good example of troll success is the famous "How I Envy American Students" troll.

 

This troll was written by an English brick-layer posing as an American student. He correctly posted it to all the college news- groups and then left american students to do all the work spreading it.

 

His troll ran for over a year, it is known to have generated in excess of 3,500 responses (an average of 1 response every 160 minutes for a whole year) and the greatest coup of all was when an innocent american student lost not only her internet account but was also expelled from high school for abuse of the computer systems.

 

Somehow she had managed to get the blame for causing the troll.

[kingofkings]

There are some individuals out there who don't just enjoy winding up people on newsgroups and bulletin boards - it's their sad lifestyle choice! Using every known disruptive trick in the book, these troublesome types don't go out to the pub, meet members of the opposite sex or enjoy life. They spend their time hunched over their computers trolling.

Here's how they work:

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The object of this post is to bring together a definitive document to cover the phenomena of the Usenet Troll. To many a troll is nothing more than an annoying method of defeating the killfile whereas to the heavily killfiled, trolling can be a virtual Godsend.

 

What I want this document to focus on is how to create entertaining trolls. I have drawn on the expertise of the writer's of some of Usenet's finest and best remembered trolls. Trolls are for fun. The object of recreational trolling is to sit back and laugh at all those gullible ****** that will believe *anything*.

 

Section 1: What Is A Troll?

 

The WWW gives this as a definition:

 

troll v.,n. To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies"; which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling";, a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite.

 

The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll.

 

If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.

 

The following extract is from a broader expansion of the defining comments given above:

 

In Usenet usage, a troll is not a grumpy monster that lives beneath a bridge accosting passers-by, but rather a provocative posting to a newsgroup intended to produce a large volume of frivolous responses.

 

The content of a "troll posting generally falls into several areas. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of a newsgroup, or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings.

 

There are three reasons why people troll newsgroups:

 

People post such messages to get attention, to disrupt newsgroups, and simply to make trouble.

 

Career trollers tend for the latter two whilst the former is the mark of the clueless newbie and should be ignored.

 

 

 

Section 2: Design Issues

 

A troll is no different to any other Usenet posting. That needs to be stressed.

 

Any article that you decide to write should be written with a view to it actually being read by large numbers of people. Simply X-posting to large numbers of irrelevant newsgroups is not creative trolling - it is just spam and should be avoided.

 

The experienced troller spends time carefully choosing the right subject and delivering it to the right newsgroup. With trolls, delivery is just as important as the subject.

 

Start the troll in a reasonable and erudite manner. You have to engage your readers' interest and draw them in.

 

Never give too much away at the start - although a brief abstract with hints of what's to come can work wonders.

 

Construct your troll in a manner to make it readable. Use short paragraphs and lots of white space. Keep line length below eighty characters. Use a liberal amount of emphasis and even the occasional illustration.

 

A good rule of thumb is that as your troll becomes more and more ludicrous put extra effort into the presentation - this keeps the mug punter confused. Let confusion and chaos be your goal

 

 

 

Section 3: Content

Make your subject a relevant one. Posting "Star Trek Sucks" into hk.forsale is not going to work very well and is liable to utterly destroy your hard earned reputation as a troller overnight.

 

You do not have to make the subject clear. Trolls are aimed at two audiences, the respondees and the lurkers.

 

The best trolls reveal their true subject only to the lurkers. In every sense those who reply to your troll are your tools. So choose a theme for your troll and stick to it.

 

Outwardly you need to appear sincere, but at the same time you have to tell your *real* audience that this is blatant flamebait. Your skill is shown in the easy way that you manipulate large areas of the Usenet community into making public fools of themselves.

 

 

 

Section 4: Newsgroup Selection

 

Choice of newsgroup is as important as the subject, tone and structure of the troll. You want to appeal to each group you X-post into to ensure responses from each group.

 

A well delivered troll will anticipate what those responses will be and thus ensure that contradictions will arise amongst the different groups that you are setting up.

 

BAD:

Posting "USA Sucks" to alt.nuke.the.USA, alt.usa-sucks, aus.flame.usa

This is totally on-topic and obvious. A truly useless troll.

 

AVERAGE:

Posting "God Doesn't Exist" to all the alt.religion newsgroups

Here you are being too obvious. People recognise this sort of trouble making and have usually learned not to respond to it. However, if your troll is well written you can actually entrap a lot of newbies.

 

This, if executed correctly, can be exploited to cause great offence to those more experienced troll avoiders on the groups you are attacking. Go for it!

 

GOOD:

Posting an article that appears relevant to every group but with no connection between those groups other than the fact that you've just trolled them.

The best trolls go out to an average of around eight or nine newsgroups. This will stop them from becoming spam as it's not quite enough to be a real problem. However, to get by on so few groups you have to include a couple of popular ones in the list.

 

When posting to say seven groups you should try to break down your theme into seven areas - each of which will be of specific interest to just one of those groups.

 

You then write an eight paragraph troll with a paragraph for each group and a spare one for yourself with which to lob in a gratuitous insult to everyone who was dumb enough to read your troll.

 

It is a matter of choice whether you choose newsgroups before or after writing the troll.

 

Some experts claim that newsgroup selection is the key to successful trolling and should be done first, others will write general trolls and then apply the standard Perl script that trollers use for Automatic Random Newsgroup Selection.

 

 

 

Section 5: Know Your Audience

 

Remember that you have two audiences. The people who are going to get the maximum enjoyment out of your post are other trollers. You need to keep in contact with them through both your troll itself and the way you direct its effect.

 

It is trollers that you are trying to entertain so be creative - trollers don't just want a laugh from you they want to see good trolls so that they can also learn how to improve their own in the never ending search for the perfect troll.

 

The other audience is of course the little people in those newsgroups that your are attacking. Get to know them. Every newsgroup has its smartarse who will expose your troll if given half a chance.

 

Research your targets and learn what their arguments are. Then avoid those arguments like the plague.

 

Drag them off-topic - the further off-topic the better. Remember, you are trying to waste their time.

 

Never take sides - remember that your goal is not to win an argument, rather it is to provoke a futile one that runs forever.

 

If, for example you were attacking Fast Food then you should also X-post to Healthy Eating groups, Environmental Protection Groups, Animal Rights Groups etc....

 

You want to try to ensure that you have the broadest possible range of opinions as this is the easiest way to sow confusion.

 

The more confusion the less the likelihood of your troll being exposed for what it is.

 

It can also be shown that the inclusion of just one totally off-topic newsgroup can have dramatic effects.

 

The list above is taken from a genuine troll which also included an Artificial Intelligence group, the result of which was to draw Computer Guru Professor Marvin Minsky into a flamewar concerning Ronald McDonald's exploitation of the disabled - an all-time classic piece of trolling - written by a practising veggie.

 

 

 

Section 6: Following-Up

 

"Even if this is true......"

 

That represents the perfect response to any troll. The mark of a gullible lunatic that will almost certainly believe anything you tell them. A total group embarrassment. Award yourself a Troll Gold Star every time you get one!

 

Other good responses include, but are not limited to....

 

"Although this is on-topic....."

"I disagree...."

"Yes, but....."

"Can you provide a source for this...."

 

 

Try not to follow-up to your own troll. The troll itself quickly becomes forgotten in the chaos and if you just sit back you can avoid being blamed for causing it.

 

Remember, if you do follow up you are talking to an *****. Treat them with the ill-respect they deserve.

 

You should also learn to recognise follow-ups from your fellow trollers. Sometimes an average troll can be elevated into majestic proportions when several trollers spontaneously join forces via the medium of the follow up troll.

 

Ignore cries of wasted bandwidth! This is pure drivel that will always be posted by the anti-troll lobby.

 

These jerks fail to understand that trolls are the best way to drive people off the internet thus making available multi-mbs for the rest of us to download our porn.

[Somalicentric]

Umm, can i just get this as a manual? thanks in advance lol

[IAmRevolution]

Bluelicious;787862 wrote:

 

 

This came at the right time for the current political war going on at the politics section all started by Aaliyyah. Aaliyyah has been the common denominator in this whole political war that was based on personal unresolved issues that she has had with the member FreshPrince. She started to blast around on the politics section that IAmRevolution was FreshPrince (after she remembered an incident from long time ago where one person jokingly said that IAmRevolution at the time called Knight of Wisdom was FreshPrince it was all banter and a one time thing but she being gullible took it serious and has hold on to it ever since shame on her for believing everything she reads) without any clear proof and started to harass him about it and insulting him because she is a bigot and he had different views then her which she opposed and disagreed with.

 

Soon her Khaatumo clique (Abdul, Liibaan, A_Khadar) saw the message and just copied it and believed it gullibly like headless chickens without even being sure of their cases and then even they started further blasting wrongful accusations and insults towards IAmRevolution shame on them. Not only that but she was also acting tough infront of her clique and making insults and hide behind her crew and at other times acting tough to gang up on IAmRevolution and insult together as a clique to troll and harass together was their motto you can spot the difference between their solo comments and gang comments. The worst one was Liibaan he even went to great extents purposely to sabotage and set up IAmRevolution to make people against him and started to post falsly edited quotes originally belonging to FreshPrince making it seem as if it belonged to IAmRevolution and that he wrote it. He is the biggest troll and fits all of the descriptions of the article and only wants to spread hatred, promote bigotry, fight and and make members against each other, stir trouble and arguments. Anyways I hope she aint proud of her bad behaviour and actions of bringing 4 members against each other promoting and spreading hatred, fights, arguments, trouble and promoting bigotry. They brought bigotry to whole another level this is hardcore harassment!

 

Repeatedly accusing the members IAmRevolution, Carafaat and Xaaji_Xunjuf but mostly IAmRevolution for being the member FreshPrince without any proof and just because you feel like it to stir trouble, hatred and promote and start a fight because you have unresolved issues with that member is a form of harassment so I suggest the Khaatumo clique (Abdul, Liibaan, A_Khadar and Aaliyyah) especially Aaliyyah the starter to stop with the false baseless accusations and harassment. I don't think you guys would like to be wrongly accused of being another member that you aren't and be harassed about it so it doesn't make any sense to be doing it to another person.

 

FreshPrince has taken full responsibility for his bad behaviour and actions and had even made a thread where he was apologising and asking for forgiveness to everyone and stopped ever since with his bad actions he is a changed man now. But some people feel the need to re-open a closed case and make his name black and cause unnecessary trouble and fights on purpose because of holding grudges and resentments. Political war is good for nothing especially when you make it personally, you gain nothing out of it. Respect everyones personal opinons even if they differ from yours because everyone is entitled to have their own opinion and you don't need to shove your bigotry views down to people's throats and start to harass them. I suggest the Khaatumo clique leaves FreshPrince, IAmRevolution, Carafaat and Xaaji_Xunjuf alone and move on!

 

That is the hardcore truth and nothing but the truth, my work is done here

Well done. Oh boy! You have seriously widen my heart to increase the love which I have learned to build, which I thought had it's limit, really, knowing how small the heart is. You are like an Angel (if such exist) who has been sent from Heaven (if such exist) to transform the life of one lucky man (me).

 

Seriously, who are you, my dearly beloved Blue? You are inseparable from me, like the BLUE sky above. You're the epitome of eloquent speech, loyalty and purity.

 

The majority of the users of SOL from Khaatumo State hail from Sool and Sanaag (known as Reer Nugaaleed). Their aggressiveness and shamelessness is no surprise. They hate to have the lights shined at them. They run around in every city around the globe, using the achievements Reer Hawd/Buuhoodle have achieved as their own, while their own homes are under occupation.

 

For simply asking "Where is Reer Nugaaleed", ALL hell breaks loose. They accuse me, try to insult me and degrade me. Instead of answering the question, they started to run for cover, shooting at me with a Musket from the US Revolutionary War of 1865.

 

Ahmed Karash (The Reer Nugaaleed) guy from Sool/Sanaag, has finally heeded the warning from Reer Buuhoodle and my SOL thread. Today, he has left Buuhoodle and went back to Tukaraq, where he was for the past 2 years. He has been told to regroup his clansmen in SOOL and SANAAG if he is truly working for the people of Khaatumo State.

[Bluelicious]

A few more true quotes that i've witnessed relating to the political war:

 

That represents the perfect response to any troll.

The mark of a gullible lunatic that will almost certainly believe anything you tell them. A total group embarrassment.

Award yourself a Troll Gold Star every time you get one!

A malicious troll arrives with the intent of being blatantly abusive to the group and/or specific individuals within the group. One of their characteristics is that within a very short time of gaining access they begin targeting and harassing members using both low-end and high-end tactics. In some cases, the troll has a prior history with the group or someone within the group. In other scenarios, the troll is simply looking for a fresh meat market.

Troll feeders love to see the drama unfold on their computer screens but they love hiding behind the mask of "I didn't do it" where they feel secure in their role not as a trouble-maker but simply as someone trying understand the other forum users.

An Internet 'troll' is an abusive anti-social user who delights in causing disharmony and conflict online

Sometimes an average troll can be elevated into majestic proportions when several trollers spontaneously join forces via the medium of the follow up troll.

That's exactly how the whole political war started and got spread like fire between the Khaatumites. Indeed that's very embarrassing shame on yourselves.

[kingofkings]

 

Recognising And Dealing With Trolls

 

This page is a supplement to our main troll article, and provides a detailed analysis of the four different types of trolls, how to spot them, and what to do when you encounter them.

 

Playtime Trolls

 

Playtime trolls are relatively easy to spot, but they may not be apparent to the naive user. There isn't a single set of characteristics that applies to playtime trolls, but you can look for some or all of the following signs:

a lack of buy-in to the list philosophy or values generally low level of activity, with sudden spurts of interaction - or perhaps a new persona that has strong opinions on controversial subjects a mixture of friendly posts with a confrontational style of interaction the use of provocative language and sweeping generalisations about certain topics or categories of people a lack of in-depth understanding of the topic

 

a lack of personal information

 

a lack of a genuinely unique perspective on the topic

 

a lack of humour

 

restarting topics that have already been done

 

use of language that encourages the dialogue to enter topics that are controversial and likely to upset some team members the use of an attention-seeking gimmick (e.g.: "I was once exploited by an XYZ")

they follow up their own articles if the group doesn't respond to their posts inconsistencies in the style and nature of the post and any proclaimed information (e.g.: claiming to be a child but writing with an adult style; claiming to be adult, but writing with a childish grammatical construction). also note that trolls often seem to use free email services (such as hotmail.com) or have email addresses ending in .edu.

 

However, trolls could be virtually anyone, and the email address is no guide as to whether the persona is a bona fide user or not. To counteract playtime trolls, the best action is to ignore them. If you are convinced they are trolls, then you can advise the list manager. However, if other group members respond to the suspected troll's posts, then you may have to consider some of the responses outlined for tactical or strategic trolls.

[kingofkings]

Tactical Trolls

 

Tactical trolls take much more care and effort over the creation of their personae. Such trolls are likely to be seen as long term list members, and have the confidence and trust of the bona fide people on the mailing list. They use many of the techniques listed for Playtime Trolls, but in addition:

 

They engage in off list email dialogues to gain the confidence and trust of influential individuals on the list.

 

They are friendly and humorous in the posts, to put you at ease with their persona.

 

They have a well-thought-through story such that the persona seems to be very real. They will give apparently personal and intimate information, particularly in off list emails.

 

They win trust by giving trust. For example, they may hint at something confidential on-list, but then only reveal the full story to someone off-list. By bringing someone into their confidence, they create a feeling of confidence towards them by the individual's concerned.

 

In off list emails, they win allies and support for some of their views. Their offlist emails are subtly manipulative.

They 'set up' bona fide members to argue with each other. Any view, no matter how outrageous, can be made to sound rational when put in a certain context. By setting different contexts for different people offlist, they create a setting whereby they can raise a topic on-list, in a seemingly innocent manner, and then watch the two list members argue because they have interpreted the topic/message in very different ways.

 

In off-list emails, they use techniques borrowed from NLP and Speed-Seduction to make people have a great deal of affection for them. This naturally suppresses any suspicion there might be.

 

They use gimmicks that win sympathy and bring out the 'nurturing parent' in other list members, which also suppresses any feelings of suspicion. E.g.: being blind, handicapped, an orphan, rejected, bullied etc.. They build up a reasonable knowledge of the topic of the list. This enables them to take part for some time as apparently bona-fide list members.

 

They use language that is carefully constructed to be subtly invidious. This language is designed to identify two or more separate groups of people, and encourage list members to identify the negative traits of those groups. This creates argument and dissent between list members. Note that subtlety is often their main objective, so this language is difficult to spot.

 

They don't enter into the argument directly, but facilitate an argument between list members, e.g.: by highlighting points that one list member has made, perhaps in a way that is more confrontational than the original intention.

They sometimes create a fictitious persona supported by a web-site, photographs and apparently personal data.

They may suggest meeting up in real-life, but the meeting doesn't take place.

 

Many of these behaviours are things that 'real' people would engage in. It is very difficult to distinguish real people from trolls in an internet environment. The only method that can be used to verify the bona fide nature of list members is to investigate their personal information. Trolls will invent personal information, but when you investigate it you will keep coming to dead ends. For example, if their employer is company "xyz", then you may be able to find a web site at www.xyz.com, but there is no contact information. However, with bona fide people, their personal information will lead to an ever-increasing wealth of data, such as:

 

if a real person cites "xyz" as the employer, then the web site will give a phone number;

the company's phone number will be answered by an operator who will be able to tell you the person's extension number;

 

company xyz may list clients on their web site, whom you can ring up and verify exist;

the person may be a member of professional associations;

 

you may have met some list members in real life, who will have met other list members and can therefore vouch for them.

 

The key difference between a troll and a bona fide list member is that when you investigate a troll, their personal data usually leads to dead-ends; when you investigate a bona fide person, their personal data leads to an ever-expanding set of evidence that they are for real. There are some tricks that the tactical trolls may use to deceive you:

Some trolls will exchange some fictitious data - e.g.: phone numbers, addresses, family details - on the basis that you are not going to actually ring them.

 

They may have dedicated personal phone lines that they may use for the purpose of taking verification phone calls

They will want to hide other personal information, because it can demonstrate that they are not for real.

Various excuses can be used for not releasing personal information, including privacy.

 

There are some bona fide people who do not wish to be traced via the internet - but this makes it difficult to distinguish trolls from real people. If in doubt, assume that they are a troll, and don't simply believe the sophisticated lies that trolls use to hide their identity. Also, don't rely solely on your intuition - you need to establish hard data to help find out whether your intuition is for real.

 

 

Strategic Trolls

 

 

Strategic trolls often operate in groups, rather than alone. They use multiple personalities, each of which uses the techniques outlined in the section on tactical trolls. However, they have an overall strategy for drawing bona fide list members into argument, ultimately causing them to leave, or for the trolls to dominate of the group. In particular:

They have various phases to their strategy, where each phase aims to achieve different things.

 

The first phase usually involves establishing multiple personalities who become recognised as integral members of the group - "friendly trolls". Don't be deceived by the title - they appear to be friendly but they have very different hidden motives. Establishing friendly trolls in a group is a process that can take many months or even years.

 

The second phase involves using new personalities to start divisive threads, in the manner outlined under "Tactical Trolls". In the event that no list members respond to these threads, other phase two trolls will respond to them to keep the debate active.

 

If existing list members have not yet joined in the arguments, the third phase involves "offensive trolls" attacking their own personae from the first phase. As these trolls will have built up a lot of goodwill in the group, other list members will jump to their defence, and they are therefore drawn in to the argument.

 

In case other list members don't join in, "defensive trolls" may join in and continue to give air time to the "offensive trolls". The friendly trolls can also incite bona fide list members to join in using offlist emails.

Another phase may involve the friendly trolls starting to retaliate publicly, calling on the support of bona fide list members.

 

When things start to get out of hand, petrol will be poured on the flames to try and stir things up as much as possible and cause the maximum amount of strife and chaos.

 

The following is a further extract from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) of the mailing list that is dedicated to trolling. It will help you to understand what type of person you are up against... "Anyone can walk into alt.sex and post that pornography should be banned. Anyone can walk into rec.sport.baseball and say "baseball sucks". It takes unbelievable skill and discipline to cause a PROLONGED flame war. That is what we do. But it can only be done with talent, and numbers to match that talent. We only bring into the fold people who have the knack to use smarts to incite chaos, not ********* to incite being ignored when people see a post and know what you're up to."

[kingofkings]

Domination Trolls

 

 

Recently, it has become apparent that there are probably trolls also operating as list managers. I am unclear as to the specific motivations for this type of activity, but it may be:

 

gratification from dominating the emotional lives of list members gangland ware - where one group sets up a list and aims to defend it from other trolling groups a genuine area of interest on behalf of the troll Nevertheless, the lesson behind this is that you need to get verification data for list managers as well as other list members.

 

Other General Tactics For Dealing With Trolls

 

 

When dealing with suspected trolls, there are various strategies that you can employ. First of all, remember that just because you suspect that someone is a troll, it doesn't mean that they are a troll; also, just because you suspect someone is genuine, it doesn't mean that they are genuine. In view of this, the best tactics are:

 

ignore postings that you suspect may be from trolls.

 

don't invest any of your self emotionally until you have verified beyond all doubt that the person you are dealing with is genuine

beware of off list emails that praise and flatter, or seem to evoke sympathy. If you feel yourself beginning to like someone, ask first: how much verifiable data do I have about them?

 

if you do get involved in anyone, seek out verifiable data. Trolls will provide some data that will lead to dead ends; real people will provide some data that is open-ended and leads to a myriad of sources which enable you to verify their genuine status if you must respond to a troll posting, don't get involved in the argument; limit it to pointing out that the posting may be considered as trollish, for the benefit of other list members.

 

Write to the listmaster to highlight what is happening

 

Write to the postmaster of the troll's domain. Keep it simple, polite and to the point (they are very busy!). Include your evidence (e.g.: offensive emails) and the full email header information, so that the troll can be properly traced.

 

Listmasters can also make their lists restricted, and conduct a security analysis of each list application before allowing them to subscribe. This is probably easier to do in areas that have professional associations or qualifications.