to want people to put a bit of effort into trolling?

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Stick to the story, make it believable and don't be a prat?

I know it's shitty to troll and I hate it but at least make it a decent attempt when you do so!

Sometimes I do want to scream "check Snopes people, check Snopes!"

I regularly post this on FB. People can't be bothered, though - it's more important to appear to be the righteous sharer of life-saving information than to check the veracity of what you're posting.

I think saying things like 'some trolls are funny' isn't great tbh.

Because to trolls, whatever they post is funny. Whether we find it funny or not is irrelevant to them. They think it's funny. It's wrong to validate some trolls for being amusing. And saying 'oh, the good old days when people were funny'? That's just feeding the 'royalty bashers'.

Trolls are shit. All of 'em. Shit.

Think someone has just brought up a 3yr old alter to back them up. Of course I may be wrong. Usually are!

What is rather disconcerting is that the pubzilla troll had apparently screen-shotted messages between herself and various family members which led some to believe that it must therefore be true. I think the trolls are upping their game. But that said, it must take a very bored or disturbed person to go to that sort of effort.

I've been really worried about the poor old retired man sitting on his own wondering why his wedding gift wasn't enough. FFS.

How did it fill an entire thread?! because people kept saying can't you just cancel the cheque. That ceased to be funny pretty quick. but not as unfunny as the follow up thread with nothing but stop the cheque 'jokes'

Why do so many troll threads involve text messages and Facebook messages and posts.

I think trolls think it adds veracity, but as soon as someone starts doing that, it's questionable, surely.

It just reeks of ramping everyone up, fueling the drama and attention. And a real person just wouldn't risk sharing other people's private info.

The Pubzilla thread had a load of FB screen shots, but then she decided to throw Pubzilla's Dad's texts into the mix. Too much (as if it wasn't already).

I believe the term is 'over egging'

Pubzilla and cheque threads have done this in spades!

Yep, the thing with trolls is that they get hooked the attention and ALWAYS go that bit too far to try and keep the shocked responses rolling in and that tips it into implausibility.

Less is more, but they never seem to remember that.

I was once invited to what changed into a troll forum. They were basically making fun of a webpage for Mums. It started as a bit of a fun, as a part of the parenting website were recipes and photographs of cakes. Some recipes were in line of put a ham and cheese into a microwave, melt cheese, add pickles, great dinner for hubby. Cakes were mostly of the "talented amateur" variety but some were atrocious, with dildos, naked women in suggestive poses, copulating couples made from icing.
Of course, few days into existence, trolls started arriving in droves and I left because the sheer maliciousness and depravity was awful. I was trying to imagine those people in real life, how empty someone's life has to be to do this. They were trolling the webpage, posting fake recipes, problems and then had fun discussing them. I was fascinated but I didn't last long, if you are a normal person, you can't even stay there as a passive reader, it just drags you down into a mud. It gave me an interesting insight into their minds though and the understanding that these are absolutely awful scumbags in real life who are too cowardly to fully show their nastiness in real life and embraced the internet as a free playground where they feel invincible.
Don't feed the trolls, no matter how funny they come across. They are scum, the lowest of the lowest. The troll may be funny on one part of a forum but hurt vulnerable people on another one. And then crawl back under the rock to share their experience with other scumbags.

Pubzilla and cheque threads have done this in spades

What about the scone one? I thought that was

What was the scone one Charlie?

Don't feed the trolls

Agreed. But isn't this thread just more troll food?

Another wedding one, all they got to eat was a stale scone. All kinds of outrage.

Well it's stayed on topic for several pages, so I think we're good.

Agreed. But isn't this thread just more troll food?

Everything on the internet is troll food. They latch on just about everything. I know people enjoy some troll posts but my opinion is there are no funny trolls. All of them are nasty, with different degrees of nastiness but it can also be the same person with different personas that it pulls out of the hat as it feels like, be slightly funny here and a total vulture here.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't discuss them. On the contrary, it may help others understand that they are to be recognized and avoided if possible.

If you think this thread might be troll food report it and ask MNHQ.

There's one at the moment about the people left behind when people emigrated and a poster-small disabled mother who can't see a computer screen but is hand writing letters and could see printed photos I think mnhq are moving it to chat for more traffic

there are no funny trolls
Totally agree, it's so easy to spot some of them.