Poll! Your Attitude Towards Trolls

[Dockhead]

What do you think? Please vote, and post comment.

[fishwife]

Why would someone vote on trolling in a thread that could be within the genera?

[TaoJones]

Your poll will be interesting, Dockhead, but probably not all members know what it is your poll is referring to. This may help:

Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TaoJones

[sabray]

I wont cross any bridges if there is a troll around. I wait until the big billy goat gruff crosses and then I follow him very close. Hasn't been a problem so far as I havent seen any and I have passed through a few bridges.

[nautical62]

I try my best to refrain from feeding trolls.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Your poll will be interesting, Dockhead, but probably not all members know what it is your poll is referring to. This may help:

Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TaoJones

Thanks for that Tao...
In other words in its mild form its a bunch of guys chewin the fat over a few beers and someone throws in a wind-up comment just to see the reaction.... Gotcha

[RiverRat]

Thanks Tao. I had to look it up earlier. There's another name for them, but I won't spell it out here... I don't think Trolling has any place in this forum and I actively avoid threads where they pop up. If they start showing up all the time I'll just avoid the forum all together.

A healthy informative civil debate is one thing. A deliberate 'stirring of the hornet's nest' is another entirely.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Your poll will be interesting, Dockhead, but probably not all members know what it is your poll is referring to. This may help:

Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TaoJones

Yes, you are right! Always important to define terms.

I would describe trolling as posting a question, the answer to which one is not really interested in, as the purpose of posting it is more to stir up reactions from members, usually on questions which are known to make some people overly emotional, like anchors, cats vs. monos, etc. Or similarly, a comment, which is not intended sincerely, but is a subversive attempt to stir people up.

It's a practical joke which can sometimes embarrass people, when they fall into the trap and react emotionally to what they thought was a sincere question or comment.

Some people are not embarrassed, but find it all in good fun, to try to detect such behavior before falling into the trap. The troll wins if you fall for it, but if you spot the troll first -- it's "gotcha"!

The Wiki article cited by Tao says that the original meaning of the term came from "trolling for newbies": "Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. . .This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution. One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes,went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website." The modern meaning is considerably broader.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Thanks for that Tao...
In other words in its mild form its a bunch of guys chewin the fat over a few beers and someone throws in a wind-up comment just to see the reaction.... Gotcha

Indeed -- a perfect one sentence summary.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by fishwife

Why would someone vote on trolling in a thread that could be within the genera?

LOL! A very fair comment! But no -- I'm not trolling. I am genuinely interested and hope it's interesting for everyone else, too.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's a practical joke which can sometimes embarrass people, when they fall into the trap and react emotionally to what they thought was a sincere question or comment. .

Yes. Its the end of a good forum when f-wits are allowed to pick on someone.

And where they do it delibretly on a persons weakness, its even worse.

Let yourself look at the story the other day where the boy commiteed suicide for being ridiculed on the internet.

Gay suicide puts focus on cyber-bullying

[zeehag]

there are forums being killed by these things-- but there are places for them to play--war rooms and such....off topic forums , such for arguing just for the sake of arguing. these lil places for them are great. there is a forum that invited some troll types in to clean out the place of all except their good buddies--lol-- unfortunately, newcomers donot know the info is stilted and not correct .. is a shame. lets dont make this place like those..

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Thanks for that Tao...
In other words in its mild form its a bunch of guys chewin the fat over a few beers and someone throws in a wind-up comment just to see the reaction.... Gotcha

There is a difference between sitting around drinking beer and saying "how 'bout those Yankees" to elicit an emotional response and saying "wasn't that Bill's wife I saw you with the other day." The latter is clearly meant to stir up emotions that are probably not appropriate for the setting.

Trolls usually use the latter method like "don't multihulls turn over a lot" or "my Rocna never drags, not like my old Bruce?" just to get people riled up, not to answer any question they had.

I usually ignore the first type ("how about those Rocna's huh, aren't they great) and get annoyed with the latter. Neither furthers the conversation in any meaningful way though and might be better suited to the sitting around at beer drinking time rather then an internet forum dedicated to cruising information.

The sad part is that the only forums I frequent that do a good job of handling trolls are the heavily moderated ones. There doesn't seem to be any community solution that works.

Jim

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's a practical joke which can sometimes embarrass people,.

I don't want to harp on a point because I don't think you can understand what your text has said.

Who gets to chose the level of embarrssment? You? Certainly not the person being embarrassed. On what scale? "Truley and deeply offended"? Or just "Embarrassed enough not to come back for a while"?

And then what? You jump up and say "April Fool"!

Why?

Just to belittle someone?

These people here, well, some of them are my friends. You wish to embarrass me in front of my friends....? You will tell lies to me (or about me or what I stand for) and allow me to state my opinion in some attemp to belittle me in front of my friends?


I don't think this is your intent. But it sure would be the effect. Thats why trolling - or whatever this stuff is called - is bad.



Mark

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I don't want to harp on a point because I don't think you can understand what your text has said.

Who gets to chose the level of embarrssment? You? Certainly not the person being embarrassed. On what scale? "Truley and deeply offended"? Or just "Embarrassed enough not to come back for a while"?

And then what? You jump up and say "April Fool"!

Why?

Just to belittle someone?

These people here, well, some of them are my friends. You wish to embarrass me in front of my friends....? You will tell lies to me (or about me or what I stand for) and allow me to state my opinion in some attemp to belittle me in front of my friends?


I don't think this is your intent. But it sure would be the effect. Thats why trolling - or whatever this stuff is called - is bad.



Mark

Well, that's very well expressed, and it's interesting.

Just so you have no doubt, Mark, I do NOT engage in trolling myself.

I hope I'm one of the "some of them" whom you consider your friend.