Field Guide to Forum Trolls

A Troll is a bulletin-board participant who posts for one or both of two
reasons: 1) to disrupt; 2) to gain attention.

THE MAJOR BREEDS

The Vulgar Troll

These, the crudest of all trolls, make no attempt to hide their species.
Often, they make racist comments, or they may post porn and other Spam.
Vulgars usually confine their comments merely to primitive, profane,
off-topic
observations. When you log into the 'Really Profound Serious Philosophical
Discussions' board and see the post, "I smell my farts," you've spotted the
Vulgar Troll. Other species of troll sometimes revert to this form when
cornered.

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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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.

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 Troll Warning Sign #1: 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 Troll Warning Sign #2: 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 Troll Warning Sign #3: 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 Troll Warning Sign #4: 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 Troll Warning Sign #5: 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 Troll Warning Sign #6: 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.

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.

-Some Agenda Trolls are subject-matter oriented. An Agenda Troll who thinks
Self-Defense Instructor X is a fraud, or who feels he has been ripped off or
otherwise dealt with unfairly by Instructor X, will visit forums devoted to
self-defense and martial arts in order to spread his or her negative opinion
of Instructor X.

-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.

Sophist Trolls

Sophist Trolls, or "philotrolls," fancy themselves Enlightened Philosophers
or
Learned Experts of the highest order. Often well educated, Philotrolls are
capable of speaking intelligently on a number of topics, and when the spirit
moves them they can be worthwhile forum participants. Unfortunately, Sophist
Trolls are an extremely hostile and intolerant species.

-When confronted by opinions with which they do not agree, particularly when
they do not see any means of successfully arguing their contrary views,
Sophists resort (repeatedly) to a variety of intellectually dishonest
tactics.
Most often, this is characterized by an overly snide, condescending,
patronizing attitude. Philotrolls consider anyone with whom they do not
agree
to be "immature," and are fond of quoting that old saw that "A little
knowledge is a dangerous thing."

-When cornered they are quick to resort to personal attacks, A philotroll's
bag of rhetorical tricks includes a variety of transparent ploys, such as
willfully misinterpreting the opponent's words, committing Straw Man
fallacies, accusing his or her opponents of engaging in the very tactics
used
by the philotroll, and so forth.

-When engaging in their sophistry, philotrolls are among the most
hypocritical
and aggravating of Trollkind.

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.

TROLL SPOTTING

Trolls often have many basic characteristics in common:

1. Low post count. Trolls often 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. High post count. Other Trolls flood a forum with so many posts of their
own, especially when they are able to turn the subject onto one that they
like, that long-time regular members begin to leave or complain to the
Moderator.

3. Suspicious IP addresses. Puppet accounts will have IP addresses identical
to that of the TiQ.

4. Suspicious email 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 up to five usernames for a single
account.

5. Suspicious Reptition. Trolls often repeat key phrases or entire diatribes
of their pet propaganda, attempting to turn the subject onto one that they
can
control.

6. 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.

Angry Forumites. Though normally slow to anger, and lacking the venom of
Troll
Bashers, angry forumites can pose a danger to Trollkind when they gather in
groups. While it takes three to five Angry Forumites to equal the danger
represented by a single Troll Basher, they are not to be underestimated.

--originally posted by Nasty Habit of TexasMinutemen.org, 5/28/2003

Oh, how true!


On Tue, 10 May 2005 18:58:14 GMT, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:


Field Guide to Forum Trolls

A Troll is a bulletin-board participant who posts for one or both of two
reasons: 1) to disrupt; 2) to gain attention.

THE MAJOR BREEDS