Can you spot a troll?

[DMF Sailing]

I'm curious.

As a gullible person who is very susceptible to trolling, I had to learn the hard way that there are people who go on the internet and just post egregiously confounding stuff to watch people twist themselves in knots trying to respond.

I've sussed out one or two on this forum, but I've been wrong about one or two, too.

(Because of my profession—quasi-public figure—and where I lived much of my adult life—Russia—it was a constant part of life.)

How well can you recognize a troll? How often do you realize that you've been goaded into a circular argument by one?

[sailorboy1]

you just cracked me up

[Group9]

I think everyone has had that one friend, at one time or another, who just liked to stir s**t up.

Sometimes it takes me a minute to recognize that he has come back.

[Narfi]

The best part about dad jokes, is explaining dad jokes to some one who obviously understands the dad joke in hopes that they do not realize that you already know they understand it.

[Narfi]

Hopefully that made sense,
Because if you know they understand the joke, and force them to listen to you explaining it to them, it is in a way poking fun at them, they become the joke.

It is even better if you can grin at someone standing beside them at the same time, letting them in on the joke.

[Narfi]

Of course, in the end they already knew you knew they knew, and were just letting you explain it to them again so they could make fun of you to their buddy after you leave.

[goguygo]

I disagree.

[Celestialsailor]

By trolling I also include the category of people embellishing the truth to make themselves look like something they are not for the purpose of "fitting in" or living a fantasy life. There is one going on now from a person who wants to sell everything (including house) and sail around the world. How many times have we seen that on this forum.

A lot of people get sucked down that hole to either give advice or question the persons motive. Often times it can turn ugly and the gig is up. There seems to be more of it on CF in the 14 or so years I have been here. Still, there are more pluses than negatives with CF. I made a number of friends here. Many whom I met while cruising. I have bought a few things from members and even did some donated work for a member who was stuck and needed some machine work.

Will trolls go away? I doubt it. The Mods are pretty tolerant of them.

[sailingabe41ds]

I am three for three on this site....same person different names, maybe a fourth now. The topic very similar....the helpless new sailor who wants to know everything about sailing and which boat to get....very touchy feely. The story, background, and location may change....but not the writing style and nor the sweet ever so grateful response till s/he pisses someone off and has to apologize for being offensive.


Abe

[Group9]

I don't see the people who just talk about it without ever doing it as trolls. I see them more as dreamers who will never realize their dreams. They're harmless, except to themselves, and just accept dreaming as the next best thing to doing.

More annoying, are the ones who come here, who want to explain to all of us why they can't buy a boat and cruise (and it's usually because they see themselves as more responsible than those of us who do it).

Why they think we care about their opinion on that, or what they are trying to accomplish by coming here, is hard to understand.

[Mike OReilly]

To me, a troll is someone who is only here to cause trouble. They post inflammatory or provocative comments to get a rise out of people. They don't engage in actual discussion. They lob literary bombs and get some perverse joy out of watching the carnage.

I tend to fall for these games, at least for a while. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, and will engage with them until it becomes clear what they are doing. At that point I simply stop responding to them, and will sometimes encourage others to do the same. This is the only way to deal with these people. Once they stop receiving the attention they crave, they scuttle away.

I don't consider most newbies to be trolls. But I also don't engage with the early dreamers very often either. When someone comes on and says "I've never sailed but I know it is my calling to sail around the world!", well, what can you tell them? They don't even know what questions to ask. I figure the ones who are serious will do some actual research, and hopefully get some real experience. Once they do that they can come back and ask useful questions.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

you just cracked me up

that's only ever what I'm going for, SB

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

To me, a troll is someone who is only here to cause trouble. They post inflammatory or provocative comments to get a rise out of people. They don't engage in actual discussion. They lob literary bombs and get some perverse joy out of watching the carnage.

I tend to fall for these games, at least for a while. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, and will engage with them until it becomes clear what they are doing. At that point I simply stop responding to them, and will sometimes encourage others to do the same. This is the only way to deal with these people. Once they stop receiving the attention they crave, they scuttle away.

I don't consider most newbies to be trolls. But I also don't engage with the early dreamers very often either. When someone comes on and says "I've never sailed but I know it is my calling to sail around the world!", well, what can you tell them? They don't even know what questions to ask. I figure the ones who are serious will do some actual research, and hopefully get some real experience. Once they do that they can come back and ask useful questions.

In fact, Michael, it is you, and your tolerance for civil conversation with potential (likely?) trolls, who served as partial inspiration for this poll. And I mean that in the best way. Often, you respond, in earnest, and I don't have to. Rock on! Our battle flag is "Gump, Chance, Lula, and Alabama Whitman Won In The End, Troll. Do You Realize That?"

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Narfi

Of course, in the end they already knew you knew they knew, and were just letting you explain it to them again so they could make fun of you to their buddy after you leave.

The very fact that you had to post three times to clarify—it means you are one of us! Welcome, Narfi. You will always have a place in the O'Reilly-DMF Home for the Very Sincere and Well-Intentioned!

(And I mean it. Mike knows I'm not trolling.)

[JPA Cate]

Celestial Sailor says the moderators here go easy on trolls. I may be biased, here, being a mod, but our policy is to let it go on long enough to where there is a clear pattern established.

The mods are all volunteers, some with very limited time for it, scattered all over the world, and decisions are made collectively. I'm sure that CS's perception is partly due to how long it takes to come to consensus. It frustrates me, too.

What will help most, is earlier notification, by you guys. We take a look at them as we find the reported posts. Usually someone responds within 24 hours. It can take up to 2 weeks to get to consensus. That's just how it is. We do our best, and consensus takes time.

When is what appears to be a troll not a troll?, can be a real puzzle. For me, I have to look at a whole bunch of the person's posts [which is time consuming, and may take a day or two of time here and there to do] to see their pattern of behavior in a thread. Someone else's suspicion is enough to get me to look, but not rubber stamp. I don't know about the other mods. We're all different. And some are way more social media adept than me. They're probably faster than me.

Ann