While I am new around here, I have been reading the boards for quite a while, and every so often a poster (usually a poster freshly signed up, though not always) will ask for advice or help with a problem/relationship/issue that to me seems obviously contrived and certain to stir up contention.
I have no particular threads to point to as examples, (though there is one going on strong as we speak) but there have been several over the last couple of months that certainly seem to be works of fiction.
When I read these, I feel that ignoring them is the best route, and hopefully the author will look for greener pastures to graze, but there always (no matter how outlandish the claims inthe O.P.) many who are happy to engage.
Will you ever respond to a thread that seem to you to be made up?
The best thing to do when someone seems to be trolling is to report the thread. I don’t post all that much anyway most of the time, so responding is kind of a moot point.
I respond to whatever I feel like responding to. Sometimes that does include, as we say, “feeding the troll”. Sometimes I do it for my own amusement or to engage with the other posters in the thread who may be posting with sincerity. Sometimes because I don’t *realize *that it’s a thread made-up for contention, sometimes because I suspect that it’s made-up for contention, but I chose to extend the benefit of the doubt to the OP, and sometimes I don’t even really care if the OP gets anything out of it, but think that readers might.
hm, i’m inclined to wonder whether or not you’re talking about the thread i started about hating my boyfriend. i’m a really new poster on straightdope (cousin introduced it to me) and it was the first and only thread i’ve ever started. i guess i chose a hot topic, because it led to nearly 150 posts now. unfortunately in my case, i’m ashamed to say, the story is true, although i’d very much rather say it’s false because of how absurd and often painful the situation is.
after being on straightdope message boards this past week though, i sort of get what you mean. i tend to be a lurker in most situations and don’t respond either way, but if i did respond it probably is because i feel like i have a good reason to do so.
Frankly it’s obvious which thread you are talking about. I’m going to leave this thread alone for right now, but it’s against SDMB rules to call posters trolls in any forum except the Pit, so if names and particular threads start being mentioned I’ll probably lock this.
Like Whynot, I respond to whatever thread happens to catch my fancy. And sometimes people’s real-life stories are more weird than reality ought to be. There’s a guy here (as far as I know, he could be a typing dog) who holds down a real job in spite of the fact that he has vivid hallucinations of a woman in his office. Is it true? Maybe. Is it interesting? To me, yes.
I also think a lot of people lurk for a long time until something in their life pushes them into posting. My first thread might have been on a trollish topic, but I really really needed an answer and didn’t know where else to go.
I’ve had enough weirdness, or been exposed to enough weirdness, in my real life that almost anything is believable to me…
Leaving your family to run away and join the circus - know someone.
Leaving your family because you have decided that you are a man and now need to live your life that way - know someone
Having to decide whether or not to expand your poly marriage with an additional spouse that everyone else likes, but you are not fond of - know someone
Watching a friend fight for visitation for the child she and her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s boyfriend raised when the girlfriend and boyfriend decided that they were going for a traditional marriage - Yep.
My own ex-husband went of vacation with his parents while we were still married. I wasn’t invited…it was just a family thing. But I found out later his mother invited the girl he was sleeping with, that I didn’t know about. (Mother in law from hell, anyone?)
Dont know if you believe me or not, but I had no single thread in mind with my topic. There have been several around here lately that I am virtually certain (though can not know for sure) are the work of a fertile imagination.
Feel free to close this, it is just interesting to find out if others sometimes read stuff on here and feel (as I do) that this has to be a work of fiction, written for the sole reason of causing a stir and getting some attention from strangers on the internet…
It’s a valid topic and I’m leaving it alone as long as posters don’t start getting labeled as trolls.
What I do in these situations depends on the topic. I might post in a thread I’m suspicious of, but usually I don’t get too involved unless I feel sure it’s legit.
I’ve had stuff happen to me that even my friends didn’t believe (until I showed them the scars, anyway). I’m sure that somewhere, some poster reading about my escapades was thinking, “Wow, she sure is a bad liar. If I were making up a story, I’d use something more plausible”.
You know how that book “A Million Little Pieces” came out, and everyone threw a fit because it wasn’t “real”? I had trouble figuring out what the problem was. So what if it’s not entirely real? An interesting story is an interesting story - move it to the fiction section, and everything is okay in my book. The same is true of things that are supposed to be fiction, but turn out to be partly reality-based too. So, I don’t often stop to wonder if the OP is telling the truth or not.
Mostly I don’t care, and don’t understand people who are outraged when they learn someonee may have embellished a story a little. I reserve the same puzzlement towards them as people who feed birds but not squirrels.
The thing with threads like that, is that even if they were done to stir up the pot, the situation can still be a real situation to someone else. So if it can be talked about, and possibly answered, that may help someone else understand or realize something they may not have known otherwise. So fake thread or not, it could still be valid to someone. It’s like when some asshat calls Loveline, and the caller swears or are being a jerk, they will still terminate the call, but will still possibly discuss the topic if there’s something worth discussing or if it will provide value to the listeners as a whole.
So if suspected, I say ban the OP, but keep the OP alive. It may still have value.
Respond to any threads you want. Even if it turns out someone made the thread up, we can still have a interesting discussion. I’m getting a little tired of how freely “troll” gets thrown around here. It’s become the Straight Dope version of “57 known Communists in the State Department”–something that can be randomly thrown around at the slightest provocation and then people expect the accused to defend themselves. We’re anonymous posters on a message board. It would take lots of resources to prove if someone is lying. And would you really trust a board that feared its own posters that much?