Disinformation Troll Traits IP: 72.74.165.239 Posted on March 31, 2014 at 07:56:05 PM by MTA
Personal List for Identifying Disinformation Troll Schemes and Tactics
Stop Them Before They Get Started!!
1) Imaginary Lovers: This involves the use of the phrases such as, "we", or ,"all of us" ,or, "the vast majority", where no such qualifier is necessary, appropriate, or true. How often do we see the line, "we all know" somewhere in the disinformation trolls post when what we really do know is this turkey speaks for no one but himself.
2) Guilt By Association: Nothing you say is safe. The disinformation troll will not fail to find some fringe character who, at some time, may have said something similar. E.g. "Charles Manson once said" ""Good for some may not be the same for others."" With typical pie in the sky logic the troll will then attribute to you some similar line and in no time at all have you placed at the scene of the LaBianca murders.
Similarly - if you reference a body of work in which the author is involved with controversial subject matter- the troll will hold you personally responsible for the sum total of that authors work.
3) Putting Words In Your Mouth: The mind reading disinformation troll will often spin something you say into some bizzare, convoluted interpretation of what he wishes you said - if only you were as smart as he is. This troll is also not above making a blanket (check his "scources") accusation from which you are cast in a disadvantaged position. It does not matter one iota to the troll if he has absolutely nothing to base his claims. Nor does it mattter if the accusation has anything to do with the issue at hand. He probablydoes not believe it himself. He doesn't care. What is true or real does not matter to the disinformation troll. Trolls are different - above, consideration of the rules of simple logic and decency the rest of us must hold to. If he has to he will go as far as buy into the forum in orfer to continue posting.
4) A troll will often make claims of knowledge he could not possibly have access to - often followed by some qualifying phrase such as, "the vast majority believe." (see rule 1)
5) A Dis. Troll will often attempt to win through instigating sheer disgust in the his opponents. (see rule # 9)
6) The Gaurd Dog Troll sits ready to hit the submit button. The troll will post atop opposition posts almost immediately with prepared responses often times bizzarely out of context.
7) The Repetition Troll will repeat a lie continuously, absolutely unashamedly, hoping the allegation will finally stick and become permanently associated with his opponent.
8) Its All About the Troll: One of many variations. The more..."um"...self absorbed type disinformation troll will burst upon the scene defending himself from allegations no one has leveled against him thus diverting any discussion, from whatever it was, to something far less important or interesting; the troll himself. Self involvment (narcisism) may very well be the key to understanding the base motivation of the troll. But be warned - your investigation may turn out to be fairly uninteresting.
(9 Creating false personas: The disinformation troll will actually go so far as to create false personas and actually stage false arguments with himself. Sometimes this can go on over a substantial period of time - years. Trolls have just lots and lots of time on their hands. The troll will then use this persona as a character reference when things get really rough. Trolls have no convictions or motivating principles other than the need for attention. And sometimes when everyone has turned away in disgust they have only themselves to talk to.
10) The Troll of Hyperbole: The troll will blow up a small statement or incident, often having no bearing to the original topic, into something that takes on freakish importance and diverts the direction of a discussion.
11) A troll will often take something literally which was obviously meant to be taken with a grain of salt. If you let the troll get away with it you will find the rest of the discussion becoming humorless, trite, and devoid of any irony -a discussion to suit the troll - and not nearly as interesting.
12) The Dithering Troll will manipulate the unwary opponent into the impossible position of trying to prove a negative.
13) Bait and Switch and Bait Again Troll: Manuevering an unwary opponent into a switch of topics more to his liking. Then the troll will demand impossible proofs on the new topic which he knows do not exist or are not accessible at the time. The straw man is the troll's best friend. His next ten posts will then be shrill accusations of your failure to respomd to his demands.
14) The Editing Troll: While this troll may at times cleverly use portions your quotes accurately but will then often arrange or use parts which seems to prop up his own wild argument.
15) The Source Citing Troll: This troll wants you to believe citing his sources, such as they are, is the same thing as engaging you in a valid ,reasoned, argument. The troll sees no problem citing himself when the lie he cites is something he has repeated many times over. A trolls idea of a valid scource is likely to be very different from yours.
16) The Troll of Obfuscation: This troll is absolutely positive making sense or telling the truth is not nearly as important as the fact he has said it over and over again.
17) Mental Illness Can Be Fun: The troll will stage a major hissy fit which may be greatly entertaining but also legitimately calls his sanity into question. This can have the dubious effect of letting the poor troll off the hook and allowing his credibility an undesrved free ride.
18) The; 'We Are Losing Our Fight With The Sea Troll"; This is what your thinking when you log onto a chat forum, hoping to get the latest, and what you find is the last post, of the first ten threads, are by your resident disinformationa troll who has obviously been up all night
19) The - All Over The Map- Troll: When the troll loses sight of what he wants to accomplish. Childishly lashing out in all directions becomes a goal unto itself. (see rule 17)
20) The - Could Not Possibly Be More Pleased With Himself - Where the troll will use feigned self confidence as evidence. If the troll's pleasure were based on honest, worthwhile, undertaking then all the self admiration would be more understandable and bearable.
21) When Your the #2 Troll you just don't get any respect. You try harder but a forced effort using any available device ends up having an effect at cross purposes to what the troll intended. After a while the troll becomes his own worst opponent - alone and babbling away to a false persona.
22) The Righteous, Noble, Green Troll will latch onto a legitimate issue as a means to prop up his credibility, ie "Global Warming". Since there is often no way to dispute his claims of definative knowledge what topic could be more useful to the oppurtunistic troll than one with so many unanswered questions ? By his reasoning if he is right about "Global Warming" he must be right about most everything under the sun. Another useful subject for the troll might be "String Theory"
23) Troll of Suppression; The term forum troll has developed into something of an excuse for using suppression techniques on opponents in chat forum community disputes. By scapegoating someone else as a forum troll, he gives himself a rationalization to ignore, mock, blame, ban, and withhold information from his opponent. These days many chat forums are created or moderated by Trolls for the singular purpose of spreading disinformation and keeping real useful information to a minimum.
24) Troll Playing Dumb Nothing could please him more than to get you to spend many unfruitful and frustrating hours trying to explain something to a troll he does not want to know.
This is an evolving list in continual revision. I have received some excellent suggestions. Please keep them coming. Finding and providing tools to help wade through all the crap online is important work. Make your own list!
Replies: There have been no replies.
You must register before you can post on this board. You can register here.