Is it just me or AIBU to feel paranoid at recent number of troll posts? ^Thanks^ media press!

[bimbedybam]

Just don't know who and what to believe anymore on here.

Report anything you are not sure off. MNHQ can then make the decision.

of.

It gets worse on the run up to Christmas.

and summer holidays.

errr...why?

But Pancake, they are here ALL the bloody time. Stupid trolls. We just tend to write it off as "oh, its half term", "Ah yes, Xmas is here obviously", or "It's a full moon".

Look closely. They are here to stay. [wibble]

Yeah, it's often like this.

Summer holidays brings all the bored kids. Christmas brings the begging bowls and any significant media coverage brings in the wankers.

I think it's best to give the benefit of the doubt while protecting yourself. So if something is painful then don't expose yourself. If you can't afford to throw a tenner away, don't paypal it to a first time poster who's dog died on the same day as their mum became ill and the kids got diagnosed with scurvy and the electric got cut off and the chimney fell down and a portal to the seventh dimension of hell opened up in the cupboard under the stairs.

We are now too big for our own shoes now. We attract the freaks.
Summer hols is posts like "I got pregnant sitting on some loo paper".
December is "the cat ate the new Xbox what will we do? Anyone got a free one?"

who's?

Oh the shame.

Terribly sorry, chaps.

yeah, I get those ones Pancake...

but is there such a thing as "low level" trolling? They are more disturbing tbh...

The low level ones need help.

What makes a person suspicious of how genuine a thread is?
Are there some set tell-tale clues????

you mean the long-gamers? totally fake persona ones? Yeah, they exist. I agree with pancake that it's more likely they are people who genuinely need help, rather than being your common garden arseholes.

Yes do tell. I've never knowingly spotted a troll & would like to know how.

Havent seen any recently, which perhaps means I might have fallen for them?

They are easily spotted by no further reply IMO...

Strange I put this on AIBU but no-one has actually answered that?

I don't want cash but I would appreciate help on the under stairs cupboard score, ta.

Agree. Still upset about those who dont think nail vanish damages nails... Sorry will have a glass of wine and not think about my 3 year education and 11 years experience trying to get the best for my patients....(am trying to grow thicker skin)

The great thing about MN is the regular, known posters.
I am hopeless at spotting trolls and use to go head first into giving too much info and of myself. Regular posters spot the trolls and give the more naive ( me ) a gentle hint that all is not as it seems.
I am usually ' what ' not again! but this gives me time to re-evaluate my input.
Yes they are always right !!!

Why worry about them?
Mostly they only post the opening goady thread.

A cautionary tale:

On another forum, there was a poster whose 4 year old daughter had some pretty severe health problems and was in and out of hospital. Over the months we got to know her pretty well, and when one of the mods (who lived nearby) had a stroke of good luck, getting a teddy bear for free, she immediately thought of this poor little 4 year old. She asked the mum for the name of the hospital and set off to hand the teddy over in person. When she got there, there were no children with that name, or indeed fitting the description of the little girl. When the mod tried to contact the mum in case there had been a mix up (such as mum changing the little girl's age for privacy reasons), the mum refused to answer, choosing instead to PM other members asking why the mod was picking on her. The mod had no choice but to ban the 'mum' and put out a statement explaining why. And the mod was so sickened by the whole episode, and the fact that we had been taken in for months by this sick individual, that she left the site. I can't remember what happened to the bear in the end.

Basically, take EVERYTHING with a huge pinch of salt.

I can't tell who is real either .

Sometimes long term well known posters flip their toodle and hoodwink everybody.

I've known the sick in hospital one and the boyfriend posting.

The long respected member who made up a girlfriend and pming a lot of us on how to please in bed.. then going missing worrying everybody.

The dead daughter by another long standing member.

The disabled dog who needed wheels for his back legs which people donated for

I could go on depressingly.

Point is we can never know properly anybody on an Internet forum. It's a lot easier to chase a new troll type..than mentally deal with somebody who you've 'known' for years I still miss a fair bit but some are easy to spot quite quickly.

Just part and parcel of forums sadly.