OT:Identifying Internet Trolls

[chunkyfrog]

Guess who I just added to my foe list.
Yep, you guessed right.

[jnk...]

Internet Troll personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, . . .

. . . anyone left in the forum?

I'm way too good to be narcissistic. And I'm sure that in time I could find a way to convince you that I'm not Machiavellian.

[Goofproof]

Maybe we should create an online troll support group, Pugsy.

" My name's Dennis, and I'm a Troll..."

I'll be working on what, exactly, the 12 Steps should be. Get back to you later...

Be sure to partake of the Donuts and Coffee, after our Meeting, go easy on the sugar. Getting hyper isn't on the 12 Step List! Jim

I blame the ISP"s, if it wasn't for them Trolls wouldn't be allowed the internet to play in.

[Zomby Woof]

Maybe we should create an online troll support group, Pugsy.

Be sure to partake of the Donuts and Coffee, after our Meeting, go easy on the sugar. Getting hyper isn't on the 12 Step List! Jim

Donuts and Coffee? Are you Mad?

Last thing we need is over-caffeinated trolls on a sugar high

[kbh209]

Maybe we should create an online troll support group, Pugsy.

Be sure to partake of the Donuts and Coffee, after our Meeting, go easy on the sugar. Getting hyper isn't on the 12 Step List! Jim

Donuts and Coffee? Are you Mad?

Last thing we need is over-caffeinated trolls on a sugar high

Oh sure, blame the coffee and the donuts from first thing in the morning. It's not like the Internet Trolls don't drink soda during the day.

[chunkyfrog]

Mountain Dew?
That brominated vegetable oil is bad enough; but add in the artificial yellow . . .

[kbh209]

Mountain Dew?
That brominated vegetable oil is bad enough; but add in the artificial yellow . . .

I meant Coca-Cola or Pepsi but now that we're on the topic of soft drinks with vegetable oil, I mention Hi-C fruit flavored drinks. It's like the food industry is trying to kill us.

[Lucyhere]

All posters in medical-issue forums are human beings who deserve to be treated with respect. This includes so-called "trolls" and "bullies." If you can't bring yourself to speak respectfully to someone ("troll," bully," or neither), then the best way to be helpful in that instant may indeed be to remain silent.

After all, if you refuse to fight with any posters, then you don't have to worry about ever having to throw around useless labels such as "troll" or "bully."

People who enjoy upsetting other people move on when they find they can't make anyone in a location upset. Posting "don't feed the troll" in a thread is an indication that you are upset and have resorted to name-calling, which thrills and rewards the person trying to cause others to be upset.

Continuing to be silent or to post with respect when someone else is attempting to upset others can be a way to uphold one's own reputation and to make it clear to those with authority in the forum who it is that is attempting (ideally, unsuccessfully) to cause disruption.

The old adage of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything" applies equally in all threads and with all posters, not just threads in which someone seems to be exhibiting what you consider to be trolling behavior.

The point is, if you do post, Don't feed disrespect. Don't feed disruption. Do your best to be helpful. To all. Then you can simply go about focusing on your business here while safely ignoring all labels others tend to put on other human beings, such as "bully" or "troll."

These principles can work equally well inside OR outside Internet forums and makes "identifying trolls" or "calling out bullies" a completely irrelevant waste of time. These skills are taught to those in responsible positions who are held responsible for how they interact with members of the public. Those skills can save lives.

In my opinion. Which is not posted to cause disruption. And, as always, I welcome calm disagreement with my positions.

Oh, Jeff... you are quite the optimist. How many more times are you going to find ways to say the same thing; with the same people having no clue what you are even talking about?

[jnk...]

quite the optimist

Some name-calling is OK.

How many more times

Until I get banned?

[palerider]

sanity

How many more times are you going to find ways to say the same thing; with the same people having no clue what you are even talking about?

How *deliciously* ironic.

[katestyles]

Posting "don't feed the troll" in a thread is an indication that you are upset and have resorted to name-calling, which thrills and rewards the person trying to cause others to be upset.

Continuing to be silent or to post with respect when someone else is attempting to upset others can be a way to uphold one's own reputation and to make it clear to those with authority in the forum who it is that is attempting (ideally, unsuccessfully) to cause disruption.

In a recent thread where I was staying silent, I did post "don't feed the trolls".

I was not upset. I was trying to use a colloquial, recognizable phrase to beg people not to keep up the back-and-forth of a pointless thread.

Perhaps next time I will post "keep off the grass" and people will know what I mean.

[Jay Aitchsee]

Perhaps next time I will post "keep off the grass" and people will know what I mean.

Or perhaps not post at all

oops

[jnk...]

Posting "don't feed the troll" in a thread is an indication that you are upset and have resorted to name-calling, which thrills and rewards the person trying to cause others to be upset.

Continuing to be silent or to post with respect when someone else is attempting to upset others can be a way to uphold one's own reputation and to make it clear to those with authority in the forum who it is that is attempting (ideally, unsuccessfully) to cause disruption.

In a recent thread where I was staying silent, I did post "don't feed the trolls".

I was not upset. I was trying to use a colloquial, recognizable phrase to beg people not to keep up the back-and-forth of a pointless thread.

Perhaps next time I will post "keep off the grass" and people will know what I mean.

To be clear: Feel free to post what you want. I have no authority here. (Or anywhere else, for that matter. ) I was only explaining an approach that seems to work for me personally at the moment.

Do what works for you.

[Pugsy]

In a recent thread where I was staying silent, I did post "don't feed the trolls".

I was not upset. I was trying to use a colloquial, recognizable phrase to beg people not to keep up the back-and-forth of a pointless thread.

Perhaps next time I will post "keep off the grass" and people will know what I mean.

I knew what you were trying to do. I have done the same thing for the same reason at times. More so in the past than recently because I learned a while back that people either don't see that they are feeding the troll or they simply like engaging the troll and my plea falls on deaf eyes. Sometimes I have been upset but most of the time not so much upset. Just tired of the crap throwing that goes along with it.
I am tired of ducking. A couple of people having a rather heated "discussion" about something or other isn't usually too disruptive and will almost always die out rather quickly if the 2 people are the only ones involved...
The problem is people see a a fight over anything and they just have to get in the middle of it and all that does is add fuel to the fire and instead of a small easily contained fire we have a massive out of control wild fire that sucks all the oxygen out of the forum air and makes it a not so good place to try to live.

People shouldn't do stuff to feed the fire but people do...either unintentionally or intentionally because some people just feel so righteous and "right" that they just HAVE to say something and/or get the last word in. They want to make their sole purpose in life to be the forum morality police but it's not their job and they just don't care if they are feeding the fire or troll or whatever a person wants to call the disruptive behavior and in doing that behavior actually become more of a problem than what they are bitching about. They just seem to HAVE to try to legislate how the Goodman's want to run the forum because they see it as their calling in life. Pretty sad when all I see from some people here is bitching about someone instead of actual helping someone.
Oh...they will tell you that there is a problem with so and so then try to get Johnny to try to change the rules in his sandbox because they don't like Johnny's rules or lack of rules as they see it...and here we go again with another out of control wild fire that just stinks up the forum atmosphere. They become part of the problem instead becoming part of the solution and they either just can't see it or simply don't care because they are "right" in their own little minds.

To Everyone.....

Johnny chooses to allow minor small fires from heated discussions...no one is going to get Johnny to change his core beliefs no matter how much any of us here want to find fault with those beliefs. He hates censorship in any form and will only resort to it when he absolutely has no choice which is usually after the wild fire has become huge and way out of control and sucking the life out of the forum.

Recently we had a real arsonist here who repeatedly kept starting more fires just because he liked to start fires. Call him a troll or arsonist or just an asshole...doesn't really matter what we call him...he was sucking the air/life out of the forum a lot more than a minor spat between just 2 people ever could harm the forum. It didn't really matter if anyone was feeding him or not....he brought along enough food to sustain him for the duration even without anyone feeding him.

Time to move on folks....stirring up the embers from that wildfire accomplishes nothing that helps the forum...but it could potentially hurt the forum. Is that what you really want to do here????
Do you think that one last word about how you feel the forum is being run is going to end the dictatorship.....news flash...it won't change anything. Like it or not...Johnny gets to make the ultimate decisions here and if you don't like it...time to find another sandbox that you do like.

[prodigyplace]

IOW,

"Nothing to see here, move along".