08/08/02 The Truth About Trolls By Josh Miller Overview Just a few points to make before we get started here. For one, regardless of any personal uses or common uses of the words, when I say "troll" I will be referring to a person who posts hoping to get a reaction, or the act of posting to get a reaction. When I say "Flamebait" I am referring to a person that is being trolled. I don't think that is the actual correct use of the term flamebait but until I come up with a better one that is the definition used in this article. Also as near as I can figure the word "Troll" comes from either the fantasy creature from the Billy Goats Gruff. A mean creature that would wait under a bridge waiting for the goats to come by at which point he would eat the goats. Or possibly the fishing act of "Trolling", that is, using a quiet troll motor to move the boat along whole pulling the fishing like along in hopes of catching something. Taking an Insult Too Seriously This is a common symptom among flamebait. If a person insults Linux, Anime, Rush, Wrestling, Starcraft, etc, the posters to this newsgroup go off taking it as a personal insult instead of noticing there was no insult to any person, just an opinion based on an item or subject. These people are prime targets. The best way to troll these people is to continue making negative observation about the topic at hand. WHEN (not if) this leads to people screaming at you about insults to the people and not the things, or if they start insulting you, make sure to ask why they are so mean or point out that they are the ones who started resorting to personal insults. Better yet, ask them if they believe their argument is so weak then can't support it without resorting to childish name-calling. This heads into another trick, start out posting rather buffoonish then gradually up the "sophistication" of your posts. People love to flame based on intelligence, especially people who are easily trolled. You see part of the reason these people are so easily trolled is they are what we in the industry like to call, elitist. They have overly huge egos and like to boast about how well they managed to follow directions on national tests. Basically they think they are geniuses better than everyone even though they are usually a) not very real world smart (just book smart) or b) not better than anyone. These people are generally the primary target (see topic "Targets"). Also as the section title says, people just tend to take things WAY too seriously. One of the more noble motivations a troll can have is that the troll is simply trying to help people lighten up and accept that [the people] have faults too. Trolls are just like You and Me There are two popular images of Trolls people like to promote. We will address these two, the reasoning behind these images and address the real issue. First off, Trolls are all 12 year olds on their parent's computer with nothing better to do. False. It's been my experience with the many people I have met on the Internet, trolls and not, that most trolls are in fact more like 20 give or take. It's more likely that it's some college student with nothing better to do. Thing is, this classifies most of the people posting. The thing here is, people just can't accept that others can have vastly different opinions on a subject. The flamebait likes to call a troll a 12 year old because they assume the troll simply is not experienced enough to realize that the subject in question is great. Clearly that guy doesn't like Such and Such because he simply has not experience it at all. Also these people have a high opinion of how people are "supposed to act" (read, trendy people) so they think that anyone who is not acting properly stiff assed is a little kid. Claim number 2, all trolls are basement dwelling mongoloids. FALSE This is the same sort of logic used to feel better than the successful jock bully in Middle School. Once again it doesn't really justify the real issue. Its just a cover up. The logic here is similar to the age argument. Just because a person doesn't think something is the best thing in the world doesn't mean they are obviously mentally incompetent. It just means they have a different opinion than you do. TRUTH A troll is probably just like you are. They probably do many of the same things you do when not posting, work, school, whatever. They are not basement dwelling twelve year olds with brain disorders. They are not trying to "boost their fragile ego" by trolling. Actually on the contrary, chances are you are trying to "boost your fragile ego" by flaming the troll back. Also... The Troll has as Much Right to Post as You Do This is especially true for groups that allow off topic posts and trolls that are on topic. Unless moderated, Newsgroups are public forums. Anyone can read or post. Also nowhere does it say that discussion of a topic has to be positive. Talking about how great Linux is in a Linux newsgroup is just as on topic as talking about how much Linux sucks. If your newsgroup advocates on topic posting then even off topic trolls have to be accepted. Otherwise its just censorship without justification. A “regular” posting about his lost cat is just as ok as a troll posting about how much Bush sucks in a Final Fantasy Newsgroup that advocated off topic posts. How Not to Deal With a Troll This is a better thing to address than what to do with a troll because generally doing anything means a “victory” or will simply perpetuate the activity. These are things that people often try that are particularly ineffective. 1) Netcopping. This is when you contact the troll’s sys-admin and try to get the troll’s account blocked or have the troll reprimanded, usually for violation of the troll’s Terms of Service. There are several problems with this. One, the sys-admin is probably very busy and doesn’t really give a flying fuck that you disagreed with the troll on the newsgroup. Two, chances are the troll is nowhere near in violation of the TOS of his Internet provider. Seriously, netcopping is very difficult to accurately prove without also proving yourself and everyone else posting in the group of the same crime. Just a note, if you ARE a troll and someone does manage to successfully netcop you, I would personally recommend trolling back by netcopping the people in the group using their own posts. Most people don’t realize they are guilty of the same thing they are accusing you of. If the people in the group complain just tell them you have been converted by the original netcopper and believe strongly in his cause. It would be quite hilarious and would be an effective tactic for turning a group against itself. 2) “Don’t feed the trolls” posts. Please don’t do this. You are only throwing gas on the fire by advocating not throwing gas on the fire. 3) Stock Flames. If your flame is copied form somewhere else, then it’s considered a stock flame. These are tired, overused, etc. Also it makes you look unoriginal. Like “Don’t feed the troll” posts, this makes you automatically owned. You are Not Important Seriously folks, the troll does not care about you. You could have been anyone posting to the group. You are simply a generic target. The troll may keep track of your name only because you are easy flamebait. This section also discusses targets. 1) First we have easy prey, to use some nifty buzzword terms. These are the “Don’t feed the trolls” people and the “stock flames” people. These people will generally be dismissed as not worthwhile after their first post. Another common term among some people would probably be “newbies”. These people usually are trolled because of inexperience with Usenet. They just don’t really know how to effectively respond to a troll yet. 2) Big Game. This is the main target for an individual troll usually. These are the people that will reply and defend their point to tooth and nail to the bitter end even after being made a fool a dozen times over. These people usually make weak insults the whole way through. You can usually troll these people indefinitely or until you grow tired of the troll and leave. On that note, these people can be tiresome. With circular reasoning that keeps bringing up the same points that were crushed one before in the thread. These are your elitists and your regulars usually. 3) Hard targets. Occasionally you’ll come across someone who is actually good at debating and arguing. Personally I try my best to make sure my argument can side with them or if I can steer their argument into coinciding with mine. The logic behind this is that these people will be fairly well respected in the group and then you can refer back to the professional’s argument when defending your own against Big Game. These people are not too common really because usually these people are either smart enough to not be trolled or they are smart enough o realize you do in fact have a valid point. Overall Goals Now that we’ve discussed targets, how about we discuss goals? A troll’s goal is definitely not to boost his ego. Depending on the troll and the group there can be many goals for a troll. Also since we are generally discussing individual trolls here I’ll focus more on that subject. Group trolls only have one of two goals 90% of the time anyway. In fact, how about covering those two first off. These are not limited to groups but are much easier for groups to achieve (even small groups). 1) General Chaos. This will be just for fun sometimes or it can be a pre-goal before goal number 2 (below). Basically a series of random posts often cross-posted though out many conflicting groups meant to cause a mass disruption of regular posting activity. There are many groups devoted to this sort of activity. These attacks are often well coordinated and there is already at least one FAQ out on the internet detailing this sort of activity, so I won’t go into too much detail here. This can be a precursor to… 2) Group take over. This is almost impossible for one person to do alone. One person can cause general chaos but one person will have a very hard uphill climb to take over a newsgroup (of worthwhile size). Basically this works the way it sounds. Cause chaos and disruption till the regulars run away crying and normal posting activity ceases. The reasons behind this include fun, new headquarters, cleansing of old regulars, to give a few examples. 3) As for singular goals, these are more effective if done by one or a few people. One of the more common goals is to simply ridicule a person or persons. This is done by exposing how much of an elitist snob the person is, exposing the person to be an idiot (when they claim not to be), or just generally exposing some sort of trait about the person they try to cover up. Part of trolling is always about revealing the dirty truth behind the rose colored glasses. Assumptions One of the things I’ve noticed with flamebait that makes them so easy to troll is they simply make too many assumptions and pre-judgements. They see a person with poor grammar and spelling and automatically assume the poster is an idiot. They see a disagreement and assume the person obviously has no experience with the subject. This all just gets you into trouble. This makes it really easy to model a post specifically to easily troll you. Just post something that makes some truth tot he assumption. Wait till you flame away, then contradict the assumption. Now you look like a complete idiot. Meanwhile you’ve probably been set up to take another fall. This process is fairly easy to set up and set off. The best result is to get people to brag about their “credentials”. I GOT AN A+ IN MY HS PHYSICS HONORS CLASS! No shit really? That doesn’t really mean anything in the world of computers or religion or politics. Also it still means you only have a basic grasp of the concepts of physics. Big fucking whoop, High School. The better ones involve SATs and IQ tests. This paves the way for easy trolls about how these tests don’t really prove anything. This makes people really huffy and mad. The Kobayashi Maru Just so you know, 90% of the time, battling a troll is a no win situation. You may think you are incredibly clever but chances are you are not. Actually this is not entirely true, it’s really only true when we are talking about true flamebait. You see the target of a troll is the person who is blinded by personal belief so much they refuse to accept anything else. The people who are most capable of “defeating” a troll are the ones who are not likely to reply in the first place. Not because they see the troll for what it is necessarily but because they can accept that the troll’s opinion is just as valid as anyone else is. When they do reply the post will usually be calm and well thought out and generally very good giving the troll nothing to go on. Generally though, whatever you do will only be in the troll’s favor. 1) Reply with a flame. This should be fairly obvious, but it’s not. People so this all the time. This is WHAT THE TROLL WANTS MORE THAN ANYTHING. Example: “YOU ARE A STUPID TROLL” 2) Reply with a “Straw Man”. That is, information that doesn’t actually prove or disprove the troll but attacks a different issue all together. Example: “M$ sucks so you are wrong” when talking about the usefulness of Linux. 3) Don’t reply at all. This can or can not be a valid troll. If you have repeatedly been replying to the troll then you decide not to reply it’s usually a sign that you are submitting to the troll. This one is hard to call though. Not replying at all in the first place definitely doesn’t count. Not replying after the thread has gone one for 5000 posts on the same two subjects back and forth probably doesn’t count. Not replying to valid claims the troll is making certainly DOES count. 4) Netcopping is a real pussy way out, especially for a first offense. Also it’s highly ineffective. Don’t do this people. Closing I hope this helps you gain a better understanding of the world of Internet trolls. If you have read this and still don’t believe a word of it then be sure to let me know. I’ll be glad to listen to your claims. Also I’ll make sure to take your name down. I mean really, you’re probably pretty easy flame bait. Newsgroups where you can be reached would be nice too, That way I don’t have to track you down. Also I’d like to throw in a final disclaimer about the examples used in this surrounding Linux. This is not meant to be a Linux troll, though I have used that troll subject several times. Also feel free to re-post this wherever just be sure to keep it’s original content intact and give due credit.