As fun as it would be to go all meta but :The following is not a troll.
IS it trolling to shit stir if you’re presenting 100% unequivocal facts? I suppose intent matters. I’ve been called troll multiple times, but I never posted anything but the truth. Cites, facts, truth. Now I’m not shocked people were upset at having their worldviews challenged, but that doesn’t mean it had to happen.
And I’m not even talking about shit like posting black crime facts in a thread about racism. Ex: My sister posted something about that ‘safety pin stuff’ after the election. She’s a liberal, and so I posted a HUFF PO article challenging the wisdom of the safety pin movement. Suddenly you’ve got several people calling me asshole and a troll. Am I shocked they got upset? No, nothing shocks me anymore, but they very well could have responded intelligently too.
How eloquent … what vivid imagery … a masterpiece of prose …
It’s easy to stir up a nest with some unpoplar opinion … no matter how much more right I am … if folks want to get angry that’s their problem … yeah, raccoons make awful house pets … so sue me …
Were you an only child? Did you have siblings? Heck, were you ever a child?
You might recall something called “teasing” that most kids do to other kids. You may have played both roles at some time or maybe only just one.
Trolling is nothing but grown up teasing. Kids did it gleefully; it was *that *good to their undeveloped sense of how to be a human. Many people get older without ever growing much past the 6-year-old stage.
Remember, they are keeping score; not some outside neutral observer. It doesn’t matter how many learned Dopers patiently explain their errors (now with cites!) to them. All they have to do in response is type “Neener neener; you’re wrong!”.
The scorecard in their mind just rang up another 10,000 points for them and zero for those other posters. Many of whom are now steaming and ready to launch another essay into the ether. To again be utterly rebutted for another 10,000 points with a mere one-liner.
Some Trolls are patient and selective (They take their time and build Forum/Board cred ) they can bide their time and only occasionally shift into their Mr. Hyde persona (When another poster threatens their version of something that matters to them /hot button) the really good ones can instigate severe rat packings with ease and have Mod/Admins do their bidding almost at will (And have them (Mod/Admins) think what they are doing is for Forum/Board unity when in actuality its instigated by the patient troll… The patient trolls also become Mods or Stealth Mods and amaze the Admins with their abilities yet all the while they still get away with their old ways of Dr. Hyde without pushing it beyond control .
Trolling actually probably derives more fromthe fishing technique than from mythical creatures living under bridges. In the context of fishing, it’s the technique of basically throwing out bait and dragging it around underwater until something bites. And that’s essentially what trolling on the internet is as well.
In my experience there are two sorts of legitimate trolls, and a third sort of pseudo-troll.
Someone stirring shit up strictly for the sake of stirring it up- kind of like kicking an anthill and watching the ants scurry around.
People who troll for the sheer petty vindictiveness of it- essentially mean-spirited pranking. Basically what Eric Cartman would do on a message board. They do the internet equivalent of putting boogers on doorknobs or ex-lax in the brownies, or stuff like that. It’s basically just doing mean stuff to others because it amuses you. Not sure why they do that, but that’s what it’s about.
People who aren’t intentionally trolling (pseudo-trolls), but are some combination of uninformed, lopsidedly informed (i.e. get ALL their info from their pastor, for example) or really, really poor communication skills, and manage to get a big rise out of people anyway.
The first type is usually hardest to spot; it’s not always obvious trolling, but the intent is there. Like say, scheming up a post/thread that you KNOW is inflammatory and going to start fights/piss people off, but you do it in such a way so that it’s thought-provoking and germane to any existing discussions. Or you deliberately play Devil’s advocate not because you care, but because you enjoy stirring up the others and making them work for their points.
The second is relatively easy- they’re the more classic trolls.
The third group is also usually easy to spot- they’re the one-trick ponies who end up being the angry ones around here, because their arguments get wrecked, and nobody takes them seriously.
you left out about 3 more variations on the theme (Politically motivated Paid Web Room Warrior troll) (Tribal Troll who is fully on board to solidify the Tribes memes) (specific “Single Issue” Troll who feels compelled to zeitgeist the goal in every conversation available )