MetaTalk posts tagged with trolling

Trolling Via Questioned Assumptions

jimmyjimjim — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:08:44 -0800

"I question the very basis of your question/the assumptions behind your question!!" Forgive me if this has been discussed before...if it's an evergreen, feel free to ignore me. There's a subtle form of trolling on AskMeFI....I think of it as "questioned assumptions" trolling. Someone asks a question, and posters, in lieu of answering the question posed, question the basis of the question. It's subtle, because sometimes assumptions are truly faulty and really ought to be questioned. But the practice is vastly more common than that. Sometimes it feels like no question is immune, and, while, again, it's subtle, I do think it's trolling. Three reasons why: 1. ANGER. The questioning of assumptions is almost always slightly contemptuous in tone. 2. LOOPHOLE EXPLOITED. Every community has trolls, though AskMeFi is less vulnerable, by virtue of the narrowness of its mission. It's hard to troll an AskMeFi, but by zooming a discussion to underlying assumptions, there's a lot more juicy meat...and it can be gotten at without going O.T. (risking deletion). 3. PUSHING BACK ENCOURAGES THEM: recently, I've taken to nearly begging for people to answer my questions as-is, and not derail by picking away at the question. Interestingly, this seems to actually bring on more of this sort of thing. Is there a way to fight this? The problem is that trolls love to exploit a slippery slope. Obviously, a mere dab of such activity can't possibly be moderated, so there's an undrawably fine line. But all troll moderation involves trying to draw undrawable lines, I suppose....

Trolling techniques

srboisvert — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:12:40 -0800

I think it was here that I came across a great webpage listing forum trolling techniques that read like an academic listing of informal logic fallacies. It had things like finding errors in small and irrelevant details, ad-hominem attacks, using provocative and loaded terms, shifting claims, concern trolling etc... I've looked for it several times recently and can't find it. Anybody remember the link?

Grow the hell up.

dirtynumbangelboy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:43:28 -0800

An open letter. You people all seem to think that you can sit there, misconstrue what I say, quote me out of context, and flat out fucking ignore me when I point out why you're wrong, and why what you are saying is wrong, and why what you think I am saying is not actually what I have said. That really is par for the course around here, though. You people have decided that no matter what, you simply will not actually respond to what I actually say; you would much rather decide what I have said and respond to that instead. Does that make you feel superior? Does it? Does it make you feel all warm inside when you see me get angry because you refuse to actually respond to what I actually say? Do you derive some sort of satisfaction from it? It certainly seems that way. Stop it. I won't put up with it. You people have been doing it for months, and you need to stop. Believe it or not, I am allowed to have opinions. Believe it or not, I have thought long and hard about the opinions I hold, and I continue to do so. You all seem to think that 'disagreement' means 'doesn't understand'. Rest assured that I do understand, I disagree. That is, despite how you all act, allowed. What is not allowed is how you all treat me, and have been treating me for some time. Stop misquoting me. Stop putting words in my mouth. Stop deliberately misconstruing what I am saying. This goes triple when I have said "No, that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is this." I won't be participating in this thread. Y'all can go ahead and flame as much as you like. The best part, of course, is how many of you won't realize how this applies to you. And by 'best', I mean 'most depressing'.

=Noise? Derail? Breaks the guidelines?

msalt — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:43:08 -0800

Can we add a flag for trolling? Or is this covered under one of the existing flags?

hopefully nipping this in the bud

heeeraldo — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 11:14:58 -0800

hey, bruce? I, and other folks, aren't too thrilled with what you're saying in the Elyse Sewell thread. Let's talk about you over here, and keep talking about her over there.

I said this in the thread, and I'll say it again: I agree with you on the power of pop culture, and the resultant desensitization towards significant social ills. However, this isn't the place to bring it up.

wtf quonsar

Pope Guilty — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:48:43 -0800

quonsar, are you trolling or just dumb?

I can has NO Gnostic Novelist plz?

dirtynumbangelboy — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:48:03 -0800

Could we perhaps gently show Gnostic Novelist where the door is? I would link to some of the more egregious of his baby-smearing-doodoo-all-over-threads, but it's probably simpler just to look at his posting history.

So they delete my question without reading it

markovich — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:29:06 -0800

I think the moderators should please actually READ the question before deleting it. I asked a valid question about dinner table conversation, and the moderator deletes it on reading the word "troll". I cry unfair!

Assholes in Aisle 12

mkultra — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:16:05 -0800

Fucking flag it and move on. It's not about YOU.

ask.met... er, I mean provoke.metafilter?

CKmtl — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:07:14 -0800

Is this in any way acceptable? By which I mean posting a question that you "know" will be flame-bait, and then taunting those who answer?

Offensive gif in Askme thread

SpecialK — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 08:55:27 -0800

This kind of thing should result in an instaban.

In case any of you slept through your Women's Issues class in college, here are the cliffnotes.

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:02:19 -0800

In case any of you slept through your Women's Issues class in college, here are the cliffnotes.

Outstanding comment saves D&D thread from troll

dersins — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 18:02:43 -0800

It started off as an innocent thread about D&D. It degenerated into a trainwreck of trolling and vituperation. But then, at the last, it was rescued by a truly outstanding comment. This is both what I hate and what I love most about metafilter.

Too Much Trolling

potch — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 16:25:10 -0800

There seems to be a contingent of people on this website (we all know who they are) who feel the need to pollute threads that would be otherwise relevant, reasonable, and/or interesting. They come in, spew their opinion, and then proceed to turn thought-provoking material into a three ring circus. After having to sift through heaps of vitrol to find comments that even remotely relate to the topic at hand twice today, I've had enough. Your need to have your last word in a public meeting space that prides itself on civil, topical conversation is disgustingly revealing of your immaturity and arrogance. As a user of this site who is primarily a lurker, I want to make a statement on behalf of those people who come here for the fascinating content: If you feel the need to troll and argue, shut up already.

debating a conservative

mkultra — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:46:15 -0800

Is it possible to engage in a debate with a Conservative on MeFi without calling him a troll? I give you this example.

If you hate it so much, why are you here?

Optimus Chyme — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 12:04:51 -0800

If you hate it so much, why are you here? (1, 2, 3, 4)

Who's "trolling" now?

davy — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 11:11:30 -0800

Who's "trolling" now? Don't we have enough vituperative political "debates" around here without somebody singling out and baiting certain individuals by name?

Hey refugee/racist people, get your own thread

tomharpel — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 07:20:35 -0800

Hey refugee/racist people, get your own thread. Eight comments into it, the troll succeeds and we're no longer talking about the camps. Good work.

paleocon is being seriously disruptive.

Optimus Chyme — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 20:40:06 -0800

I say die New Orleans die.

Dios is blatantly trolling.

[expletive deleted] — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:32:07 -0800

Dios is blatantly trolling. Again. This time, there can be no doubt in my mind that he is simply posting ridiculous, inflammatory and disingenuous comments for the purpose of starting needless arguments. If he had bothered to read the post, he would know that his point is invalidated completely. Do we have to tolerate his constant shitting on any political thread?

Ladies and gentleman, welcome MeFi's newest troll!

trey — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 19:59:21 -0800

Ladies and gentleman, welcome MeFi's newest troll!

Constructive suggestions for dealing with trolls

Zonker — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 13:41:15 -0800

Some constructive suggestions for dealing with trolls . . . [more inside]

This is the thread for any complainers about the Mary Cary thread and the trolls that ran about it.

wheelieman — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 14:00:34 -0800

This is the thread for any complainers about the Mary Cary thread and the trolls that ran about it.

/ not complaining, just preventing snarks on the MeTa page. Metafilter is rated G well for the most part. *shakes fist at Mary Cary*

Crosses the line

Mid — Fri, 13 May 2005 11:51:11 -0800

"And that clot is blocking your wife's cervix."

First, bait emotionally susceptible people with some easy trollery. Second, after you've drawn out some victims, call them "shallow hags" and tell them to "take [their] self-absorbed neuroses to an appropriate forum." Third, deliver the knockout blow: attack them with their own medical conditions!

All in a day's work for Mayor Curley: defeating infertile, shallow internet hags everywhere.

OK, I was a little bit of a jerk, but the reply was worse!

koeselitz — Mon, 02 May 2005 10:26:30 -0800

I grant that my first comment in this thread was a little troll-ish, and I'm sorry about that. I probably contributed a pretty bad atmosphere to the discussion there. But was this really warranted?