Troll hunting

[TheArmadillo]

As troll hunting season seems to be upon us once more and MNHQ have tried several times to outline their troll policy over the years I've been here and it has had little affect. Is there a way that troll hunting can be discouraged?

on threads like this where someone name changes to accuse OP of trolling.

This seems wrong because:
a) if the OP is trolling then surely there is no harm caused. They are not asking for people's money or contacting people offline (afaik)

b) if the OP isn't trolling there is a great deal of upset caused to them.

c) the only reason for calling 'troll' seems to be that their posting style seems familiar to one or two mners.

It seems that trolling accusations are now being thrown at people who have been round a while posting, not just newbies.

Also while I appreciate some trolls do cause posters a lot of upset and problems (I have seen a few) these are rare and tend to be more obvious than a thread on a sensitive asking purely for advice and nothing else.

Plus as MNHQ are unlikely to be able to tell if someone is trolling unless extreme and repeated. And even then not 100%

Would it be a good idea to have a policy of deleting posts crying troll? They cause upset and are offensive to those accused at difficult times. Any serious concerns re trolling can still be reported to MNHQ via the report this post function.

It seems that asking people to stop doing it isn't having any affect and I for one think it is damaging MN because it does put people, especially newbies off posting for advice on serious issues.

Anyone else got a view.

Ideally halfcut yes

however some are less worldly and view this as a safe community in which most can be trusted.

The question is whether those people desire warning of others' unproven suspicions or not.

I can't say as I see myself as rather cynical and jaded already

Somebody shoot me, please. I have just seen that I put an apostrophe in a plural [shame]

I think this thread is about my thread.

And i said i wouldnt post again but i dont want to see a mn argument / nastiness again, this is meant to be a supportive forum, thats why i started posting 4 years ago (when I had a high ratio for downs with my DS's triple test).

Its ok to say... i think this may be a troll, be careful because of x, y and z.

I got upset because she said my life read like a bad novel.

and she namechanged, which is now making me worry that its actually someone in my life or my exDPs.

And implied i was lying. i am not. im sure someone from MN must be reading this and if so, i would appreciate them posting here how long i have been on MN and if im considered a potential troll.

A death sentence may be a bit extreme BitOfFun, would a tsk tsk do instead?

Maybe thats my problem too..I'm rather cynical at the best of times and if I find out someones been trolling on here I just shrug it off ..

I am sorry you have had that experience, mankymummy. FWIW, your thread did not look like the ones I am thinking of during this discussion.

Lenin- I prefer to be more discreet

I'm confused as to how people seem to know who is a Troll. I'm probably naive but I don't honestly know if I could recognise one if I came across it. Not wanting to join in with the whole finger pointing, ignoring sounds the best policy, but how do you know?

My comments that follow have nothing to do with your thread MMM, just to make it clear that I neither think you are a troll nor disbelieve what you said in your thread (my sympathies by the way for how things turned out).

I think it is up to all posters to be on their guard to the possibilty that no one on here is what they seem to be. Troll hunting may bring out the latent Miss Marple in some people but it can get very nasty indeed and be very harmful to individual posters. Often the advice posted is heartfelt and of benefit even if the OP themselves isn't all they seem.

However, I will admit to having moments when I see long running sagas and many of the same posters seemingly sucked in, and I deliberately avoid. On a few such threads there have later been mass accusations of trollery, but who is to say whether the OP was genuine or not? Hard to know for sure.

I think we all have a responsibility to look out for ourselves online.

I think Manky speaks a lot of sense.

I was accused of trollery once - ages ago - and although it was a bit strange, it didn't upset me much because I was real, and knew I was real, and made sure I set people straight right away as Manky has done on her thread.

It didn't stop me seeking advice as I knew my thread might have seemed unlikely - however I can see how if nobody had believed me even when I protested my innocence, it would have been painful.

That's the funny thing about actual troll threads...usually most people on them DO stand up for the troll, but that's never enough and the troll just carries on pleading terrible insult and exacting more guilt and sympathy.

I honestly wouldn't care about some random troll-obsessive appearing on a thread I'd started as long as it wasn't unanimous.

Blimey, I'd go up a ladder for eight hundred nicker- where do I sign up?

It's chat board though Lenin. Nothing is going to happen to you unless you choose to share personal information, arrange to meet off board etc. It doesn't really correlate to RL in the way you describe.

If I'm completely honest about it, it isn't the idea of protecting the vulnerable posters of MN that would motivate me to spek out.

It would be the thrill of telling someone who was taking advantage of people to piss off because they had been rumbled.

I really like the idea of exorcising some anger by doing that as well as defeating someone who is, genuinely, just mucking about in order to upset people.

I feel it would help with this whole debate if one of us here understood the motives of a proper troll - I have to admit, I find it really hard to understand, which puts me (and you lot I imagine) at a real disadvantage.

Live webchat with troll is perhaps needed.

My brother trolls on certain sites where the posters probably deserve it (fora populated by the BNP for example). He does it to wind them up because he thinks it's funny. Simple as that.

this isnt RL though

its interacting with complete strangers

if you cant say anything nice and all that...

perhaps a * as a code could be used if there are suspicions.

Maybe if some-one is new or name changes there could be a * or their name in a different colour so we all know they have recently name changed.

lol at Miss Marple

I don't disagree about reporting. I don't tend to report unless I see something really nasty on a very sensitive thread that just seems like a blatant personal attack intended to hurt.