Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt01534)

I've been thinking about what's been happening on the list and came across a
good web page on trolling lore at



http://www.searchlores.org/trolls.htm



I'll paraphrase some of the materials below. Note that the words are
abstracted from the web page. They are not an exact quote nor are they my
words, but give a simple summary of the interesting materials therein. We
should all think about it some and then consider if we've seen any evidence
of such activity on theos-talk these past few months.



Eldon



---- from the webpage:



There are many types of individuals interested in disrupting the flow of
messages in a mailing list.



A TROLL posts messages intended to insult and provoke. For each person that
responds, the troll considers that person "caught." The troll feels
successful if he or she has disrupted beyond repair the normal traffic of
the list. In extreme cases, trolls are posted by groups of trollers
attempting to destroy the list by flooding them with frames and off-topic
ranting.



A KOOK is a regular poster that continually posts messages with no apparent
grounding in reality. Kooks will often build up elaborate imaginary support
structures, and continue to act if they are real even after their falsity
has been documented in public. While appearing harmless and ignored by
regular participants in a list, they still cause problems because newcomers
are misled by them.



A FLAMER contributes nothing but uninformative ad hominem bickering,
specializing in name calling.



A SHILL posts messages as a spokesperson or front for an unseen group or
organization, usually at odds with the topics being discussed. Shills
destroy the balance of free discussion and degrade the level of information
exchanged. Shills succeed only as long as they fool people, being like con
artist.



Trolls consider their effort successful if (1) their names appear in
killfiles, (2) a majority of threads in the invaded list are started by
them, (3) regulars and legit participants abandon the invaded list, (4) they
and the list owners receive much hate mail, and (4) they have to be
reprimanded by the list owners.



The characteristics of a troll are: (1) They have lots of free time and are
mostly lonely people. (2) They ingratiate themselves to a person or two in
the list and use them to stay in the list. They protest with these "friends"
that their right to free speech is being curtailed. (3) They sometimes use
fake identities to sustain or inflame their position. At times, the ids are
anagrams or similar to the troll tame. A troll may engage in artificial
conversations with himself or herself. They draw unsuspecting do-gooders
into the fray as they come to the defense of the "attacked fellow" (the
troll). We should suspect contributors appearing out of nowhere using highly
inflammatory or gratuitously insulting language.



When a list has too much bickering among the regular participants, a troll
can run rampant and it is only a matter of time before the list
disintegrates. Trolls flood lists with inappropriate material in an effort
to suppress discussion they don't want taking place.



The best method to deal with a troll is to never answer their postings.
"Please do not feed the troll." The whole point of trolling is to have you
react. That enrages them. By not reacting, you have completely defeated
their purpose in life. The five easy rules are: (1) don't read posts from or
about trolls. (2) Don't read email from or about trolls.. (3) If you cannot
resist reading, don't respond. (4) If you cannot resist responding, do it by
private email and not posting to the list. (5) If you must post to the list,
add the troll's nickname to the subject line so that other readers can know
to avoid reading your post.



In the case of shills, boldly counterattack them. Debunk them and discover
the group or industry they are working for. That will reverse the damage
they have caused.







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