Troll Alert: do you folks think what I think of today's posts?
Troll's purpose is to be given more credibility than (s)he really
deserves, and to suck people into useless, pointless, neverending,
emotionally draining ranting discussions full of verbal loops
and "word labyrinths", playing people against each other, hurting
their feelings, and wasting their time, emotional energy and this
website's bandwidth. This is a real bully online.
Here is link to an article that, in my opinion, contains a key to
better understanding of some posts that appeared today on this forum:
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm << What is a troll?
The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in
essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your
expense. There are two main types of trolls:
people who are psychologically disturbed, and seek to feel good by
making other list members feel bad. This is a sort of "psycho troll",
whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. In
this respect, they are no different to the sorts of people we meet in
everyday life who are disturbed - some of them are easy to spot, and
others aren't. Such people may even use their real names on the
internet, and they may not even realise that they are "trolling"
because it is all subconscious.
people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they create
personae that you think are real, but they know is fictitious.
The rest of this web page concentrates on the second type of troll.
The Game of Trolling
Trolling is like playing chess - there is a point to the game, and
that point is to win. Unlike chess, though, there are various ways of
winning for the internet troll. These might include:
-gaining credence for false and invidious ideas
-driving bona fide list members, and/or particular groups, out of the
mailing list
-dominating the list with messages/posts that they have generated
-gaining recognition or an award for their trolling from fellow
trollers
-getting reprimanded by individuals, list managers or internet
authorities
-gaining the confidence, trust and support of bona fide list members
-distracting list members from their own bona fide discussions or
objectives.
-gaining attention that they cannot get using their real
personalities
Sometimes trolls operate alone, and sometimes they operate in groups,
but for all of them trolling is a game. There are newsgroups and
mailing lists that are dedicated to trolls, for them to exchange
techniques and to plan concerted campaigns where they can invade
internet mailing lists. Trolls have no concern for the feelings of
the people with whom they deal. They are often manipulative, clever
and approach their trolling with the same degree of planning and
research as those seeking financial gain, or the same competitiveness
as a serious chess player. For those familiar with Transactional
Analysis (the psychological theory of real-life game playing) there
are many parallels with the activities of trolls: there are many
games, with different types of payoff and different tactics.
Trolling can be played at various levels...
Level one - "Playtime" - This is where the troller is simply out for
the gratification provided by a quick "win". An example of this might
be to join a list with a fictitious name, cause an argument, withdraw
and then boast to friends about what he/she had done. Such trolls are
relatively easy to spot because their attack or provocation is fairly
blatant, and the persona is fairly two-dimensional.
Level two - "Tactical" - This is where the troller takes the game
more seriously, creates a credible persona with which to provoke the
list, and uses recognised techniques or tactics to gain the
confidence and support of individuals on the list. Provocation is
subtle and invidious, so spotting this type of troll is not easy,
because the persona is credible, and off-list email exchanges have
caused you to believe that this person is genuine and trustworthy.
Level three - "Strategic" - This is a very serious form of game,
involving the production of an overall strategy that can take months
or years to develop. It can also involve a number of people acting
together in order to invade a list. Once a list is infested, it can
be nigh impossible to work out who is a troll and who is bona fide.
Level four - "Domination" - This is where the trollers' strategy
extends to the creation and running of apparently bona-fide mailing
lists. In such circumstances, their payoff may be the knowledge that
they are dominating the emotional lives of list members, and is
perhaps one of the ultimate forms of deceit that can be achieved.
It should be noted that trolling games are not restricted to the
internet. Their tactics can also include contacting people in real
life using snail-mail and/or telephone. The boundaries between real-
life con-men and internet trolls are not as clear as they used to be.
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 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.
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
stupidity to incite being ignored when people see a post and know
what you're up to."
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.
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.
