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At what point do you label someone a troll?
Some of the discussions on my blog get pretty intense and heated. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. I appreciate it, actually. I learn a lot from people challenging my ideas or offering different perspectives.
I do have a problem with people who consistently violate Wheaton’s Law. But I’ve also watched people swoop into a conversation at Dick Factor Nine, only to eventually turn around and say, “Huh … okay, I guess maybe you have a point there. Sorry for being a dick.”
Yeah, it doesn’t happen often. But it has happened.
To me, a troll is someone who shows up solely to stir things up and piss people off. There’s zero interest in the conversation, zero interest in listening. It’s a game for the troll’s amusement, to poke buttons and see who s/he can piss off.
To me, clueless =/= troll. Angry =/= troll. Even blatant violation of Wheaton’s Law doesn’t necessarily equate to trolling. We all act like jerks sometimes. (I might still ban you for repeated offenses, but I wouldn’t automatically assume you were a troll.)
I think we tend to label people trolls too quickly. And from what I’ve seen, I think we sometimes do it as a way to dismiss people we disagree with. (I’m including myself in the “we” here, by the way.)
What do you think? We can’t read minds, so when do you decide someone is just trolling and no longer worth responding to?
- Is the “Men’s Rights” advocate who shows up in one of my rape posts to argue that “Rape is a weapon used by feminists to attack men!” a troll?
- What about the anonymous commenter who says, “I know it’s off-topic, but I wanted to tell you I read your latest book, and it was utter trash.” Does it make a difference if they aren’t anonymous?
- Does the guy who shows up using offensive language (i.e., “That’s so gay/retarded!”) count as a troll? What if he continues to use that language after being told it’s offensive?
It’s possible I’m overanalyzing this. But I’m curious what others think.
Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.
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They're always small sites that harassers set up themselves, usually on blog sites. Seanan's 'troll' was working out of a wiki site, most of what I saw, as well as posting abusive material on LJ. I don't know how they put an end to that but I believe Seanan and her other friends managed to get that stopped.
The one who went after me (mostly) and to a lesser degree several other of the people who were doing Lightning War (which is a fanworks mashup of about 20 fandoms) was making fake live journal accounts (and blogs, on blog sites) which were presenting themselves as mine, while posting abusive trash on any account we owned that wasn't locked to friends. This person is one of the reasons LJ developed a ban evasion policy because at one point everyone in Lightning War had a bunch of accounts banned. I lost track at 30 or so. They were eventually banned from LJ forever. That one stole photos I and friends had taken of me and defaced them and posted them on a Blogger site that they lost because we DMCA'd them for stealing our pictures.
This is actually very common behaviour in junior high and high schools; it's called 'cyberbullying'. Kids will make fake accounts, post doctored pictures and slurs and accusations about people they don't like, and put them up on the web for the whole school to see. Unfortunately kids and their parents don't usually know how to stop it and once it's been seen by everyone the damage is done, so there have been suicides.
Unfortunately, in fandom there are people who are not above this sort of behaviour even though they are adults; fortunately, most adults in fandom are conversant enough with website rules and applicable laws that we can usually eventually get these sites taken down.