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Trolls - And How To Recognize Them

Posted by SJK on January 23, 2015 at 17:22:26

The Audio Asylum is a unique and special place for many of us. But, with a combination of paid subscribers and people who can't or don't want to do so, we have an interesting mix of contributors.

With the anonymity of the Internet, this has resulted in a number of people who will start a topic that is seemingly topical, but is really nothing more than an opportunity for them to flatter their fragile ego's.

How could we have known that there could have been so many of those poor creatures amongst us?

But that's not what this is about - it's not for us to provide psychoanalysis for people who may not welcome our commentary on their mental stability.

This is how trolls can be recognized.

1. Someone who doesn't normally respond to posts, but has a habit of starting new posts on a frequent and regular basis.

2. Posts that are started take one of two forms. They are either copycat, a repeat of what others have already done - (the sign of an incompetent troll) or they are on a completely different subject or topic that has not been mentioned recently or ever (the sign of an accomplished and dedicated troll).

3. Whether competent or otherwise, we now have another subset - the lazy and the ambitious troll. A lazy troll will post some foolishness, such as "If you won the lottery what stereo would you buy" and then never ever answer any of the respondents. An ambitious troll, of which there are few (because that would require some effort) will only respond in a contradictory or argumentative fashion.

4. How do you recognize this behaviour? It's not that easy, which makes the competent trolls difficult to recognize.

This is what I've learned. When you see a topic that isn't topical, or derivative, or deliberately provocative, before responding do this.

- Have a look at who was the original poster.

- Consider whether the OP is one you know or recognize.

- Review the general tone of the conversations taking place and ask yourself if this is something that you need to respond to. Remember - the intent and purpose of a troll is to provoke a reaction in others, that's how their fragile ego's are satisfied.

- Here's the most important point, and one that I continually fail to follow. Have a look to see if the OP has replied to any post in the thread that they started. If not, that begs the question. If you weren't interested, why did you bother starting a topic in the first place?

I now have a mental list of participants on the AA who I will never respond to nor even read their posts. It's just static, white noise and isn't worth any effort.

Does this all sound too complicated? Yes and no. As a species who relies on verbal, and recently with written communication we have a unique ability to recognize and process a lot of information in a short time.

Learning how to recognize and avoiding responding to trolls is a skill that can only make our community better for all of us.

Have a great weekend!

Note: Feel free to add to this list, but let's not make this personal.

Edits: 01/23/15 01/23/15 01/23/15 01/23/15 01/23/15 01/23/15 01/24/15

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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