Posted By Robert K Lewis
I am wondering if trolls are becoming an issue on this forum.

What are the marks of a Troll Thread?

If a person behaves in a manner equivalent to that of a Troll are they de facto a Troll?

I ask the question because I am concerned that increasingly people may not respond to posts. Thus we lose the benefit of their views and experiences.

Bob

Posted By Mitch
Bob,

Could you be more definitive on 'trolling' is it,

(1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web.

or

(2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding.

or

(3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a "peeping tom." ?

Mitch

Posted By holmezy


I'm probably guilty of one or two (or more?) of those things in the past, but I've never it done with the intention of upsetting or annoying anyone. Nor have I got upset or annoyed by others respnses or replies.
Its a discussion forum, not a "world peace conference". You will always get things on these forums that you don't agree with but we can either respond or ignore.

I don't think "trolling" is as prevelant now as it was 12 months or so ago, so the mods must be filtering well!!

Holmezy

pedigree (the beer not the dog food!) comes later...

Posted By Arran Linton - Smith
Bob,

As you are well aware internet trolling is quite a complex subject which is described quite well in Wikipedia.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Troll

I must admit that there are many questions that I do not answer and there are many threads which I do not join in because I am suspect that subtle trolling may have taken place.

The trouble is that some trolls play out moves like a game of chess and therefore you have to think ahead which is why a lot of us back off a lot of long and complex threads.

Posted By CFT
Ian

You make some valid points; I have noticed that when a thread is taken away from the initial question it is often brought back on track by the moderators, or is locked for simply reaching a conclusion and any further contributions are repetition based.

A pet hate however is as you suggest, an initial question asking for help; plenty of positive offers of assistance and then no more from the originator; most annoying and simply not acceptable, a quick thank you or further information is not a lot to ask!

This IMO is however a minority, I have made some cracking friends on these forums and wouldn't change that for anything!

Charley

Posted By Merv Newman
Charley,

I thinked you have just "trolled" this thread by deviating it from "trolling" to "thanks"

Merv

Posted By CFT
Go on then Merv as it's a Friday,'I think' youv'e just trolled it then for thinking that I trolled the thread away from Bob's original point;-))

Strictly a Friday response:-)

Charley

Posted By Pete48
I am not so sure I can recall any recent posts that looked like trolls to me but then I probably wouldn't recognise one if it came up behind me. They used to live at the bottom of my bed when I was about 5 but I haven't seen any recently. I think it is more likely that we all have our limits with language; both reading and writing it.
It is inevitable in my view that threads will wander, answer the wrong question, give a personal opinion that may be treated by others as sound or, dare I say it, professional advice.
I cannot remember the last thread where every contributor gave the same advice or came to any clear consensus. There is no way to tell where the advice is coming from and on what basis. That might tell an astute reader what this forum actually is. (public benefit??)

Haste the upgrade to the website and lets hope it contains some of previously discussed improvements.
Have a good weekend and check the bottom of your beds tonight:):):)

Posted By GeoffB4
Bob, I've just had a thread ruined by off topic remarks but is that trolling? They aren't doing it on purpose, they just don't know any better.

Posted By Robert K Lewis
If it looks like a troll, acts like a troll and writes like a troll it is perhaps a troll; for the moment anyway.

Bob

Posted By Brett Day

Something I would add that makes dealing with trolls akward, changing the subject could be trolling or merely to use web terms thread highjacking or going off topic, neither are malicious in the way that trolling is.

Likewise there is a comment made earlier about infinite reptitions, some posters will ask the same questions as they have not had a response, or a response that they can understand so are asking again seeking clarification.

On the flip side overly aggressive moderating can be just as harmful I've seen some other forums where the moderating rule has been troll until proven otherwise with similar results:

"in a group that has become sensitized to trolling — where the rate of deception is high — many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation."

Likewise where posters may not share the 'party line' of a forum it can often be tempting to label them as trolls or attribute other malicious behaviour to them.

By the fact that I'm here playing devil's advocate does that class me as a troll or someone looking at it from another perspective?

One pet hate of mine, is the jumping on posters regarding spelling and whilst I would not consider it trolling it is poor form from experienced posters.