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.

My definition would be a poster who says something untrue or inflammatory to attract attention or to 'wind up' other posters.

By inflammatory I mean they pretend to believe some dreadful opinion so that they can enjoy the onslaught of outraged responses.

I don't mean that people who genuinely do hold opinions I find appalling are trolls, you can tell if they're genuine by the way they defend their views.

What is "4"?

Quite agree with you Morris re. the harm done by trolls. They taint the forum.

Bibbity - you've gone all Frankie Howerd. Oooo er missus.

Here you go niftyfifty

Thanks MsSpent (sorry to hear about your experiences)and cupcake - now I know!

Oops, sorry, and Morris!

I know how much getting caught out by a troll can hurt, I got caught out by one last year, who I had sent stuff too via the secret santa, I had picked out some of my own sons toys, the ones he didn't play with much, and had bought a gift for the mum, I had wrapped them all up and packet them and sent them off by courier. to them find out that the poster didn't actually have a baby, just a teddy. I was gutted, we didn't have much ourselves but I have always tried to help others when I can. And because of this sad event I won't be participating this year so that poster (whose account actually got banned, I don't know if she signed up with a different account?) has spoilt some of the spirit of MN.

But I do know people get labelled trolls when they are not though, and although it isn't very nice to be caught out by a troll, it was even worse to be called one when I was at my lowest point.

It is just a shame there is no way of 'proving' whether you are a troll or not.

I actually even considered sending MN proof of certain things I had gone through (such as police letters etc.) but I knew it wouldn't actually change the minds of the posters on the board...

Yesterday there were three new posters all posting with very similar names, styles and references in their posts. Two of them were revealed to be the same person, who had been causing trouble before, with more of the same. This was confirmed to the people who reported them to MNHQ by the information that their IP addresses were the same (I believe). The third poster was you. I believed you to be the same poster as they other two because of the reasons stated. If you are not, you had the misfortune to resemble the other posts and were caught up in it, which is unfortunate.

However I'm still not convinced, especially after this post

See, if you are genuine, now would be a good time to come back, OP...

Although I am wary about shouting troll this post has actually made me a bit and now feel stupid for posting on it...

Inflammatory post - check
Poster makes initial post that buggers off - check
Poster new - check

Hmm....

I don't go round shouting "troll", because I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, and think that if I give sensible advice then maybe someone else reading the thread will be helped even if the OP is a troll. But sometimes I have doubts about whether a story is true, and I tend to just not reply on those threads.

There was one thread yesterday (probably one kat mentions) which sounded very similar in style to another poster who came on before, some months ago - there's just something about the writing style and content which sometimes seems very familiar.

It's sad that people do come on and post these troll threads, as we've all become quite wary of being taken in again, so maybe don't give as much help and support as we could. And some people on here, like MsSpent and others, have been tricked out of possessions and money, as well as their time and sympathy, all of which could have been more usefully given to someone who really was in need.

I havent had the privilege (sp) of being called a troll yet lol even though i am not, just an ordinary stay at home mummy. People can ask funny questions and have really unusual lives which they want peoples opinions on different parts of, yet they are called a troll without any evidence. It is quite rude really and could put someone off. To newbies they might not know what a troll is and think its an insult which it is

See the posting style is identical as the other two that were confirmed trolls, as is the nickname style.

Now either that is an incredible co-incidence, or this third is the same as the other two.

I agree with Morris and bibbity, it really does spoil the spirit of the board. It means that genuine people, whether they be new or regulars who have namechanged to discuss something they want to keep private, feel hesitant in posting for support. That is a very sad thing, and for that reason I think it is totally right to raise a hand if you have real suspicion.

leave the troll spotting to the hysterical troll patrol.they love shouting troll and showing off their troll spray

if i want to contribute i do
i dont get in a fankle about trolls.too tiresome

spork,that sounds jaggy.does it go in the eye or the bahookie

msspentyouth we are all still going, we are on the killing me softly thread in chat, come and say hello.

I think sometimes people forget this is an on line forum and people here can be mean just as they can in real life, and sadly trolls do happen to pop up every so often

Kimi, i'll come and find you.

I am really hoping that loneparent can prove they aren't those other posters so she has to eat her keyboard (and film it and put it on youtube for all of us to watch )

bahookie now tell me about spork

A spork is a spoon-fork...

spoke - a singularly unuseful invention