# Trolls R Us Resurrections (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 11, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518 "2021-09-11T17:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 354
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11557 "2024-03-29T14:45:15Z")
There is a meme for everything now: [![](https://preview.redd.it/it-never-ever-fails-v0-jty1kp6aelsb1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=85a5f3c70edbe3fe690fb632af5e358e51a05ecd) ](https://preview.redd.it/it-never-ever-fails-v0-jty1kp6aelsb1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=85a5f3c70edbe3fe690fb632af5e358e51a05ecd) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11558 "2024-03-29T15:29:55Z")
-sniffs the air of the board- Ah, it already smells cleaner, less like old gym socks. Seriously though, why does it always seem the trolls and trocks come in clumps? And not JUST the sort of clumps that I shovel out of my cat’s litter box. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11559 "2024-03-29T15:42:18Z")
Yeah, last refuge of a scoundrel. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11560 "2024-03-29T16:01:09Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > it’s another manifestation of the "all politicians are crooks’ hand wave that allows centrists to both sides an argument. Or to excuse not voting at all. Which, if they previously voted for Trump, is at least an improvement; though some people have been using it all of their lives, and never bothered to vote for (or against) anybody. Some people, however, are deliberately attempting to use it to discourage other people from voting; and these will try to use it selectively against people who aren’t of their party. @What_Exit: good decisions in both cases. Thanks. > [@Jihi](#): > > When people say that there are lurkers out there reading what’s going on here and it is affecting them I am a concrete example that this is true. Yeah. I have had my opinions changed by what I’ve read, both here and before I came here on the snopes boards; and often in threads in which I didn’t comment. (Yes, there are threads in which I don’t comment!) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11561 "2024-03-29T16:16:25Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Jihi](#): > > > > When people say that there are lurkers out there reading what’s going on here and it is affecting them I am a concrete example that this is true. > > Yeah. I have had my opinions changed by what I’ve read, both here and before I came here on the snopes boards; and often in threads in which I didn’t comment. (Yes, there are threads in which I don’t comment!) I find this place rarely changes my opinions in big ways, but very often makes me re-consider the underlying premise of said opinions. And that leaves out the many, many layers of nuance other posters tease out of the oft-threadbare articles and news stories that I miss. Trolls, by contrast (our topic of course) tend to want to go to extremes in both directions: they pick one factually correct item in a hugely complex subject and insist since that ONE fact is correct, all their other inferences must be! 🙄 Or, they try to reduce everything to such vapid if “correct” generalities (All Lives Matter being a clear and semi-current example) that they can claim the moral high ground and REFUSE to consider the nuance and real world consequences of such things. THIS place (the board, and often the Pit) is absolutely great at, to borrow a phrase from a favorite novel of mine: # “To condense fact from the vapor of nuance.” (Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11562 "2024-03-29T16:26:21Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Seriously though, why does it always seem the trolls and trocks come in clumps? And not JUST the sort of clumps that I shovel out of my cat’s litter box. Sometimes (though I don’t think in this specific case), the “clump” is all the same troll. Sometimes there are external events (like school schedules) that result in many people having free time all of a sudden. Sometimes it’s triggered by news events. And of course, sometimes clumping is just due to randomness, because random events naturally clump up (at least, more than most humans expect). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11563 "2024-03-29T16:56:34Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Trolls, by contrast (our topic of course) tend to want to go to extremes in both directions: they pick one factually correct item in a hugely complex subject and insist since that ONE fact is correct, all their other inferences must be! 🙄 > > Or, they try to reduce everything to such vapid if “correct” generalities (All Lives Matter being a clear and semi-current example) that they can claim the moral high ground and REFUSE to consider the nuance and real world consequences of such things. Does this description fit an actual troll? I’m not disputing your definition, I’m wondering whether my understanding of a troll is inaccurate or too narrow. To me, what you’re describing is not really a troll, but a person who is stubbornly wrong or at least misguided in their viewpoint, and refuses to entertain any other viewpoint, cherry-picking only the facts that fit their worldview. This type of person is very annoying, but (at least I thought) not really a troll. Whereas a troll may or may not believe their stated viewpoints, but often do not. In any case, whether they actually believe what they are saying is beside the point to them. They are deploying their statements as little shit-bombs designed to stir things up and get a reaction out of people. Trolls are not trying to create a dialogue, they are merely getting entertainment from riling people up. Quote from the link below: > This 2006 addition to the Oxford English Dictionary sums up trolling pretty well: > > “To post a deliberately erroneous or antagonistic message on a newsgroup or similar forum with the intention of eliciting a hostile or corrective response.” > **[You've Been Trolled!](https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/dictionary/youve-been-trolled/)** > > I've been familiar with the concept of "trolling" on the Internet for 20 years now, but it turns out to have undergone some changes during that time. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11564 "2024-03-29T17:03:39Z")
As I’ve said here _ad infinitum_ (_ad nauseum_ by now), I discern NO difference between the two. Since we would have to be mindreaders to know for sure, all we know is that BOTH engage in the same tactics, demonstrate the same fallacies, use the same rhetoric. That we should give the True Believer more slack “just because” he is allegedly “sincere” is ultimately pointless (and message board-defeating). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11565 "2024-03-29T17:08:45Z")
Agreed. I don’t care about the technical definition. There are many types of trolls. One that posts that _All atheists are monsters_ post right after a suspension is a very obvious troll. Even if they sincerely hold that belief. (Which I doubt) > [@What’s the worst thing about being an atheist?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/476): > > The worse thing about being an atheist is becoming a psycopath because studies have shown all atheists are psychopaths. I’m serious look it up on google ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11566 "2024-03-29T17:13:12Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Agreed. I don’t care about the technical definition. > There are many types of trolls. One that posts that _All atheists are monsters_ post right after a suspension is a very obvious troll. Even if they sincerely hold that belief. Glad to hear that at least one person in the modloop _finally_ agrees with me. For years we’d get all sorts of pushback, that “Oh you’re just complaining about posters you don’t like with viewpoints you _merely_ disagree with! Do it again and YOU will be warned!” Meanhoo the usual suspects would literally get away with all sorts of crap here, often for many years (not listing their handles we all know who they were). I understand why many legitimate posters from that era finally quit-I was at one point close to doing so as well when nothing was ever done about these twits. [But since (A) I can’t complain about moderation here, (B) the mods in question are pretty much all retired now anyway, and (C) most of the trolls in question are also now gonzo, shutting up now] ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11567 "2024-03-29T17:17:16Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [But since (A) I can’t complain about moderation here, (B) the mods in question are pretty much all retired now anyway, and (C) most of the trolls in question are also now gonzo, shutting up now] I think the current mods mostly agree with _“if your actions are troll-like than you are more of a problem than you’re worth”_. That is a fairly new guidance and was used to remove many long term problematic posters. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11568 "2024-03-29T17:34:15Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > As I’ve said here _ad infinitum_ (_ad nauseum_ by now), I discern NO difference between the two. I do and I think it is an important difference to me insomuch as how I personally regard the person on the other side of the post. Trolls, genuine by strict definition trolls, are fucked up. The ignorant or confused are just ignorant or confused. That said, that’s a philosophical POV. From a practical standpoint… > [@What\_Exit](#): > > I think the current mods mostly agree with _“if your actions are troll-like than you are more of a problem than you’re worth”_. That is a fairly new guidance and was used to remove many long term problematic posters. I have no real problem with this. I do think people on this board continue to be more hair-trigger (and triggered) by potential trolls than they probably should be. I get that decades of annoyance will do this - it’s why the stereotype of cranky old people exists 🙂. But by a certain point if a “genuine” crank is just being a crank without listening to others, eventually they just aren’t worth the trouble to salvage. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11569 "2024-03-29T17:35:15Z")
Apologies if I’m asking a dumb question or beating a dead horse here. I historically have not ventured much into discussions related to trolls and trolling, so I am somewhat of a novice in Troll Theory. I do see the logic that it’s a fool’s game to try to gauge the actual level of sincerity behind the apparent trollery; so if it looks and acts like a troll, it should be treated as such. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11570 "2024-03-29T17:37:43Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > As I’ve said here _ad infinitum_ (_ad nauseum_ by now), I discern NO difference between the two. Since we would have to be mindreaders to know for sure, all we know is that BOTH engage in the same tactics, demonstrate the same fallacies, use the same rhetoric. Mostly my take. I don’t make a huge distinction between people arguing in bad faith (which both of the tactics I listed are IMHO) and the more literal, shit-stirring troll who is only in it for the lolz. To the extent I differ, I am willing to make _some_ effort to get them to try to see the error of their ways and correct them, and the second group I want banned ASAP. Now, different posters _here_ will have different ideas of if a specific individual poster should be in the first or second group, and I do not deny them their POV. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11571 "2024-03-29T18:46:40Z")
A troll is somebody who understands that the shit they’re posting is getting a rise out of people and keeps doing it because they like seeing the pot stirred. That’s it. Doesn’t mean there aren’t _other_ flavors of jerk as well. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11572 "2024-03-29T20:48:13Z")
I agree, and I’ve been on the record multiple times as well. If someone consistently derails threads, enrages normally calm posters, regularly makes threads into their own forum for long stretches—well, I don’t care if their hearts are true and their motives virtuous. That’s close enough to troll for me. That said, my threshold for thinking it’s reached a bannable level is pretty high. Inexplicably, the mods don’t confer with me when making these assessments. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11573 "2024-03-29T21:08:13Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > THIS place (the board, and often the Pit) is absolutely great at, to borrow a phrase from a favorite novel of mine: > > # “To condense fact from the vapor of nuance.” > > (Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash) I just want to highlight this as I agree 100%. One of the most valuable resources that I take from this board is there are people here who are very good at taking incredibly complex subjects and breaking them down and explaining them in layman’s terms. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen something in the news, or Republicans have thrown out another lie or obfuscation, and something doesn’t feel right about it to me but I’m not sure what, I can’t put my finger on it. Almost invariably I’ll come here and there will be a long post detailing the many logical issues or just explaining what’s going on in an understandable way. Usually with a sarcastic quip at the end that will make me smile at the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11574 "2024-03-30T00:26:22Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > That said, my threshold for thinking it’s reached a bannable level is pretty high. Would you say that threshold is in the STRATOsphere? _d&r_ ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11575 "2024-03-30T00:39:58Z")
Hang your head in shame! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/11576 "2024-03-30T02:44:25Z")
Dagnabit but that’s a dad joke for sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518.md?page=353) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518.md?page=355)