The Hummer Network Forums

[Bob]

Forum trolls or internet trolls (as in trolling for fish) are people who join forums in order to become controversial users and, thereby, call attention to themselves. They have many characteristics in common. When they target a forum, they will attack forum members to get reactions (best case scenario for a troll: a rip-roaring flame war), be as offensive as possible, post offensive material and otherwise try to stand out and get attention. Sometimes they will register multiple users and reply to their own posts, using aliases, to make it look like they're getting responses. They want the discussion to turn to them.

It can be hard to get rid of forum trolls. They usually know ways around IP blocking, use many aliases and disguises, many web-based e-mail addresses and many usernames. If banned, they will keep trying to register fictitious users on the target forum for months, even years. Once a forum is targeted, it stays in their sights.

Their aim is to disrupt, cause controversy and get attention. Discussion on the forum should turn to the troll instead of the actual subject matter of the forum.

Trolls do not target forums at random. Ironically, trolls tend to choose forums dedicated to a subject which is of interest to them. Because of that interest, they want the attention of that particular online community. It's the attention they are after.

The usual advice is to just ignore trolls and not give them the attention they want. This is rarely, if ever, effective. The troll will keep trying and keep escalating the attacks and offensiveness until a response is provoked. Not every member will get the message about ignoring the troll, so someone will respond. Also, telling people to ignore the troll actually calls attention to the troll.

If the troll is banned and an administrator is diligent in preventing the troll from re-joining (a difficult and time-consuming task), it means that each new member who joins must be screened to determine whether or not it's the troll in disguise before being approved for membership. This inconveniences a great many innocent people, the real new members.

No matter what happens, when a forum is targeted by a troll, there will be problems. Forum trolls are not welcome on this forum.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I once knew a troll personally (from a different forum, not this one). At first she was very nice, even interesting. A bit strange, but nice. She spun a lot of stories, some accompanied by a lot of documentation, including photos, letters, forms...file folders full of stuff. It was like she was presenting a case in court. She claimed to be rich, her son was to marry into an influential family in France where she owned a home, she had an extremely rare Ferrari (I think only 2 were ever made), her son had a Lamborghini, her husband had died under mysterious circumstances involving intrigue at high levels of government and so on and so forth. I found out later that not a word of it was true. It was all a scam (she didn't try to scam anyone out of money, only into thinking she was important). I also discovered that she had been using a computer at a public library to access the internet. I think she resided in an RV park.

There is a lot more to this story, but here's my take on this person: She was basically a loser with a strong, deep-rooted need to be regarded as important. She did everything within her power to appear to be important. On the internet, she had to be the center of attention. She did all the things described about trolls above toward that end.

I am not suggesting that all trolls are necessarily like her. This is just my own direct experience with one. I know of some other instances of people having met trolls face-to-face and there is a definite pattern. The troll will appear to be a very nice person and claim to be a victim. The troll is misunderstood, just has a sense of humor and, a very common claim, is being singled out and picked on "for no reason". This is laughable because the troll knows full well the reasons for any actions that may have been taken to prevent the troll from attacking the forum in question. Trolls tend to be pathological liars. They are a form of scam artist but, instead of money, it's attention they seek.

You can find more information using Wikipedia or by doing a Google search