Mythical Monsters….

Monsters called Trolls

In Internet language, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as Facebook, an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

What is a Flamebait then?

Flamebait is a message posted to a public Internet discussion group, such as a forum, newsgroup or mailing list, a Facebook conversation, with the intent of provoking an angry response (a flame) or argument over a topic the troll often has no real interest in. The most popular motive is the desire for attention and for entertainment derived at the expense of others. Posted flamebait can provide the poster with a controlled trigger-and-response setting in which to anonymously engage in conflicts and indulge in aggressive behaviour without facing the consequences that such behaviour might bring in a face-to-face encounter. In other instances, flamebait may be used to reduce a forum’s use by angering the forum users.

A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user’s sockpuppet claims to hold. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the groups actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed concerns. The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.

What about Sockpuppets?

A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception within an online community. In its earliest usage, a sockpuppet was a false identity through which a member of an Internet community speaks with or about himself or herself, pretending to be a different person, like a ventriloquist manipulating a hand puppet. In current usage, the perception of the term has been extended beyond second identities of people who already post in a forum to include other uses of misleading online identities. For example, a NY Times article claims that sock-puppeting is defined as the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies or company.

A sockpuppet usually appears with one or two posts within a thread to ask questions or throw a flame on the topic out of nowhere. Such action would be recognised immediately and would be moderated if postings are defamatory in nature. 

The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have first appeared on the internet in the late 1980s, but the earliest known example is from 1991. It is thought to be a truncation of the phrase trolling for suckers, itself derived from the fishing technique of slowly dragging a bait through water, known as trolling. The word also evokes the trolls portrayed in Scandinavian folklore and children’s tales as they are often obnoxious creatures bent on mischief and wickedness. The verb troll originates from Old French troller, a hunting term. The noun troll, however, is an unrelated Old Norse word for a giant or demon.

Application of the term troll is highly subjective. Some readers may characterise a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. The term is often used as an ad hominem strategy to discredit an opposing position by attacking its proponent. Often, calling someone a troll makes assumptions about a writer’s motives. Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore him or her, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts ”” hence the often-seen warning: Please do not feed the trolls.

How credible is a forum?

Properly run forums are well-moderated by a panel of experienced, level-headed professionals in their field to maintain the forums integrity and credibility, especially when it has a business interest encompassing the objective. Members of a forum usually go through a verification process in real life to be accepted as part of the forums real community of users. Sometimes, a minimum number of posts is required and a physical meet-up session with the intention of verifying the identity of the individual with accompanying papers for registration to a club or association.

Integrity of forumers

Forumers (members of a forum) with a website, a link to an identity and verified public personas  connected to real persons are often more admissible than those without any trace whatsoever.

A properly-managed forum would exercise the duty of care to moderate postings unbefitting of the topic. Any topic left to proliferate with slanderous material centred on malicious intent would subject the forum administrator as well as the website owner to be held legally responsible.

Appropriately plucked from various sources online:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Footnote – Being an administrator and moderator of many websites and forums, I have seen flamebaits thrown around to further the agenda of trolls, sockpuppets and the puppeteer. Any forum that violates any code of conduct in participation with lack of self-regulation is not worthy of participation nor anything that contains therein be credible or plausible. In this day & age where Twitter is the preferred micro-blogging site & Facebook a social media networking platform, many have misunderstood the usage & does not apply self-censorship. This article is to give you a better understanding of how to handle trolls in both forum & social media platforms.