Circular arguments used to "detect" trolls and multiple personalities

[loneparent]

I am new to Mumsnet so perhaps this has all be mentioned N million times before. How do the people who claim to know that person X is a troll or is posting using more than one identity actually know that they are. Apart from an IP addresses check, which are easily faked or changed or both, on the Mumsnet server how can people know the truth of what they claim? Do ordinary users have access to the logs generated? I'm not clear what new users brought in by the recent publicity with the PM are making of all this.

and 4
who gives a fuck

Well i'm not a multiple personality

Well i'm not a multiple personality

Me neither

victorious - rude.

Actually it is a bit of a problem on mn and there is a lot of troll calling at the mo. The fact is there is almost no way to tell. Writing styles, inconsistencies in language/use of acronyms/knowledge of other posters tends to be the giveaway. And no we dont have access to any of that - nor should we have. Its a very busy, very popular forum and needs to remain private.

famished

It happens on pretty much every messageboard I've ever used loneparent.

It's annoying but I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it.

I have to say that I get more irritated by the other old standby; cries of 'I bet you're a lazy journalist fishing for material'.

Both this and 'troll' are often used as the last resort of people wo are losing an argument.

I wonder if it is also a status thing - a way of asserting your own position as a 'proper' member is to be suspicious of any new poster as a default position.

I read your earlier thread about your daughter and did not at all get the impression you were a troll.
There is often no certainty, but when people post v traumatic/outlandish/topics relating to sex (or all 3 together ), eyebrows will be raised. Personally I tend to just not post on those threads, however recently I was involved too.
Remember it is an online forum, don't get offended, and the vipers nest/coven that is MN will embrace you !

Sometimes people will search for previous messages by that poster and discover it's their first post, which rings alarm bells if it's a controversial topic.
However sometimes regular users name change precisely because it's a controversial topic, so it doesn't actually prove anything.

who cares though
you CAN use mn wihtout getting itno any of hte intermainabel troll hunts
ALL THEY WANT is attention
dotn giev it

QED

I posted a little while back about some very traumatic personal circumstances where, amongst other matters I expressed concern about the sexual predelictions of someone I was involved with. I was really upset and close to leaving my family and just wanted a bit of support to help me through. Not only was I repeatedly acused of being a troll but I also discovered that some of the posters were making derogatory comments about me on other threads. If there is anything unusual about your situation or if you dare display a sense of humour then sadly you will get the accusations - it seems to be a game for those with nothing better to do.

I've never once seen anybody cry troll when losing an argument. Trolls don't engage in arguments, they just post stuff then watch the fireworks.

Trolls are easy to spot - they post 'red flag' questions or opinions, then pretend not to understand the replies, or simply ignore them.

I don't know why, but for some reason on MN it is considered rude to 'troll spot'.

I don't think it's rude at all. Trolls take energy and sympathy from well meaning posters then laugh at them so I have no problem with spotting and outing them.

I go by my instincts and I've never been wrong. I often don't shout troll though, as they tend to post very emotive stuff and it makes you look horrid when everybody else is saying 'ooh you poor thing' etc.

Best just to ignore.

veryconfused - i remember you , & fwiw i did not think you were a " troll" , has your situation improved ? i hope it has , you deserve better than x was treating you . x

my, you are a brave one! Only second post on MN and posting on AIBU about Trolls!

Because they're always outed in the end, or they just disappear.

Maybe I should have said I don't think I'm ever wrong - I can't prove it of course.

Even when they are outed people carry on opinionating anyway, it doesn't really matter if it's true or not (unless they want money).

I think it does matter if it's true or not if they've posted an appalling story and people have worried about them, felt bad for them, etc etc.

They've been emotionally 'robbed' imo.

It's interesting. Have they still been emotionally robbed if they don't know it wasn't true?

In my opinion, yes. But I know that some posters think it's all fine. I'm just a bitter old git.

Am also pretty new to MN & sorry for the ignorance, but what IS a troll? Have been wondering for some time now but didn't like to ask ......

The term troll has always been thrown around too much. People get labelled a troll if they have a lot going on in their life or if they don't take advice that was given to them. I used to use MN waaay too much and had a lot going on in my life. I was labelled a troll. It really hurt because at the time the only friends I had were the ones online on MN.

Now I couldn't give a fook, I read MN every now and then but can pick it up and put it down when I like. I still remember the posters that were nasty when I was at my lowest points but couldn't care less what they think any more.

But because of my experiance I find myself feeling really bad for anyone who gets labelled a troll because I know from my own experiance that it could be a false accusation.

Niftyfifty.... Troll