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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask what is a 'troll thread'?

44 replies

BallsforEarrings · 07/02/2015 12:43

I've been here for 11 months now and I clearly don't get it? I thought a troll was someone being unecessary spiteful and winding someone up on purpose, yes I know a fair few on here do that but...

Now I am thinking it means that the OP made up the entire thread even if it is about trivia is that right? I know I am naive but that can't be true can it? Why what would they get out of that then it's not even a properly annoying wind up is it? Its just a thread like any other so - why would people?

Can anyone explain?

OP posts:
Pipbin · 07/02/2015 12:46

It is one that is just made up. Sometimes they can be about utter trivia but more worryingly they can be about abusive relationships etc. This can cause people to emotionally invest in the thread thinking that they are helping someone when actually it's all made up.

comeagainforbigfudge · 07/02/2015 12:47

Very unhelpfully posting as I haven't figured it out either!

What are the cues/triggers that make people think troll?

Original poster
BallsforEarrings · 07/02/2015 12:48

Oh thank you Pipbin how strange but I see!

Yes fudge I want to know too how you know - it seems everyone just seems to 'know' but I don't!

OP posts:
Showy · 07/02/2015 12:50

Trolls are not genuine. They want various things. Attention, money, validation, personal info, kicks, thrills, money, shits and giggles.

No point listing how to spot them as you may as well tell them how not to be spotted IYSWIM.

Just never give more of yourself than you can afford to lose.

Original poster
BallsforEarrings · 07/02/2015 12:53

Ah right thank you Showy! Now I know about it I will maybe spot them! It just surprised me I'm a bit naive in some respects!

OP posts:
RumbelowSale · 07/02/2015 13:05

I don't have that mind set either to suss out dodgy claimsConfusedI thought a troll was someone who deliberately takes an existing thread and posts contrary opinions on it to shit stir or at least to launch a fire cracker and sit back..

F'rinstance, and this is totally made up, someone asks for the best way to cope with a tantrum ing toddler (legitimate question).reply, well my mum used to paddle us with a wooden spoon and lock us outside until we calmed down and then a bit more to teach us a lesson... Didn't do us any harm... And then wait for the 'fun' to begin..

I thought that something like that was trolling.

So...the biscuit symbol, does that signify that the poster ain't believing the poster?

Annbag · 07/02/2015 13:10

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at the poster's request.

Showy · 07/02/2015 13:18

No, people being deliberately goady are just twats. Twats can be trolls though. You need a venn diagram tbh.

The biscuit means no comment. Or I am not dignifying that with a response. Or ffs, I've heard some nonsense in my time but that takes the biscuit. Doesn't mean trollery.

cosmicglittergirl · 07/02/2015 13:27

I wanted to ask about this too; I've been reading a few threads that have suddenly vanished and I can't fathom what I've missed. I believe what people say too quickly clearly, but I've only been on MN a few months.

snice · 07/02/2015 13:32

There's a regular supply of troll threads that invite sharing of info to provide wankfodder- to do with poo, pants, pre teen children etc

cosmicglittergirl · 07/02/2015 13:35

Wank fodder?!

snice · 07/02/2015 13:38

Yes, the troll sits at home enjoying reading tales of say times people have wet themselves for example

Pipbin · 07/02/2015 13:42

I think there are a few different types of trolls: teenagers who want to giggle over talk of sex; 20 something men who are threatened by woman and think joining in talk of periods is funny; people who start talk of poo, pre teens etc to get off on; lonely women who want some of the sympathy given out to women in abusive relationships, parents of premature babies etc.
Ultimately there are a lot of odd people out there.

RumbelowSale · 07/02/2015 13:58

Few months here for me too...weird, just weird. And sorting out the twats from the trolls...more Confused than everGrin

Thank you, showy for talking us through all this,tho Flowers much appreciated.

Long-term fantasists, ann, when I got dx with cancer I found a survivors support site, someone there, an oh whose wife had been dx?, posted from her original dx through to her eventual death a couple of years later...

'She' had a child, whom he and his wife took in and brought up...

Actually, when he was exposed, he justified his actions as that of someone who was researching a book and just got carried away with his own fiction?

muminhants · 07/02/2015 14:01

A troll thread is like the one about "what's the fuss about periods and why do you need sanitary protection".

mytartanscarf · 07/02/2015 14:05

Report it then Hmm

Unless the definition of troll has changed to 'no one can ask a question' (and your post above is not what I said!)

Rollonpayday · 07/02/2015 14:17

There was a thread on here recently about someone who thought she was being spied on or something everytime she went in her bathroom at night, funny noises and stuff and possibly peeping tom goings on through the shaving plug socket...???? this thread disappeared too I think, was this a troll then? ....sounds ludicrous too

Annbag · 07/02/2015 14:42

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at the poster's request.

Showy · 07/02/2015 15:04

Threads disappear for all sorts of reasons. MN is a huge and wonderful resource and the sad side of that is the fact that a minority of ill, bored, damaged or spiteful people will post here. You can't go around spotting, challenging or hunting them. You will become inured to the vagaries of life and see damn lies everywhere. Sometimes you will be right. Sometimes you will be wrong. Ultimately, it is you who ends up disaffected.

All you can do is report the obvious and sometimes not so obvious, do not give too much of yourself lest it leaves you the loser in all this and enjoy the funny, beautiful, supportive side of MN.

10 years of posting and sometimes it's tough. Some days you want to scream ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? at the bastards. Mostly though, you learn to walk away.

BertieBotts · 07/02/2015 15:11

You get to know the patterns of troll posters when you have been posting on forums for a long time. They are not just on mumsnet, any forum will have them - DSis told me all about one which used to post on the IMDB message boards!

A good rule of thumb is to never share something that you wouldn't openly share anyway. Don't go off board with support issues (to facebook/email etc), something like an antenatal group you've been chatting with for a long time is OK, or someone you've met in real life is fair game but not as a support thing.

Exercise extra caution when a poster has no history, although trolls can be long standing posters too.

If you start thinking "This doesn't make sense..." that's probably your trolldar pinging. Equally if a story seems too dramatic, it's probably trolldar. Although of course the truth is often stranger than fiction...

snice · 07/02/2015 17:04

Dramatic stories aren't always fake obviously but where there is a fast paced unfolding drama with lots of update posts by the OP you should be suspicious enough to think: 'if this was happening to me would I be posting on the internet or more likely variously calling the police/ talking to medical staff/too ill'

Glittoris · 07/02/2015 17:11

MN is such a vast site that there's always going to be a small bit still sizeable percentage of posters who clearly aren't posting from a happy place.

They might be trying to cajole money out of people. Or they might create a fictitious scenario to win attention and sympathy. They might spitefully target posters who they perceive to have something they envy.

That's why it's wise to keep MN at arms length and not get over invested in threads of overly interested in other posters.

If you find that MN is regularly making you angry or reducing you to tears then it's time to step away from the Internet and get yourself happier in your actual real life. Because if you're happy in your real life chances are that 9/10ths of the shit on here won't get to you.

Glittoris · 07/02/2015 17:19

Spot on snice. When you read posts from parents claiming that their child is being blue lighted to A&E or that their partner has just committed suicide I have to wonder WTAF they are doing typing about it on Mumsnet Hmm

Surely you would far too busy and stressed and just plain zonked to start typing snippets and updates to a bunch of people you don't know. If you're really so distraught and heartbroken how come you can compose tight paragraphs and neatly worded posts and retain a crystal clear working knowledge of what's bee happening on Mumsnet over the past few weeks.

Celticlass2 · 07/02/2015 18:50

I steer clear of therelationship boards. The few times I've had a peek there were threads on there that I would bet any money were made up. lots of attention seeking going on.
I also do not believe in the 'I took an overdose last night' type threads. Really,!! if that really was the case, why would you be posting on an Internet forum??
I Steer clear of threads about sex, pooh, and am very suspicious of people who start threads asking what your job is, or what your name is!
I saw both such threads on here in the last month or so, and could not believe that people actually replied to them giving out such personal Information about themselvesShock

comeagainforbigfudge · 07/02/2015 18:57

if this was happening to me would I be posting on the internet or more likely variously calling the police/ talking to medical staff/too ill

Ah this makes sense. I'm often coming upon threads that I think the above. Will keep all the wee hints and tips in mind.

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