What is a troll?

H

HashBucket

Well-Known Member
"Yer a troll; just a facking troll ..."

I hear it more in this forum than any other I have ever participated in. It is used as a slur, and it is supposed to be a bad thing. Words are funny; the receiver does not always interpret a word the way the sender intends. But what does it mean?

Wikki defines a troll (in the social media setting) as follows:
''A troll is a person who intentionally initiates online conflict or offends other users to distract and sow divisions by posting inflammatory and/or off-topic posts in an online community.''

So, lets look at a couple of examples:
Looking at a recent posting on a threat title of "Trump is the most admired man in America?" I see a post on that thread of "goddamn the trumptards are desperate". A short, but a textbook perfect example of trolling. It hits all the points: Offends others, check. Distract and sow divisions, check. Off topic, check.

Here's an exchange where the poster has an question, and describes it:
So, ya'll think that she should be allowed to go free?
You don't think that trump should bring pressure to bear on China to stop the illegal actions they take against our economy?
China good.
US bad.
Right?

And here is the reply:
sleep off that hangover alright, grandpa racist?

The question was about whether a person should be kept in custody. If the president should take political action against another country. It has nothing to do with the fact that the poster could be aged, or hung over, or racist. This same poster is well known as throwing the 'TROLL' slam around like a zoo monkey throwing poo.

Later, I will discuss the term "sock puppet" or "sock puppet account", another term that is mis-used and supposed to be an insult.

--------

Words have meanings. Don't be an anti-semantic.
 
Communist Dreamer

Communist Dreamer

Well-Known Member
scumrot derelict said:
I'm a fucking troll, you're just a sad excuse for a shit-poster.

There's a subtle difference.
Click to expand...
I mostly feel pity for him. He just spews out what he's heard from the cult he belongs too. That's what the sad thing thing is about cults, you don't think. You're only a robot. How are you even a human being at that point?
 
DrKiz

DrKiz

Well-Known Member
Well said Hashbucket.

Never read the posts, but if in that context I agree.

Maybe not with the statements, but the context.. yes.
 
hanimmal

hanimmal

Well-Known Member
@HashBucket Congrats on getting your thread re-opened. I know I posted this somewhere else for you but figured I would do it here since this was where I was typing it originally.

Funny enough I have been thinking about making this post for a while. I think of it as a flow chart of trolls.

#1. Trolls don't use the ignore button.

Then you need to be able to understand the different types of trolls.

You have your paid Foreign propaganda trolls. They are generally easy to spot once you start engaging themselves, their kryptonite is asking them if they are an American. Their silence is deafening.

They come in many flavors:
Religious Chinese nut cult trolls, Iranian/Saudi/Russian/North Korean trolls, Angry white guys in EU/Canada trolls, etc.

These above categories (there are of course more and several 'personalities') are the shittiest of the lot and are actively trying to hurt our democracies worldwide with the illogical belief that a unstable America is somehow good for them. It is not.

The American paid trolls: Usually end up being found to be racist as shit when you scratch their surface and quick to anger, generally shitty people who will eventually understand that they are traitorous fucks that are helping scare the shit out of vulnerable people. And linking to their hateful stories that when you follow down the rabbit hole end up in racist recruiting websites. I actively try to engage them in the hopes of American History X'ing them into seeing what they are doing is shitty.

Then you have religious ones that are trolling for Jesus. They got bought off by the Republicans appointing judges to push women rights back into the kitchen. Mostly they will try to convince people that the Democrats eat babies, because shit once you think someone eats babies ripped from their moms you know they will vote for Republicans.

After that you get into the trolls that are actively trying to show the world what the rest of the trolls are.
 
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