The value of trolling

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What gets me about 'trolls' is that they only ever say that kind of thing from behind the mask of anonymity and never have the courage to say that kind of thing to your face. As unpleasant as this may sound, but if you 'trolled' me in real life, there is a strong possibility you would get a punch on the nose. If I knew you and understood the context then we would get on fine and I would probably laugh, but to have a complete stranger do it......well you reap what you sow.

So much bullying takes place under the guise of 'harmless fun' or 'we didn't mean it, we were just being silly' and I see 'trolling' as a form of bullying. Taking pleasure from other peoples alarm, harrassment or anger is just messed up and I cannot see a set of circumstances where you can say that it is a positive thing. I firmly believe that a very hard line would be taken by the Mods on this site and am delighted by that.

Most of the people I have seen prosecuted for 'trolling' have been massive a***holes, real saddo pond scum and that often leads to us dismissing them as irrelevent, but they did real damage and caused genuine distress to the victims by their intentional actions. They are bullies and bullies need stamping on and stamping out.

I tend to troll in video games by intentionally discriminate other people whilst I'm also descriminating myself to make the situation calmer. I'm doing it because of boredom and because it's funny to put these irrational judgements on other people. What that differentiates me with an actual troll is that I usually always apologize after trolling. No, I do not troll in websites, only games.

I think it depends on whom you troll, as well as how. Troll the powerful and the majority. You can't make bigoted remarks and then say you were only joking. You can, but doing so only gets you moved from the bigot category into the a$$hole, probably bigoted, category.

Discussion board make great places to hone your skills as a smart aleck, but the sophisticated smart aleck will figure out how to do it while accurately representing her beliefs and not crossing the line.

Trolling is a form of bullying. Don't do it.

Trolling, even the lesser forms, is a negatively charged form of communication. However I do appreciate the fact that you talk openly and honestly about it. And talking about it, is not doing it.

In this community though, when it happens its bad news. People come here for many reasons, but more then a few are pretty battered and scarred by bullying and hurtful words. Some have endured that sort of thing their whole life.

Things get heated enough just in the genuine intensity and emotional outbursts that occur in a forum that allows the most controversial and serious subjects discussed. Purposely stirring things up here is a bit of a betrayal of the other people on the spectrum.

I've never understood trolling but then I didn't grow up with the internet. I don't say anything online that I wouldn't be prepared to say to their face.

I've never indulged in "banter" in real life either. I've never really "got it". Is this the same thing? I don't feel comfortable enough with people to play at insults with them because I know I have things I'm sensitive about (like my appearance) and I don't like people insulting me about these things. I assume that others feel the same so I don't say potentially hurtful things.

People call trolling an art but I don't see it as such - most often it is making bullying or bigotted comments, playing to the lowest common denominator. JrJones is right - it's OK to punch upwards - to troll the powerful and the majority. I usually see it directed at vulnerable individuals.

As you say you troll and thereby learn to communicate better, I want to add that your topics on WP sometimes gave me a trollish impression. I don't say this to be rude or anything, but considering that you want to improve in that sense I figured that you might like to know that at least 1 person on here got a troll vibe at some point.

My method of trolling is arguing with stupid people and saying things to them to show their stupidity. Sometimes I still feel tempted to do it as a joke but I am too lazy to even do it.

I feel trollish when I feel pissed so I am in a thread arguing and sprouting my politically incorrect opinions but these are my real thoughts and I am serious and I feel the need to speak my mind and I don't really care about being likable. I am not here to impress people or to make friends. If I am getting too upset, I leave the thread and not go back to it. No need to get myself so heated up I am so upset inside and angry about the way things are in the world. I have certain triggers and violent children is one of them and violent people or anything that reminds me about my ex boyfriends. I don't always click the thread or don't always say anything because I am not up for arguing and expressing my opinion and sometimes it's hard to not respond to a post that responded to me disagreeing with what I wrote so it's best to avoid it all together. I did it a lot more often on here years back expressing my unpopular opinions but that was before I had kids and found something else better to do and not get distracted from them over something online because I know if I get deep into something, it's hard for me to stop and I can see myself neglecting my child because someone on the internet is "wrong." Also back then I would be tense and have more anxiety from an online drama I was in and is it really worth feeling that way? I hated it too but couldn't stop.

I notice a pattern with trolls. People who have admitted to it all tend to not have a life outside the computer. They are usually depressed or have nothing better to do, they are bored. They are usually teens or young adults who are still in school. That is where the term "troll season" comes from. Sometimes you notice more trolling online during certain times of the year. Anyone can troll and trolling can happen any time of the year. Just because one can troll doesn't mean they are good at it and I have met an aspie online who had a severe case of it and she was a pro at it. She really knew how to push peoples buttons and provoke them and no way would I have been able to do that. She had been doing it from a young age is why about 12 years of age or 11 years if I remember correctly so she had that many years of practice. She did help me with some troll posts back in 2009 and it was a success then because she really knew how to do it and I just copied and paste what she wrote and posted it elsewhere and yeah I got heated responses, reactions I have never gotten before. She could make her posts obvious troll posts or make them look real. She had great talent for it. I suck at it. April Fools day is the only time of the year for trolling and that is me making fake posts making something up. This year I wrote about on two forums and my own blog about my kid getting taken and people fell for it and others didn't and some were not happy with my humor. Sure enough there are some that believe what I wrote and then think I am a liar and lie about other stuff online because they can't grasp April Fools day and can't be bothered to look at the date and what day it was when I posted it. I remember two years back, I staged a drama here with another member and we wee both fighting and people here actually thought we were fighting and mad at each other. I was also a "moderator" here for the day and she was pissed about it an I made brownies for other people here and she got none from me. I am sure some of you remember this. But it was fun and then it got exhausting so I am amazed how trolls can keep it up because I get exhausted and can't even last a day. Then it felt great being myself again than faking and trolling is faking it because you are making stuff up and pretending. I would rather write stories than making fake posts. For some reason not everyone is happy with my April Fools jokes so that means I am either not good at it or those people take things too seriously and can't stand falling for humor. Heck I fell for a joke online that day this year and I didn't get all pissed about it when the admin wrote the next day "April Fools." I did wonder how many members fell for it. But that day is the only good excuse for trolling without getting into trouble for it or getting accused of being an attention seeker or a liar. I also think if anyone chooses to think your joke was real, they already had something against you already and they are just using your joke as an excuse. If they liked you or didn't have any opinion about you, they wouldn't have held it against you and not chosen to believe it. But AF jokes are also a way to see peoples true colors too. You get to see who your real friends are, and who liked you or not.

I don't know if this would be trolling or not but sometimes I get tempted to post fake questions online to get answers for my story but I don't like to deceive people so I don't ever post them. Instead I read around and put it in my story to make it more real, more plausible. I also do it for the drama too. I also put in real experience too.