Trolls

[SilverOldie2]

This is sort of about another thread, but not a specific one. AIBU to say that I simply cannot understand what people get out of coming on here and starting a thread which pulls on people's heartstrings when it is completely false. I've seen posters opening their souls on some threads where they are concerned for the OP and can't imagine how devastated they must feel when they discover that it was all a fake.

I'm not talking about those who post something so outrageous or funny, you sort of know it's not true and can have fun with it

Can there be any acceptable reason why they do it? Have you ever trolled and if so why? What the hell do they get out of it? I just do not understand.

Please give me a hint, Dixie

Probably not though, I hope.

Oh, definitely not involved in that then, phew. I confess to poking on a trivial thread elsewhere though, but only with a combatant who appears to enjoy the sport.

I've reported a poster twice tonight for personal attacks and absolutely nothing has been done about them, posts are still there, so what is the point?

As Maryz says if you dare mildly question an outrageous OP you are immediately deleted and warned, be a nasty piece of work and hey who cares, MNHQ clearly don't.

Report, report we love reports say MNHQ, all well and good but the lack of urgency and consistency in dealing with them makes a complete mockery of that statement.

It's not lots of trolls though, is it? I'm quite sure I see the same ONE over and over.

It was an innocuous thread in Chat Maryz, totally uncalled for and against the overall tone of the thread.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you say in your post, I wish MNHQ would too.

Trolls are despicable, and should not be left to stand.

However troll hunting is also foul, especially with such vitriolic fevour that can be seen on here rather too often. Not everyone of course, but such It's 'state sanctioned bullying' should never ever be excusable. Its a shame it's seen as a badge of honour among some people.

I think it's horribly cruel to see a distressed and vulnerable poster lyched. And the excuse that they might be a troll is not enough solace to repair the terrible damage such group efforts at this hounding does.

Are these people not allowed to same rights to post as others? Are these people supposed to just suck it up when they are already distressed and raw? Apparently yes, and they don't get apologies, or kindness, they get blame and cruelty. Under see the guise of "I'm justified in hurting someone because once I got hurt on another thread".

I don't know what can be done to get people to behave in a civilised and empathetic manner. But whatever it is, I wish it would be done.

I take a very low maintenance approach to threads that seem to be goady or looking for a reaction. For example there were at least 3 threads on the same day! Like bloody buses, where the OPs circumstances were so extreme that quite frankly they need RL support and it's futile trying to fix their situation. expect g an instant result doesn't happen, they need to take control of their situation and it's just awful reading it if they are genuine

So its 1 or 2 posts max, with something helpful/supportive then I walk away, otherwise I'd want to keep going g back on the thread and feel increasingly frustrated at the updates which can get more and more outrageous or depressingly awful. Things like my DP has half a million stashed in his account and I have nothing but I'm bringing up our child and having to live off tuppence ha'pha'penny a week. Or my DP sits on his backside all day and refuses to lift a finger to help, so I do absolutely everything round the house. In general there is no way those OPs will actually want or be ale to change things, even if MNers give great advice.

For the increasing number of similar threads I have to walk away before getting sucked into a vortex of feeling guilty because I'm abandoning a needy poster who maybe a troll or genuine, or feeling irritated at them treating us like idiots by drip feeding new info which may be made up. over investment is the hook the trolls want, because they know that people want to help and can't easily detach.

The steady supply of new MNers enrolling onto the site means there's always someone new who doesn't have their trolldar tuned into the setting marked "bollox"

In short, trollhunting is indeed like whack a mole. Walking away is self preservation. Reporting is also like whack a mole.

I really don't like harming moles even if they bugger up the garden a bit

Great post, miscellaneous. I am neither gullible not soft, and obviously see the need for there to be s resolution to the scourge that is trolls and the damage they do, but hate hate hate, the slaughtering that some posters take under the guise of 'warning others' or 'questioning their believability'. There has to be a happy medium between the two.

I think it is hard. I have watched a vile vile troll stomp all over the boards at 2am in the morning. There was no one around to deal with it as it was before the days of the night watch. The only thing that could be done was to post that it was someone who was deliberately being nasty and something supportive on a thread that I probably would have avoided if the troll have not been vile. Equally I have done this with a poster who was stomping over the behaviour development deliberately trying to make posters feel bad and that they needed the advertisement being posted. It is not something I like to do, but in a few cases it really is the only solution.

HQ are often too slow to respond, it is easy to figure out when this that should be removed are left for too long. This is exploited. The night staff did improve things BUT not enough and there is a lot that needs doing to sort out the trolls. New and fresh posters to the site will not be aware that this has a different mod setup to other sites, so are more vulnerable.

But it has got to the point where the site is almost unusable. GF, troll, bun fight, , troll, GF, GF, again?, troll, bun fight. And it is time to consider moving on. There is little left of the wit and sarcasm and fun that was. You would never see a whole thread about the hole in the mn time space continuum these days. Let alone several. :(

While I've got loads of experienced posters here - what are the rules on TAATs? Are you allowed to name the threads they're talking about? I may have just broken a rule if not...

Generally it is considered bad form, but it often so obvious that there is no need to name. Naming the original thread that it is about will generally get the thread deleted. There have been exceptions. TAATs in general are considered bad form. Deviations more acceptible.

Which is probably as clear as mud

I stop posting if the reasonable advice is being ignored or dissed by the OP. I call them "Yeah buts", cause whatever you suggest they will respond with "Yea but..." and then proceed to tell you that they cannot possibly follow that advice for a variety of reasons. So basically they aren't really looking for any help at all, they just want attention.

There are a couple of threads at the moment where the OP has been given an absolute kicking for no apparent reason. Really, really nasty responses totally disproportionate with the subject matter.

I can't stand this place when it gets like that.

My trolldar is definitely improving. I bloody replied on that 7 year old bath one then realised it sounded like bullshit so reported. Now I feel a bit sick that I shared something that may have helped a sicko get off on it.

A couple more I did report are apparently fine so I may have been wrong on them, however they just didn't read right. I think I've accurately got a few this week though which is far more than I ever have so either they are getting stupider or I am getting better at spotting them, or more likely I'm a lot more suspicious these days.

The pregnant woman bathing with her sister was so obviously a troll it was embarrassing. Really poor quality trolling.

I agree Maryz - it's hard to stop spotting them now, and now that I'm paying attention, I agree that it is awful watching people get invested in something that doesn't look remotely real.

However without more community moderators (not without problems) I can't see the solution either: hiding threads automatically after X reports would just get a new form of trollery, with dedicated troll setting up X accounts to batter down posts on their favourite subject.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of an icon showing "X number of posters have hit the spam button". You'd still get the problem above but it would self-moderate more ... Or maybe not. Argh!