The term "troll" can have several meanings, some related to fishing and ugly monsters. All seem to be quite appropriate.
Online Trolls: Usually seek to provoke a reaction. They leave rude or argumentative comments in order to get people to respond, and when addressed with any attention will attack even more fiercely. Often, they deliberately stir up conflict, disrupting discourse, causing members to leave the board or website and enjoy trying to take over communities. To a troll any attention is good.Usually, the more intense, the better.
On gather, we tend to see a new category of online troll. You know the passive aggressive type who will slam random articles with low ratings. Some of these trolls target individuals.
Trolls usually believe they appear insightful or strong when tearing others down. I see this behavior as more of a "virtual tantrum". What's more, trolls rarely seem to admit to baiting an individual or group online. They tend to claim they are simply being direct and honest. They almost always accuse their victims of being oversensitive and unable to take criticism.
How to deal with a troll? Many people feel trolls should simply be ignored, yet others dislike the idea of giving trolls free rein.
In the end, how you choose to address people with poor online communication habits are all up to you.
I recommend not responding in any way to anything they say or do. When enough people do this, an the troll can obtains no sustained reaction, the troll, loses interest.
If a troll cannot get a reaction out of you, it makes contact with you literally unappetizing. Eventually, the troll will look for someone else (or somewhere else)to obtain the reaction it needs.
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Comments: 25
True Travis, if they comment. If its to give a 1 rating, I'm not to thrilled about that one.
Either way...they can kiss my....well, you know what I was thinking...lol
Thanks. Why do people do these kind of things?
good article.
Think of the positive aspects to trolls: They provide an outlet for your aggressions after a bad day. They sometimes say unintentionally hilarious things. Flame wars can be very educational. You see people you thought were intelligent and well balanced become completely irrational when confronted with a troll.
You don't have to read anything they say. You get the same number of points regardless of the rating.
I say lets keep them and encourage them. Why take some of the fun out of a life that's already suffering from fun erosion in so many other ways.
You don't have to read anything they say. You get the same number of points regardless of the rating.
I say lets keep them and encourage them. Why take some of the fun out of a life that's already suffering from fun erosion in so many other ways.---------------------
Nippy Katz
True- I do see where an outlet for aggression might come in handy.
I am for anything that will make me laugh 2
I like to pis* them off, in hopes of more comments....but I am sadistic
kidding kidding
I remember the old Delphi boards too.......crazy
What do you think Joy? It sounds like you are fed up with the trolls bigtime.
My favorite trolls are the trolls that don't realize they're trolls...
You've been hit by the dreaded Gather Troll! Well I/we are here to send a message to the Gather Troll with my 10 rating!
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