What is an Internet Troll?

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Moorche
by Moorche
11-Feb-2009
 

An Internet troll is someone who posts offensive, controversial, or divisive material on an Internet community. Trolls are an unfortunately common occurrence on many communities across the Internet, and there are various steps which can be taken to combat them.

If you are currently struggling with an Internet troll, the best thing to do is to walk away, since trolls feed on attention, and they will usually disappear if they are ignored.The evolution of the Internet troll was a slow process which began as computer users started to more widely adopt the Internet.

At first, the term referred merely to someone who was “trolling” for a response or opinion, in the same way that fishing boats cast out large nets to troll for a catch. Over time, trolls grew more aggressive, and the term began to be used specifically to refer to someone irritating or hurtful. In this sense, a troll could be compared to the nasty creatures of Scandinavian mythology which are also known as trolls.

There are a number of different types of trolls. In the most classic case, a troll harasses an Internet community for a few weeks, posting contradictory opinions or statements on bulletin boards in an attempt to stimulate a response. Internet trolls are differentiated from people who genuinely wish to present a different viewpoint by their attitudes and aggressiveness; their goal is not to discuss a situation, but to frustrate the members of a discussion board. They often use fallacious arguments or attack the users of a site when they attempt to defend themselves from the troll's activities.

In some cases, a troll becomes a recurring figure who is well known by long-term members of a bulletin board. The individuals often tell newcomers to the community to ignore the troll, who may use various tactics to get a rise from newbies. In more serious cases, an Internet troll may try to drive a wedge through a community, often with the assistance of sock puppet accounts. A sock puppet is a fake identity which is used by someone who does not want to post under his or her regular name; some trolls have multitudes of sock puppets to make their side of an argument look like it has a large number of supporters.

Trolls can be extremely frustrating. Especially when trolls use hate speech and stalker like tactics, they can cross the line to being dangerous in addition to being aggravating. If you are the administrator of a website, there are a number of ways to deal with trolls, from “IP blocking” to reporting them to the authorities if they threaten users of your site. As a site user, the best response to a troll is no response, which will ultimately drive the Internet troll into moving on in search of fresh prey.

source, www.wisegeek. com

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more from Moorche
 
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Moorche jaan "farangi"at

by sm (not verified) on Thu Feb 12, 2009 08:45 PM PST

Moorche jaan "farangi"at inja yani chi?
mer30


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anonymous fish

javaneh

by anonymous fish on Thu Feb 12, 2009 01:19 PM PST

that would be a "trollette"... :-)


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Moorche

Salaam Doustaan,

by Moorche on Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:10 PM PST

 

Thank you for reading my blog about Internet Troll, I think that, this information will change our wonderful Irainan.com internet community etiquette and I hope this blog information can prevent future nonsense blogging of such Trolls.

Dear Derakhshandeh: I believe that, in general, we should be offended by abuses and FEED them with NO replay.

 

Happy blogging and thanks again for your attention.

 

مورچهً فرنگی


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ebi amirhosseini

Moorche Jaan

by ebi amirhosseini on Wed Feb 11, 2009 04:30 PM PST

Very informative.

Sepaas

Ebi aka Haaji


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javaneh29

It's common sense

by javaneh29 on Wed Feb 11, 2009 01:05 PM PST

Really interesting article in light of events recently and I refer not only to the misogynistic blogs yesterday but also to a blogger, who less frequently now,  blogs less and less about the Bahai religion.

It's very difficult to ignore these 'trolls' because the content of their blogs incites a reaction ..... well it's clearly designed to, but I think as a community here we should at least bear this in mind when they pop up ... as JJ says they are fairly easy to spot.

I think I wrote somewhere on another blog  that as with kids .... you ignore the 'bad' behaviour and eventually these 'trolls' amongst us will disappear. That's common sense.

I try not to get taken in with it usually and there is one consistent almost 'troll' here, who is very attention demanding. Is there a name for someone who I think is a troll in disguise?? I mean they appear insightful, bright and often write interesting posts but never the less, are very attention seeking, argue alot, resorts to all sorts of tactics to gain notority and engage sympathy? Just wondering? there seems to be a name for everything.

Javaneh


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Jahanshah Javid

No problem

by Jahanshah Javid on Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:56 AM PST

LalehGillani, I don't see why the blog about Iranian women should not be featured. Yes, what he writes is very unfair. But many men think that way and it's good to challenge them. But to go on and on replying to angry comments from him and others... what's the point. Say what you have to say and leave.


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LalehGillani

Dear Editor/Publisher:

by LalehGillani on Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:03 AM PST

I am a strong proponent of freedom of speech and admire your stand on refusing to delete writings posted on Iranian.com. I am also new to this site and might not fully realize how, when, and who chooses the featured blogs.

May I respectfully ask why the blog regarding Iranian women was chosen as a featured blog?


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Souri

by Derakhshandeh (not verified) on Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:02 AM PST

Souri I think you're missing the point of this article.

The answer to my question is definately not Troll-Busters.


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IRANdokht

Mourche jan

by IRANdokht on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:38 AM PST

I cringed every time I saw the comment count next to the most recent junk blog go up!  The best thing is to avoid leaving comments for them no matter how unreasonable they seem. Thanks for providing the terminology. At least it's not only an "iranian" thing ;-)

You're a wise one Mourche Farangi-e aziz!

IRANdokht


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LalehGillani

Impeccable Timing

by LalehGillani on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:34 AM PST

Your blog is very informative and timely, considering what happened yesterday on Iranian.com. I am referring to the blog regarding Iranian women…

It took a lot of self control and discipline to stay away. I even typed my reply to him but didn’t post it. After all, writing my thoughts down served only to calm me. Not bad for a day’s worth of writing!

Your timing is impeccable…


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Souri

Troll Busters!!

by Souri on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:13 AM PST

Derakhshandeh:

They are called Troll-Busters!


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What about people who respond to Trolls?

by Derakhshandeh (not verified) on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:01 AM PST

What about people who respond to Trolls? Are they called anything?


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Jahanshah Javid

Solution

by Jahanshah Javid on Wed Feb 11, 2009 09:45 AM PST

Thank you moorche. Very informative. I did not know that there was a term for this kind of behavior which I have witnessed for a very long time. It's become easy for me to spot them and I stay completely away from their nonsense, even when they address me directly.

Unfortunately I see many who bite the bait and get into endless fighting matches which of course do not help any kind of understanding and civil discourse but rather cause nothing but anger and bitterness.

Remember: Stay away from these people. They FEED on your angry responses. Don't give them the satisfaction. Don't give them more reason to continue their provocation.


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