to wonder why people troll?

[queenoftheslatterns]

the easy answer is of course for attention, but just scanning the dizzymare thread and I just dont get it. having been taken in a couple of times Im quite cynical now and try not to get too involved, but thats really sad. Ive had a lot of support from mn over the years, and its a shame that people like CVQ and dizzymare ruin it for those who really need help and support.

Too much time, too little to do?

I've never understood it either.

to come up with such awful emotive stories. are they aware of how cruel it is? or do they just not think of us as real people.

sorry i'm newish on here and i don't know what a troll is.

They're loonys who say anything to provoke a reaction.

its someone who posts lies/inflammatory posts. we usually get a lot in the school holidays, but every now and then we get someone who posts a lot for a sustained period of time then builds up a story. this usually involves some sort of violence, a loss and deep depression. they pull posters into the story and get them to share their own stories. these are the worst types of troll.

i can cope with the "an alien got me up the stick" threads.

Manipulative Narcissists, imo. Munchausens By Internet and all that.

Depends what sort of trolling really doesn't it? Not all trolling is to the same end or with the same intention.

Where is the dizzymare thread?

some trolls are funny, but the emotive ones arent at all.

i agree with BoF.

I think some trolls are regulars or lurkers who are just taking the piss because if you think about it...how do they know how to push so many buttons in a topic??...its just for the entertainment and attention factor

I love the brave posters who call it though,
I have suspicions and just avoid their threads or try to ignore their posts,
I've noticed someone this evening who is being abit inflammatory(sp) but I'm too lazy to search to see how long they've been here and still consider myself a newbie in those respects, maybe they are just very blunt

I guess we all show a slightly different persona on here than our real one - and trolling is just an extension of that.

I'm aware that some people could accuse me of being a troll, after all, have been through a fair bit and this is why these threads upset me so much

mumcentreplus, you could be right.

plumbummum, i do that now too. never have the guts to call it. (unless im in a really bad mood)

The type you are on about, well, it's attention seeking. But it's so cruel. Going after people who have actually suffered what the troll is pretending to have suffered and the troll doesn't even care that their fakery is causing pain, as people relive their story, or even the more sensitive among us who get upset by other people's suffering - iyswim.

The troll doesn't care that their lies cause upset. There's no thought for the other people involved. Only they matter. It's like to the troll, the other people, those they drag into their story, aren't real.

i have only recently rejoined MN - after joining years ago and forgetting my ID and going off to another forum... Anyway, one of my first threads after having read many many posts on here was about trolls.

Someone on a forum of mine posted all sorts of nonsense about being lonely, being depressed, getting married and it escalated until she posted that her nephew had gone missing and the police were involved. What that person didnt know is that a friend of mine lived locally to this troll and her DP was a local police... upshot was she was making the whole thing up! Lots of people had offered her help, a shoulder to cry on, stayed talking online with her when she was suicidal. It makes the good people cynical and the cynical people even more wary.

Very very sad, especially after reading about dizzymare and all the nice people who helped her.

thats the thing heqet, while i do think its important to not get too tied up in mn, how can someone just totally disregard other peoples experiences and feelings like that? we are real people, and many of us come to mn because we are looking for help, advice or have suffered some sort of personal upset.

it makes me so very cross.

because they can.misplaced attention seeking.vicarious thrill

They just use people's true stories of pain to weave more realism into their narrative. Pretty disgusting, really.

thehills, thats very sad. i dont understand what they get out of it.

it sounds like hard work to me!

I don't understand how they even remember everything they've said! I don't know how people can weave these complicated tales and maintain them.

me either, where do they find the time?!

i know people dont like to think ill of others hence we naturally tend to beleive narratives. but imo wise to retain some online cynicism.afterall is still only words on a screen.the leap of faith is, in what one believes and what one safely revelas and shares

i suppose retain modicum of online caution and in general i am sus of high octane one drama after the other posts

very true scottish