A wall of text on internet Trolls, trolling and its
misconceptions.If you can't be asked to read and just want to tl;dr, go away. Keep it civil. This is very topic specific. It has rails, the rails are about the mis-use of trolling as a word.
There are only two types of trolls; good trolls, and bad trolls.
"The rabid flamer."
When put mathematically, flamers are jerks + morons + internet = Incomprehensible textual walls of rage. Flamers are often simple instinctual people with either very little life experience (note, under 10 years old) or little respect for people and their opinions.
This is not trolling.Flamers are easy targets for trolling, and indeed often easily manipulated by anyone, from celebrity idols to faceless anons, it can be as cliched as "that guy there says you don't even lift."
"The priggish grammar troll."
This again, is not a troll. This is a grammar Nazi, one who extensively seeks and destroys bad grammar no matter what the discussion. In fact I'd even say so that in some cases it can be a courtesy, no one likes seeing pages of [ . ] quot&and&unquot and ... i .,
And Seriously, Stop Fucking Capitalizing Every Word In A Sentence For Some Reason.
"The crybaby."
Not a troll. Just a crybaby translated into the internet. Why don't they ever understand?
"The never-give-up, never surrender-troll."
This is not trolling. This is called being an insecure knowledgeable idiot. Instead of reflecting on any knowledge gained or accepting that other views can exist where opinions are concerned, this is a person that can only comprehend a stance where they are
right, even where there is no right answer. Conversely, the ignorant idiot. Basically the above - except they're not even knowledgeable but still try to prove themselves right in every scenario conceived, to disastrous and humourous effect.
"The retroactive stalker."
This isn't trolling, this is stalking and coupling. All a lot of rhetoric and discrediting.
"The lame teenager."
This is facebook, and... And...
I know that I do not fear death, for I have heard the screams of those who have been denied it.
"The self-feeding troll."
This doesn't even make sense. This is either a bad troll trying to start a flame war or just a flamer. If sock puppets are involved, this is a puppeteer, or very lonely person.
"The bored hater."
If done for the lulz, shock posting and trolling can occur. There is a distinction however between hating, trolling and shock posting.
Hating is no different from flaming, only changing because instead of grumbled rage and shouts of fag in the high pitched voice of underage b&, it is more filled with personal ad hominem against the victim, and is genuinely intended to be abusive.
Shock posting is borrowed from the US military tactics of shock and awe, or using overwhelming force to demoralize the enemy. However where the US uses bombs and missiles, the aggressors use shocking media - this can be done as a part of trolling, but per se it is not.
"Nellie McNeggerson."
This is called being a cynic, not a troll.
"The sharing troll."
Ah, the natural predator of anonymity. This is not trolling, this is doxing. Doxing (or docxing) is releasing someone's personal details; on an anonymous image board this can be devastating as it instantly provides a beacon for successive trolling attempts. The effects can range from harmless to sending your internet history to your grandparents.
Remember, Anon is your friend and always check for EXIF. data. Be more paranoid about your personal details, and FFS read terms and conditions. This is something you should always be doing regardless of why.
"The profane screamer."
Not trolling, just a flamer. Often integrates with every mainstream game community ever.
"The white knight."
To quote from the confused article, because it's not entirely wrong:
"If the White Knight thinks someone hurts someone’s feelings, he’ll put on his shiny armor and joust for honor and goodness… even if the “attacked” person tells him to shut up."White knights can often be confused with people with good intentions helping in the wrong ways. What differs is that they take lulz in destroying trolling attempts - which is why they often do not stop "helping," when in actuality they just want to destroy some trolololz.
Also take special care in not using white knight as a derogatory term, which the smosh article uses extensively, as the white knight term is also often used for nice selfless people with no affiliation with trolls, ironically, by communities which harbour lots of trolls or used to.
"The expert."
Yeah this is exactly the same as a knowledgeable moron.
"The spoiler."
"The fraud."
Not trolling, this is called being "a fraud."
In any case I happen to be a Nigerian prince...
"The flooder."
Not trolling.
But...
DESU DESU DESU DESU[/it can be used to great effect by trolls as a tool with plentiful supply]
"The liar."
What smosh describes surmounts to this:
But a good troll is a capable liar, only a fool would take anything said by the troll as a fact.
Although often trolling with the truth does happen - most often when concerned with people who believe in something at odds with factual information, well known or otherwise (i.e. Anons vs Scientology, Mormons vs Magnets).
"The stalker."
SEVEN PROXIES FOR THE PROXY GOD
Gone are the days of the hackers, long since fled underground or recruited by world intelligence agencies. If anyone finds out who you are, you can bet it's yours or Google's fault, or some big names really don't like you.
What is a troll?
A good troll is a troll. They have spent neckbeard levels of dwelling on the internet or have innate understanding of its workings. They are capable of using most if not all of the above stated personas to deceive marks, as well as finding good marks - the best are the evil ones with the best reactions. Also never trust anyone called Mark.
Posing as anyone or anything to incite rage or acquire lulz - cleverly, with good humour and well thought out actions.
Almost as important is not getting called for being a troll. This is probably responsible for what people think trolls are these days; you should never know you're getting trolled if it's done by a good troll.
Likewise it is also probably responsible for why when someone says anything someone else disagrees with, it is met with angry spamming of TROLL GETOUTDAHERE.
How I said before that "only fools believe what they say is true," a good troll is capable of making a fool of anyone, and getting them to believe what the troll is saying is true, or that the belief is true. This is why people like smosh believe that's what trolls are. Like a mask painted over a singular changing face, you can never generalize. That's not even taking into account where the trolls come from, the misconception that trolls are all white middle aged neckbeards is more localized than most think, as there have been transexuals, pornstars, singers, cleaners, doctors, border workers, lawyers, feminists, keyboard warriors and the...
In short, people. People troll.
Obscured in deceit and anon, a good troll will find a way to troll anyone - often with great results when it's people of great power who fall victim to the madness.
In the defence of and against the troll arts, it is rather simple really. What happens on the internet is not real life, and you should keep real life out of the internet as you should keep the internet out of real life. Treasure anonymity. Respect people as you would real life.
And bloody use a dictionary once in a while :|
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Topic: Rant on "Trolling" and the misuse that pervades forums. (Read 17452 times)