To wonder how to spot a troll so I don't keep investing my time?

[PRILK]

It's not time, really, just emotional responses.

This is the 3rd thread since joining that has been deleted. It's extremely frustrating.

How do you spot these trolls?

Can MN not track their IP and block it if they're repeatedly making new accounts?

It’s worse during school holidays.

There was a particularly gross one the other day about a woman who had a 9 month old son and had found out she was pregnant again. She went into some detail about the fantasies that she had of harming the baby she was pregnant with. She was absolutely adamant she didn't want it and lots of people gave her lots of good advice and then she miraculously had a scan and had a massive turn around about having the baby. Up to that point I have believed it because I didn't think that anyone could be so sick as to troll about antenatal depression and harming an unborn baby.

The one about the cleaner doesn't say that it's says as op hasn't been back.

Experience and general cynicism is how I spot them. Nobody spots them all but the more you see the more you recognise.

The most obvious ones on mn are the ones who write about children and sexual topics. Then it's children and bodily functions. Just stop and think "could this be written by someone with a sexual interest in children?" then wait. Don't contribute until you are certain they're genuine. Affairs and using sex workers is another fave because it gets people frothing. It's amazing how quickly a troll can go from "I think he's cheating" to having identified 18 years worth of texts with a prostitute, 17 trips to a fetish club and a secret life and a divorce done and dusted in less time than it takes to cook the dinner! Any potentially "triggering" topic is something you should think twice about before you contribute.

Sometimes they're perfectly harmless and bit of fun and other times they're anything but. If in doubt just use the report function, hide the thread and move on. Do not become overly invested in stuff you read on the Internet.

People need to be more wary. On the abortion thread, posters were suggesting giving the op money for a babysitter. You can’t trust anyone on the internet.

🙄
The thing is, there is almost always a solution that can be found that doesn’t involve strangers transferring money on the internet.

For example, I went to have a coil fitted with a tiny baby. One of the healthcare assistants watched her while I had it done, and I sat in reception for a while afterwards (had money and support - just the way it fell!)

Social services will often arrange a temporary care placement if a woman is going in to hospital to give birth for example, and has no one.

When people don’t acknowledge good advice or come up with a counter argument for everything it should raise alarm bells.

I feel you rang a termination clinic and explained the situation, I’m sure they could help, even if it means going in a separate entrance and a staff member watching the baby.

I've given up even trying to spot them. I mean, the amateur historian with the Victorian house?? Who would think to troll that? Like a plonker I reported it from concern for the nonexistent septuagenarian in Australia, and then got a message from Mumsnet saying they thought it looked OK and would be letting it stay up.

Then they took it down, guess they can't spot them either.

That house one seemed fake to me from the first post as the message she had supposedly got was really unlikely. Then further confirmed by refusal to take comments on board and by further comments designed to wind posters up.

detdet That one went because a few of us reported it aa the OP became increasingly snappy (and had only been on MN a week)
The reply I had back from MN was that thr OP was repeatedly ignoring everyone's advice, being rude and then disappeared so they decided it was best to pull the thread.

Threads that have real time updates, an assortment of colourful supporting characters with nicknames all waiting to applaud as the OP heroically cuts the CF down to size are usually bollocks.

Also ridiculous drip feeds. There is a current thread where every drip feed is more extreme and would certainly have been in the opening post were it true.

Sometimes story will be a thinly veiled fetish fantasy and be solely focused on wee/poo/nappies/raincoats/UGG boots....

As a general rule, if I’ve commented on it it probably is!
I’m also a pretty good thread killer so imagine you won’t get many more replies, sorry

Lets not give all the detection methods away.

Speed.
Most of them give it away by being in too much of a rush with the juicy updates.

Trolls like a reaction though, so they wouldn’t want to fly under the radar.
That’s why if they do a seemingly OK OP with reasonable responses they start to drip feed or act goady.

And usually you can give trolls a good poking as well and they'll tend to bite back with things that make no sense or are way too angry/emotional.

Its usually quite obvious, you can generally tell from the text...if its someone pretending to be a woman/man/teen/ would they talk like that? The word ladies/mummies/mommies usually makes me think.

Around election time there are usually quite a few that are sob stories around the important points of the campaigns and there are a currently a few that have clearly been started or re-ignated by political anti-brexiteers to stir up angst. So its not always bored idiots who post.

There is one currently that is written by a man, pretending to be a woman - 21.

@PRILK

"This is the 3rd thread since joining that has been deleted. It's extremely frustrating."

Only 3...did you join last week? 🤔

My experience of trolls:
The OP joins to start a thread about school uniform or school shoes. Resents paying ££££ for the official uniform / smart shoes (don't we all?) and wants to know if it's OK to send her pre-teens / teenagers to secondary school in a sweatshirt and a pair of plimsolls / fake Vans / fake Uggs.

Having seen at least a dozen of these threads, I now know how to spot them. What I don't know is why they do it and what they get out of it.

If anyone says "op is a troll" op will respond "no I'm not"....it's a troll

If anyone says "op is a PBP" op will respond "what's a PBP?" ...it's a PBP aka troll

If anyone says "is this a reverse?" Op will respond "what's a reverse?"...it's a troll

What I don't know is why they do it and what they get out of it.

The uggs person has a fetish and they probably enjoy masterbating to people reading their fake UGGs story.

You can tell fetish ones because they describe the item too much.

Adult baby fetish ones are:

"my 6 son keeps pooping his size 6 Huggies diapers, I've tried to potty train him but he just wants size 6 Huggies diapers."

Then 9 other posts along the same line.

@delphguelph

The footner thread is mine and jeez I'm not a troll.

And another just got taken down, I didn't even get a chance to hit the report button first. 😂

3 since you joined? Ive got 3 today!

Amateur historian - PBP.

Sometimes i pick them and go im commenting just for the deletion note. To prove im right but that one i thought was belivable i guess it got unbelivable when sge said the lady hadnt thanked jer for the article.

I didnt massively get the point of the rauri baby name. Was it jusf to poke fun at gaelic/scots gaelic spellings