Babbling

[The_Pirate-King]

I think trolling is the biggest threat to an online community such as this. Trolls divert everyone's energy to pointless disagreements rather than actual debate. So it's an important thing to understand.

The word "troll" is thrown around a lot, sometimes inappropriately to the situation. Who here hasn't called someone a troll just because they're saying something you really, really despise? I know I have, and I've seen others do it as well.

As far as I can understand, the original definition is "saying offensive things in an arrogant way with the sole intent of sparking disharmony in an online community."
What constitute as offensive varies wildly depending on the community, but it has to be something that is guaranteed to cause rage among the community members.

However, this definition is frequently stretched to encompass "saying arrogant things in an offensive way, inadvertently **NaClO**​​​​sing people off."

I think there's a difference between trolling and just being ignorant. People who say incredibly ignorant things might actually believe them, whereas a troll is just saying those things to get a rise out of somebody.

What are your thoughts, babbling?

[BravoBravo]

My thoughts?

Luuv made this thread a few weeks ago.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

You are not Batman.

[The_Pirate-King]

But he wasn't asking; he was telling.

I'm asking you. What is trolling?

[BravoBravo]

I don't know.

[ooIpmahC-iarumaS]

Well I think the word trolling is thrown around too much, but i think the people using it, well at least some of the time, feel like they are genuinely being trolled.

I think the mods do a good enough job handling trolling cases. Especially with the degrees of trolling varying from person to person.

It's inevitable that people are gunna get mad that mod action wasn't taken in their case where they felt like they were being trolled and then that is just gunna cause more problems and lead to them "trolling" a mod.

When it comes right down to it, If you don't like what someone is saying don't reply. If you feel like they are trolling really bad just hit the report button and don't reply.

If you can't handle it then don't acknowledge it. It's just the internet and it's just text there's no reason to get all upset over it.

[ITasteLeikSex]

My thoughts are who the fuuuuuudge cares

[Ominotigre]

I already typed definitions in that thread.
I think everyone pretty much knows what it is, they just don't agree on the intent in any particular situation.

[The_Pirate-King]

But see, here's the issue; trolling is often defined as "being offensive in a non-bannable way"; it's riding the line between "arguing" and "flamming" in such a way that it's guaranteed to **NaClO** people off.

Not only that, but one of the main points of Luuv's post seemed to be "we should welcome people with differing opinions because we need to be able to defend our own viewpoints." So basically he's encouraging us to debate those we disagree with, which is an honorable goal.

But what about when someone's opinion is "the holocaust is a lie" or "god hates **NaClO**s" or "abortion is murder", or any number of arguments that seem calculated to make you go into a fit of uncontrollable rage?

You can't really report them, because they may very well believe what they're saying. Unless they're saying it in a way that breaks the rules, you can't do anything.

[ITasteLeikSex]

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The_Pirate-King wrote:


But what about when someone's opinion is "the holocaust is a lie" or "god hates **NaClO**s" or "abortion is murder", or any number of arguments that seem calculated to make you go into a fit of uncontrollable rage?

---

You grow up and understand that there are people with radically different opinions than yours

[BravoBravo]

You get into hissy fits about stuff you read on the internet?

And I thought I was sad.

Wait.

No I didn't.

My prayers are with you.

[olmoldy]

It's living under a Bridge, and Collecting Tolls to Cross!

[neverkeepchangin11]

depends on which mod you talk to apparently.

[ooIpmahC-iarumaS]

Well that's the problem with a variable term like trolling.

People should be able to debate without it coming down to OMFG UR SO WRONG AND DUMB TROLL REPORTED. If you aren't adult enough to handle debating someone who has the complete opposite opinion as you then it just comes right back to don't reply.

It seems like an easy concept to me, and I use it quite often. Someone will say something so outrageously dumb and I'll think. Oh man there is no nice way for me to reply to that. So I just hit that Message Listing link and move on.

So what do you do when someone's opinion makes you want to go into a fit of uncontrollable rage? Don't reply.

And if you can't help but to reply to a post that you know your reply is only going to escalate the situation in a uncalled for manner than maybe you should rethink if you can handle posting, and being on the internet.

[ooIpmahC-iarumaS]

You've completely misunderstood what pirate has been saying.

[BravoBravo]

I know how to internets kthx.

[BravoBravo]

How so?

[Ominotigre]

The ultimate troll

He drove her to absolute self destruction without breaking a single law.

[GiulianoTaverna]

I think the most basic definition of a troll, is a person who posts in a specific persons thread, in order to attack the poster of that thread, ignoring the point of the op.

I've heard mods describe it as posts about the poster and not about the post, which is implied in my definition.

[The_Pirate-King]

I'm not saying getting into a hissy fit is an appropriate response, I'm just saying... can you blame a person if they do? or do you blame the troll?

[The_Pirate-King]

An honest line of work indeed.

[The_Pirate-King]

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ooIpmahC-iarumaS wrote:

Well that's the problem with a variable term like trolling.

People should be able to debate without it coming down to OMFG UR SO WRONG AND DUMB TROLL REPORTED. If you aren't adult enough to handle debating someone who has the complete opposite opinion as you then it just comes right back to don't reply.

It seems like an easy concept to me, and I use it quite often. Someone will say something so outrageously dumb and I'll think. Oh man there is no nice way for me to reply to that. So I just hit that Message Listing link and move on.

So what do you do when someone's opinion makes you want to go into a fit of uncontrollable rage? Don't reply.

And if you can't help but to reply to a post that you know your reply is only going to escalate the situation in a uncalled for manner than maybe you should rethink if you can handle posting, and being on the internet.

---

I'm not really big enough to back away from an argument.

I guess another good way to deflect such things is to turn it into a joke... which is what their opinion is, really.

[The_Pirate-King]

That's a narrow definition. Can't there be such a thing as a troll thread?

As in, a thread that brings up an inflammatory, but actually irrelevant, issue?

[THE_SPOON]

IRRELEVANT!

PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST PLANK, THE_PIRATE.

[The_Pirate-King]

I'll proceed this plank up your ass!