Job Discussion Forums

[merlin]

Good idea or bad?

[Gordon]

The problem is that they change names so often , usually just after they are spotted. They hate to be recognized or ignored.

Maybe a few trolls could tell us what makes them tick.

[valley_girl]

I belong to another website and people are always accusing others of being trolls and aliases (of another, more familiar nickname). How do you define a troll? Moreover, who casts the final judgement on who is a troll and who is just an overzealous poster with unusual views? Seems a bit like a kangaroo court, if you ask me.

How do you know you won't be accused of being a troll yourself? All you have to do is tick one person off and you could have your name on somebody's list. If that person has power, off with your head.

[Buraimi]

Am I the only one who isn't sure just exactly what a troll is? Hope not. A definition would be helpful.

[GeminiTiger]

[Will.]

I am not sure if it is the troll under the bridge that eats anything it catches or the trolling method of fishing where you catch anything you can which is a better descriptor

Will.
Gemini. Dog

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Some posters are extremely knowledgable and helpful in many, many ways, but are just totally against anything that has to do with certain issues to the point of supplying detrimental information.

To me, that would make an ordinarily very, very helpful poster into a troll with regards to that single issue.

Plus, other than obvious trolls (that thankfully are few and far between on this board, but are very common and annoying on other boards), what constitutes a troll to one person may not be what constitutes a troll to another. People constantly giving incorrect information may actually believe it themselves, and not believe others who say they are incorrect.

[Dr.J]

I think it refers to the "trolling" method of fishing. The aim is just to make other people angry/unhappy.

It's kind of like a heckler during a speech; sometimes they say something clever, but usually they just like the sound of their own voice.

As for a banning list, well, the best thing is just to speak to them once normally, and if they persist then ignore them and they go away. I do this with ignorant people all the time and it works just fine.

[Lynn]

A troll is not just someone who makes personal attacks. A troll is someone who is uninterested in ESL, rather he/she is just here to get a rise from others and watch what type of reaction he/she can get. Often times he posts something he doesn't even beleive in, just to get a reaction.

[merlin]

I was deliberately vague in my first post to see what others came up.

To me a troll is someone who posts disingenuously. Someone who posts crap genuinely isn't a troll. I think Lynn's description is a good one. Of course an argumentative person could say "How can you possibly know if a person is genuine?" Well, sometimes it's hard to tell but quite often it's obvious.

Other 'net terms:
Flame/Flamer - someone who is extremely negative towards others' posts. Some forums prohibit flaming so as to avoid "flame wars" but the nettiquette guide I prefer states that some posters soemtimes deserve to be flamed.

I was also thinking of a list that only moderators could post to. Again, I didn't state this right off so as to free up the discussion. The purpose would be to give us all a kind of "heads up" first thing every morning before we start the day off wrong reading a disingenuous post while still half asleep.

[dmb]

Would a troll ever admit to trolling?

[kev7161]

A troll is only as powerful as the number of people who take the time to respond to him (or her).

[Ben Round de Bloc]

Here's the first part of an article of one person's take on trolls, what they do, why they do it, etc.

[Chris_Crossley]

[merlin]

Wise words, Chris.

I think I'll leave the tar babies to 'ol brer fox from now on.