And it will continue to fail badly as long people are allowed to determine for themselves who is or isn’t a troll. People on this board (and elsewhere) have a tendency to kick back when a poster who is supposedly their equal give a grand announcement/order to “DNFTT”. Second, since said pronouncement is made somewhere in the middle of the thread it is often never seen by those responding to what they sincerely believe is a sincere post.
Third, the act of posting just to say “DNFTT”, instead of not responding at all, might have the opposite effect and draw attention to a troll that might otherwise be ignored. Some trolls thrive on attention, even the bad kind.
Don’t really know if there are solutions.
Because it’s not a rule, and never could be, and as advice it’s pretty much useless (and prim into the bargain).
If I were going to give advice (which I’m not) it would be more along the good old lines of “don’t wrestle with pigs; you’ll only get filthy, and the pigs like it.” I’m sure there’s a visual meme somewhere that expresses that with more punch, but I don’t think I’ve seen one.
Yeah. I’ve long said DNFTT just doesn’t work all that well as a tactic. It’s more “don’t let some internet stranger get your hackles up” and “if you do respond, make sure you’re enjoying yourself.”
There’s a weird little exchange in the Neil Gaiman thread in CS. A new poster (joined an hour ago) posted a defense of Gaiman with a subtle dig at those who say they don’t want to consume his art anymore. And 30 minutes later, a poster who joined in 2020 but never posted, signs in to create their first post agreeing “100%” with the newbie. I’m sure it’s a complete coincidence.
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/574
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Probably worth watching but nothing overt just yet. If this is the extent of it, that’s not too bad.
Not saying anything about the new user ATM, but the 2020 poster has a LOT of read time, and many days visited. It looks a lot more like a long-time lurker with few opinions to share with us scary types than the typical sock right now.
I also notice that neither of those posts has been flagged. I just happened to see this thread just now, and so I checked on it, but I don’t constantly watch this thread.
Please, please, please, if you see something that you think might be a troll, flag it. It’s the quickest and easiest way to bring moderator attention.
I’m up to 99% certain that APackof19menthols is a troll. See their thread in FQ forum titled “Driving linguistic factors”. Started out slightly provocative, which is a warning sign. Has since been pushing the edges.
I don’t think they’ve violated any rules, but they are not posting in good faith. I will not engage with them.
Each of their OPs has been like that. If they’re not a troll they’re a decidedly odd character with odd interests. There’s also a contrast between their OP style and their subsequent posting style. Which suggests they take some effort to compose a coherent OP that fits within their artificial persona, and then make only short detail-free responses in order to ad lib staying in character without undue effort.
They’ve been on my watchlist since they first appeared. If their topics are interesting I’ll (guardedly) engage. Even if they’re a troll trying to create a benign history as a cover story, that won’t wash once they reveal their actual trollish jerkitude. And meanwhile, fresh content can still trigger useful discussion among the rest of us.
Yeah. Most of you know I love language and linguistics, and know something about the subject (though I’m not a professional). I took one looks at that OP when it started, and it was obvious to me that there was feigned ignorance (along with just plain ignorance). Normally it’s the kind of thread I’d love to help people out in, but I decided immediately it wasn’t going to be worth the effort.
There’s an odd one that’s turned up with a thread about being bullied by athletes. And something about “gangsters”. Maybe not trolling but certainly weird in a not-fun way.
Don’t link to the threads, but any better hints for us to find them? E.g. which category with what OP date, keywords in title, etc.
Or are you talking about 19menthol who we’re already talking about?
In other words, one cig short of a full pack.
I wonder if that’s a coincidence?
It’s in IMHO - Why do schools let athletes bully other students
There’s been no posts in that thread for a week. The OP only posted twice. Weird posts, yes, but doesn’t really show a trolling pattern.
Looks like that OP just added to the ‘disgraced, convicted felon’ pit thread with a bizarre Trump2025 post.
Jury is out on the trolling part but +1 to weird and probably unhinged
That individual (Hayden plus lilly) claims to currently be a junior high school student. At least in my era in my area that was grades 6 - 8 ~= ages 11-14 at most. In Jasper fucking Texas which is a small town in the endless farmland halfway between Houston TX and Alexandria LA.
There’s probably not a single non-trumper in that county. Including them.
They’re also not the brightest or most neurotypical knife in the drawer. especially not by the standards of Jasper TX. They also give vibes of being black, not white. In raging White Supremacist land.
I just carefully poked them in the trump thread. Which they may or may not come back to see any time soon. Whatever they say will be informative.
Are they real? Hellifino. But if so, they’ve got a shitty life ahead of them. If not, they’ve got a short career here.
The full username is as @pleonast said upthread:
Yeah. Almost certainly a play on the general “one [something] short of a [usual group of somethings]” trope.
On that basis alone I could think of a few former members whose sock this might be.
There is to many wanna be gangster in jasper tx so at fist i was kind of scared of my house getting shot up because the im from in houston I was in the hood with crips and the jasper wannabes are bloods so im always wearing blue so i needed to get some people on my side.
Mmmm hmm. Sounds legit.