# Where are the liberal trolls? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012 "2014-10-30T15:00:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/21 "2014-10-30T15:54:41Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Hang on, name me one liberal poster who sinks to the level of **Shodan**. ElvisL!ves and Der Trihs, off the top of my head. You could add the not dearly in the least departed Dio or Aldebaran to the list if we’re going back. I’m no fan of **Shodan** , but we can’t pretend that there aren’t liberal posters who are as bad, if not worse, than him. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/22 "2014-10-30T15:57:45Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > This is missing the point. I wouldn’t call posters like you (or Der Trihs, on the other end) trolls, just highly opinionated people who get into lots of arguments. When people say trolls, they’re referring to the people who make one thread on a ridiculous subject and get banned after a few dozen posts. Those posters are overwhelmingly conservative. One wonders where they come from and how they even know about this board. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/23 "2014-10-30T15:58:52Z")
I knew getting the board indexed on Google was a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/24 "2014-10-30T16:02:49Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Ugh. I can’t believe that I’m mentioning the site two times in the same day, but you can usually find liberal trolls on Free Republic. Not really – the overwhelming majority of the “trolls” (in quotes because they use a ridiculously loose definition) kicked out of the FReakshow are actually conservatives advocating a nuclear strike on Eastasia after failing to get the memo that Eurasia is the enemy _du jour_. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/25 "2014-10-30T16:11:34Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Why would a liberal troll try and troll a bastion of liberalism? Because they can get away with it. Besides, they’re not trolling the liberals here - they are trolling the conservatives. That’s what the OP aked for - a place where liberals trolli conservatives with “childish responses, gotchas, and holier-than-thou smugness”. Childish responses? **Der Trihs** , \*\*Lobohan, ELvisL1ves, \*\* et al. Gotchas? Everyone. Holier-than-thou smugness? **BrainGlutton** and everyone else. I mean - come on. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/26 "2014-10-30T16:13:48Z")
Don’t post drunk, \*\*Shodan \*\*and **Hamlet**. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/27 "2014-10-30T16:26:33Z")
Don’t ever change, **ElvisL1ves** - if you ever developed any insight at all half the charm of this place would vanish. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/28 "2014-10-30T17:08:59Z")
As a lib myself, I’ll say that on my facebook feed I do see stuff just as bad as what I see coming from some conservatives. Generally it’s in comments on facebook rather than in articles getting shared, though, so I have no links to provide. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/29 "2014-10-30T17:24:16Z")
What I want to know is, where are the trolls with an excellent command of English, good composition skills and familiarity with the standard rules of punctuation? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/30 "2014-10-30T17:24:35Z")
Liberals are just better people I guess ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/31 "2014-10-30T17:45:37Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > What I want to know is, where are the trolls with an excellent command of English, good composition skills and familiarity with the standard rules of punctuation? Apparently not on the SDMB - > [@YogSosoth](#): > > Liberals are just better people I guess Some of y’all make it too easy. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/32 "2014-10-30T17:48:06Z")
Pretty sure resident conservatives will disagree, but IMHO, I find liberals tend to be more intellectual. It takes more to stimulate smarter people. Trolling doesn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/33 "2014-10-30T18:03:06Z")
> [@JesterX](#): > > Pretty sure resident conservatives will disagree, but IMHO, I find liberals tend to be more intellectual. It takes more to stimulate smarter people. As a fellow liberal, I think that smacks a bit of “No True Scotsman” fallacy. The average SDMB liberal imagines “typical liberals” as fairly smart and reflective people, if inclined to get pissy at times. When we hear of a crazy antivaxxer who thinks corporations in general are in league with Big Pharma to crush women’s and minorities’ civil rights and hasten the post-climate-change apocalypse, we don’t think “fellow liberal”, we think “wackjob”. But in fact, such a person may in fact align with a number of liberal policy positions and reliably vote liberal, so that’s a recognized part of the image of “liberals” as perceived by non-liberals. Similarly, the established SDMB conservatives are likely to think of conservatives in general as intelligent and principled people as opposed to the flailing right-wing trolls the OP speaks of, whom they consider drooling outliers. From the liberals’ point of view, though, the trolls “look like” conservatives just as much as the more elite right wing of the Dope does. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/34 "2014-10-30T18:21:49Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > As a fellow liberal, I think that smacks a bit of “No True Scotsman” fallacy. > > The average SDMB liberal imagines “typical liberals” as fairly smart and reflective people, if inclined to get pissy at times. When we hear of a crazy antivaxxer who thinks corporations in general are in league with Big Pharma to crush women’s and minorities’ civil rights and hasten the post-climate-change apocalypse, we don’t think “fellow liberal”, we think “wackjob”. But in fact, such a person may in fact align with a number of liberal policy positions and reliably vote liberal, so that’s a recognized part of the image of “liberals” as perceived by non-liberals. > > Similarly, the established SDMB conservatives are likely to think of conservatives in general as intelligent and principled people as opposed to the flailing right-wing trolls the OP speaks of, whom they consider drooling outliers. From the liberals’ point of view, though, the trolls “look like” conservatives just as much as the more elite right wing of the Dope does. **Kimstu’s** absolutely right. My wife’s yoga-teaching, non-vaccinating, spacey hippie type friends get lumped in with my buddy the lawyer who’s a sort of activist for social justice, but who goes in for absolutely none of the crunchy, hippie crap. To the rather reactionary, and non-reflective conservatives of my acquaintance, there’s not a whit of difference between them. Just like the way another friend who’s a rational, reasonable guy who just mostly wants to keep the money he earns, and wants the Government to only spend it on things that he considers vital, gets lumped in with raving loons like my brother-in-law’s dumb-ass hillbilly brother-in-law, who thinks the UN is a conspiracy to take away American sovereignty, and that (no shit) emissions controls and gas taxes are a plot by the government to bankrupt country people so that they can have their land taken and given to big business. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/35 "2014-10-30T18:38:40Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Liberals are just better people I guess Don’t ask me why that reminds me of this: > [@](#): > > Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. > (pokes Atherton in the belly with the sword) > Guess I’m just a good man. > (pokes him again for good measure) > Well, I’m all right. At any rate, I’ll settle for being “all right.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/36 "2014-10-30T18:43:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Because they can get away with it. > > Besides, they’re not trolling the liberals here - they are trolling the conservatives. That’s what the OP aked for - a place where liberals trolli conservatives with “childish responses, gotchas, and holier-than-thou smugness”. Childish responses? **Der Trihs** , \*\*Lobohan, ELvisL1ves, \*\* et al. Gotchas? Everyone. Holier-than-thou smugness? **BrainGlutton** and everyone else. > > I mean - come on. > > Regards, > Shodan By that definition, you’re also a troll. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/37 "2014-10-30T18:44:06Z")
Isn’t what Stephen Colbert does liberal trolling? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/38 "2014-10-30T18:47:42Z")
> [@JesterX](#): > > It takes more to stimulate smarter people. Trolling doesn’t do it. Trolling is an art. The guys who flame out and get banned or found out are amateurs. You don’t notice the master craftsmen controlling entire discussions while seeming to be above the fray. They know how to push people’s buttons without being blatant. Though I’ve noticed they prefer other venues nowadays, like twitter or tumblr. It’d be straight forward to troll this place from the left, which I’ve seen a couple times but they didn’t last long. The SDMB isn’t particularly lib. Mostly vanilla Democratic, believers in capitalism and the American way. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/39 "2014-10-30T19:16:49Z")
You find trolls on forums of views they oppose. Liberals find conservative trolls on liberal forums. Conservatives find liberal trolls on conservative forums. Conservatives don’t care to spend time on liberal forums - why would they? so they don’t see conservative trolls. Liberals don’t care to spend time on conservative forums - why would they? so they don’t see liberal trolls. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012/40 "2014-10-30T19:19:04Z")
That being said, sometimes “trolling” isn’t trolling. If someone expresses an unpopular opinion - however respectful or genuine - he or she may be labeled a troll. Simply because the opinion incites anger, by its very nature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-liberal-trolls/703012.md?page=3)