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?

I am quite partial to the plimsole troll.

I’m so surprise at the twin thing I’m a mum of twins and mainly lurk but i do post occasionally for advice.

We refer to them as twin 1 and twin 2 as this is how they are referred to by all health professionals through out our pregnancy and since my twins were born. Also we are not going to post their actually names on MN.

My twins are one, I do worry about autism as my almost 1 year old twins are not meeting their milestones, which is common in twins as they often have delays for various reasons and are often born premature.

My family do live 200 miles away and my partner and I do not have any support.

I’m also skint until pay day.

So I have pretty much checked in on all the boxes on your troll list 😂 however my partner is an excellent dad and partner so at least we have that.

Despite all of that I’m not a troll but not so sure I’m confident in posting and requesting advice in the future.

I’ve had a thread reported where pp believed I was troll before (after a name change) as I was trying so bloody hard to disguise and change facts to stop being outed.
Luckily MNHQ believed me and the thread wasn’t pulled as the advice really helped. However some commenters were really quite horrible and upset me (not accusing me directly of being a troll but with their questions back).
It was quite a sensitive subject tho! In the future am just gonna use MN for “lighter” advice and questions and anything more serious (hoping there isn’t anything!) on more specific forums

I'm glad the abortion clinic one was a troll. I did have a feeling about that.

The one last night about the cleaner seemed odd too. Massive debts but refusal to discuss how they'd been acquired

Sometimes I wish the 'oh you're all too mean' posters that defend obvious trolls would come back and admit they were wrong. Of course that would make it a TAAT and it would be deleted but it would be satisfying to see them acknowledge other posters were correct to be harsh/cynical.

@PRILK

Not all threads that are deleted are actually trolls.

I've spoken (over the phone) to about a handful of people who have threads deleted as PBPs or trolls and they're genuine. I've not just spoken to them once...but on a few occasions... so definetly not trolls. Genuine people with problems.

One was recent and she was really upset by it.

I go in half-expecting it to be a troll or goady fucker thread when it's obviously a loaded topic title. I say what I have to say and try not to get too sucked in or invested that way I'm not disappointed when they get deleted. I'm sort of getting a feel for wording and patterns that set my trolldar off - posters who argue black is white and keep n doing so no matter how many posters tell them they're wrong, those who refuse to give straight or even any answers to awkward questions, put in massive drip feeds and are really OTT in their unreasonableness are a dead giveaway. I've been one of the ones who've been accused of being too harsh or mean to OPs who've later turned out to be trolls - it is nice to be right especially about the abortion one even if I can't say I told you so to the posters who had a go at me.

What does it matter if it's a troll? somebody will get something from it if you post in good faith and from the heart.

As for too salacious or far-fetched - plenty of people's my lives are just so awful it beggars belief. So no I don't think a very dramatic story automatically makes it a troll.

I don't think you can have a troll radar tbh. I don't think it matters anyway.

It bothers me though because genuine people who could do with a bit of advice are put off posting, when mn is at its best it can work wonders, and the trolls have no concern about the potential harm they could do when it comes to some of the subjects they post about - general he said she said stuff is 🙄, but when it’s a sensitive subject then i do find myself thinking ODFOD

It bothers me when people are prompted to remember what might have been one of the worst day of their lives and offer advice to someone about how that day could have been even worse (e.g the abortion thread) when it's just for someone elses fun.

It has taken me years of being on MN to spot trolls. And I still get sucked in occasionally.

Some people find it easy but it took me a long time.

One thing I learned recently is that if it involves twins (or twin pregnancy), poo, or talking about a developing teenage body or what your first sexual experience was like (if you were a teen) it’s likely that it’s a troll.

Was the cleaner / end my marriage lady a troll??

I suspect every golliwog thread is trolling. Where the OP innocently asks if it’s racist or not as if they’ve being living in a remote village in the Amazon from birth. Then the predictable furore ensues. It’s embarrassing how so many people get sucked in by them. I just hide them, no point waiting for the inevitable MN deletion message.

Sexual ones involving kids always raise my suspicions but what surprises me is the sheer number of people ready to engage by telling stories about their own kids. It’s strange.

The one about the DH and the cleaner made me go . If you were that skint that you couldn’t afford milk why would you have the second kid so close to the first and if you’re working standard office hours, how can your house be that messy and why would you not listen to ANY of the advice given?? I was half expecting the OP to post her bank account details. Although to be fair it could’ve been true and the OP was just bad at making decisions including listening to good advice so I’m still 50/50 on that one.

Then sometimes the troll calls are wrong - the young mum whose story was determined to be false until she was on OBEM

The troll the other day who was pregnant and had a 9 month old was pretty obvious to me especially after claiming all day that she did not want another baby a million times but then got a scan the same day only to find out she was 16 weeks pg with a girl and was over the moon.
But posters still gushed and congratulated her. 🙈🙈

Come on people, that would not happen in the real world.

What does PBP mean? Honestly not a troll, still finding my MN feet..!

Previously banned poster

SandyY2K you have spoken to several women, who have been banned but not trolls?

Do you track them down? Why would you do this? Also be aware that speaking to someone a couple of times, or being really upset doesn't mean anything.

I have twins. Iirc, 1 in 8 pregnancies starts off as twins, but only 1 in 80 pregnancies goes to term with twins - I know so many people, who told me they lost a twin, but gave birth to the other one. Why are twins trolling?

One also has been in specialist provision for 20 years; half the children and young people, she has been with at school/college/residential care have autism. We always talked to her friends, and their parents - I've come across so many, who went undiagnosed with autism and SEN in general for years. So, why is autism trolling?

Obviously non trolly people have twins. But ime on MN, twins is a sure way for a troll to gain a lot of attention quick as is a child that is potentially very poorly along with quite a few other subjects.

The twin troll will find out they're pregnant and within a very short space of time find out its twins and then there will be untold drama through the pregnancy often delivering very early.

It’s not that people with twins are often trolls.

It’s rather that trolls often use twins as attention seeking story to gain interest.

And they tend to write posts where they are obviously unreasomable and then drip feed a massive piece of info as soon as the thread doesn't go 'their way'.

I was reading this as I very rarely post but did last night and got accused of being a troll by one and warned by another that I would be considered a troll by page 2. I hoped to read this and see where I went wrong, but I don't think I fit any of the 'spot a troll' points.
I think some people are always but suspicious, terrified of being taken for a fool (on an anonymous forum!), I hate falling for a troll but sometimes real life can be a bit odd so it can be hard to judge, I just avoid the ones I see as obviously goady.

There have been a few threads recently about having prostitutes as neighbours. In one case, the prostitute was opposite and the OP claimed men were coming out “zipping up their trousers” at all hours. The other one claimed the prostitution was in the flat upstairs, had a child and the OP could hear loud BDSM sessions, yet was unsure whether to contact SS! These threads are always keen to emphasise the point that “prostitution is legal”, “there is nothing you can do,” etc. On cue, there will be posters claiming to be members of the police who confirm that they would turn a blind eye. The implication is always that anyone who would have a problem with sex work on their doorstep is hysterical and uptight, boring middle-class prude. Probably what they perceive the average Mumsnetter to be! Then, again on cue, come the so-called “happy hookers” keen to explain in great detail why they love their work. The details become more “juicy” and the supposed sex workers keen to point out that the men they take money from are”just normal, lovely men,” “just like your husbands”, “1 in 10 men are at it,” “how would you ever know,” etc. It’s not just trolling with an agenda, but there is also a lot of sock-puppeting going on, I suspect. For a start, why would a twenty-year old prostitute, apparently having a whale of a time with 10 men a day, be posting on MN, of all places?
I agree with PPs, that if you suspect a poster could be getting sexual gratification from the thread, just hold back and don’t feed it!

I hoped to read this and see where I went wrong, but I don't think I fit any of the 'spot a troll' points.

Honestly, whilst I am sure you aren't a troll given your posting history. You post from last night, ticked loads of troll boxes. I am sure you can see that.