Indeed. He’s so obvious, he’s not even fun.
The newish poster GailForce is trolling with a thread on a “terrifying thought about the Supreme Court” in the Politics forum. Not the typical troll trying to get an angry reaction, but going the fearmongering route.
I’m of multiple minds about said poster - they have posted a couple of times on topics that seem far too close to hot button issues, but not in a heavily bait-forward way. Up until now my feeling was more “blow in who found themselves intrigued but somewhat challenged by board culture (see their whole first thread about logging out)”.
Now, in the thread mentioned by @Pleonast definitely has lots of twinges, but for the moment I read it as alarmist / panicking about RWNJ possibilities. I might be more suspicious, but I have done the same early in my posting career after having a bad couple of days and doom scrolling too much news.
Still, their post/thread creation to read time is a bit worrisome in light of our patterns, but for the moment I’m putting them more in the category of some of our other posters mentioned in this thread - seems to post on their current thoughts or worries a lot, with little review or presence the rest of the time. So lots of drive-by-posting on their issue of the minute, which isn’t the profile we normally encourage here, but not an actual troll would be my current read.
You may be right. As the election draws nearer, my radar is super sensitive to trolls pushing political viewpoints. In my mind, there’s too many bad actors.
This one crossed my line.
And this is the place to get second opinions on that! If the poster had fewer “normal” threads and posts, I’d be 100% in your camp. And I’m not saying there isn’t reason to worry, so makes sense to keep watching.
I’m getting a Roger That/Sliced Alone vibe. And the punny name fits as well.
That thread may or may not be an indicator they’re a troll. But the Showgirls thread? Definitely is.
I removed the link. Please don’t call posters trolls by using links to their posts/threads.
I keep on thinking I’ve seen that exact thread before… Can anyone figure out what older thread I’m thinking of?
Are you sure it’s note just deja vu or… a terrifying thought?
Sorry, thought that only worked if you linked to their post, not the thread itself.
Thread: “Finding someone with only the first 4 digits of their license plate number- possible?”
Smells like all kinds of “if this happened, it sure didn’t happen like that.”
Indeed.
I flagged it as a doxing attempt, which it technically is.
The backstory is uninteresting because of its improbability. “Penthouse Letters” with or without sexual content is just not compelling material.
And now that thread is locked as “not where we want to go legally”.
Its OP did get some traction (i.e., troll-feeding) but clearly didn’t know the limits of what TPTB are willing to tolerate.
I don’t understand why he doesn’t get a Warning for trolling. That story is not only complete garbage, it’s obviously garbage.
If he “has a lot of experience” in this area, why did he call the police in the first place? If it’s not a crime for someone to drive off with all your possessions without your permission just because you put them in the car, why would the police even entertain a license plate look-up?
My guess? He has a crush on the girl that drives that car, and wants her info.
Actually he is being reviewed in the Modloop. No need for a warning yet. Also not the kind of OP that would draw a warning most of the time, for a first time, that is.
I got a real creepy vibe from that thread.
Didn’t read that thread but I did see the title previously. My thought was, “there are so many different ways that thread could go, and some of them are extremely bad.” I didn’t think it was long for this world.
That was TJEckleburg wasn’t it? The have come up before in thread with posters saying may or may not be troll but absolutely an ass. I’d look move but travelling this week and posting sans keyboard which is exhausting.