Troll hunting

I have only been affected by one troll in the 3 and half years I have been on here(she had lots of disguises) so they arn't that rife.

Now I'm worried - is thanking bad? I say "thank you" all the time on here. I was on a thread the other day when someone suggested the OP was a troll and I didn't really know what that meant until I read this.

agree TYV....

truth is often stranger than fiction....no way of ever knowing 100% if something (or someone) is for real.....and who really gives a toss..?

the troll hunters are frustrated detectives with too much time on their hands..

i've been here 2 years....have only seen 2 or 3 threads i thought were started by trolls.....i just ignorned them....

you will never stop people trolling on the internet...it's just too easy....

madoldbat Troll!

I think we are forgetting who the bad guys are.

If trolls didn't think it was funny to post about emotive subjects (death, miscarriage, abuse) then this would not be an issue. We would be laughing at the funny trolls with the odd sex addictions and no one would bother to shout anything.

But people have been genuinely hurt by some particularly vindictive trolling this year. And I won't stop saying it is the trolls who are in the wrong and not the hunters (who exist after the fact).

Thanks for that, was starting to wonder...
oh no, must be a troll I thanked you

I think you have to look at what you're hoping to achieve in shouting troll.

If the OP is raising a genuine question, getting good advice, maybe raising an interesting debate - who's being harmed? Does it really matter if they're real? Can we ever really know if anyone on MN is real? Are the people being "sucked in" by their car-crash life any more at risk than the people addicted to and identifying with car-crash East Enders characters, or real MNers with tragic, rollercoaster lives?

If you don't shout troll nobody is really harmed, and some bystanders end up getting good advice.

If you shout troll you risk kicking off a flame war or hurting a real, vulnerable person.

madoldbat, don't be put off. It's a right of passage to have a bad thread. I'm still having them now

I am a relatively new MNer and finally plucked up the courage to say something that had been on my mind for years (MollieO, you were one of those kind enough to respond). It really upset me that almost immediately someone accused me of being a troll which was a term I was completely unaware of at the time apparently for no better reason than I tried to give as much background information as possible and that when people responded I thanked them. It almost seemed to completely negate why I joined ie to have some fun, to talk to like minded people, to share problems and to help others if I can

I have been here mumble mumble (far too long) years. In the last year there has been at least one Troll who has caused harm and is (at least to me) quite obvious in posting style. This person, or persons, often attacks those who recognise them (although rarely on the thread in question) and I feel drained by them. Not because they have ever attacked me, but because it makes me question the support I offer and ask for.

In all of this I never feel any animosity towards the (so called) troll hunters. Because when I have been reading a thread emotively rather than rationally they have often reminded me to be more cautious.

It's trolls I hate.

I want to make that more than clear.

Trolls are always scum, troll hunters may sometimes be wrong.

But in all honesty when a troll hunter cries "Troll!" and the OP replies "No I'm not!" then the OP has usually been genuine.

It's only when the goes undisputed that my (most generous) radar comes online.

Trolls are selfish and egotistical.

Troll hunters are at least trying to do good.

And I also agree with Lenin - I don't believe that shouting troll is actually a deterrent to trolls at all.

They are up for a reaction and a barney - a big argument with lots of shouts of "troll" flying back and forth is probably their idea of heaven.

The only purpose of shouting troll on a sensitive* thread is when you honestly think MNers are being harmed. And even then you can do it politely.

(I say sensitive thread because there are those threads that are just blatantly up for a laugh and barely even pretending to be for real - I'm thinking of the "flick the old bean" one ).

I actually went on a major troll hunt for someone who was putting herself forward as an expert in a certain area and upsetting posters. She wasn't a "troll in hiding" though. She was who she said she was, but it was proved that she had none of the qualifications and experience she said she did. She upset a lot of people. I haven't seen her since.

troll hunters deffo need to get out more....plus no way of knowing the troll hunters arn't occasional trolls.....who would know..?

having been called a troll more times than i can remember it all gets very boring...

this is the internet....there will always be weirdos around....report to MNHQ and let them deal with it..

I agree with the OP.

Troll-hunting is sometimes as nasty and attention seeking as trolling itself, and has the power to do as much harm to a vulnerable poster.

And yet there is so much vitriol directed at potential trolls on account of the potential harm they could be wreaking. And very little criticism of the happy troll-shouters, despite the possibility that they could be kicking vulnerable posters when they are down.

There should be a hierarchy of action if you're suspicious

1. Report to MN. If nothing is done, and you honestly believe people are being sucked in:
2. Post something sensitive like "please remember that this is an internet board and be careful about what you share as you don't know who's reading this"
3. If that doesn't work THEN maybe mention the T word. But there's no need to jump in first off the bat when all that's being offered is helpful advice.

I don't believe that you EVER need to resort to the namecalling and hurtful comments I've seen on some threads. Comparing someone's life to a "bad novel"? How is that ever necessary?

Lenin you put it well. Goes without saying that even if nobody mentioned it on a thread, the OP can generally assume that someone, somewhere is doubting their veracity...and a lot of poeple owned up to having avoided the DM threads for that very reason. So do we compel every member of MN to make a generous and empathic comment on these sensitive threads in order to assuage any worries the OP/troll may have as to their believed status?

I don't disagree about reporting. I don't tend to report unless I see something really nasty on a very sensitive thread that just seems like a blatant personal attack intended to hurt.

perhaps a * as a code could be used if there are suspicions.

Maybe if some-one is new or name changes there could be a * or their name in a different colour so we all know they have recently name changed.

lol at Miss Marple

this isnt RL though

its interacting with complete strangers

if you cant say anything nice and all that...

My brother trolls on certain sites where the posters probably deserve it (fora populated by the BNP for example). He does it to wind them up because he thinks it's funny. Simple as that.

Live webchat with troll is perhaps needed.

If I'm completely honest about it, it isn't the idea of protecting the vulnerable posters of MN that would motivate me to spek out.

It would be the thrill of telling someone who was taking advantage of people to piss off because they had been rumbled.

I really like the idea of exorcising some anger by doing that as well as defeating someone who is, genuinely, just mucking about in order to upset people.

I feel it would help with this whole debate if one of us here understood the motives of a proper troll - I have to admit, I find it really hard to understand, which puts me (and you lot I imagine) at a real disadvantage.