Trolls

[stargazer]

That's a great glossary. (I just checked it out.) Hey--this week I re-wrote Act One of my script, I think it's much more playable now. I chopped 4 pages of dialogue out of it without changing a note of music, and I'm trying to make sure that all the dialogue either develops a character or furthers the plot, as well as is entertaining. I'll send you an e-mail w/an attachment if you want to view it. (I'm pretty proud of it, although that'll wane when after a few days I think it's lousy again.)

Seriously, I got motivated by this production possibility, and it kicked me into gear. (My new girlfriend is helping, too.)

 

[stargazer]

Hmmm...I drifted off the subject there.

 

[foghlaim]

well done Stargazer... *s*

 

[ThatLady]

Heh. Ahhh, trolls! How I do love them! :

I am one of the administrators on another board...a gaming board that is pretty "rough". That board has more than its fair share of trolls. In my experience, the vast majority of these people are lacking in self-esteem. They come off as very sure of themselves, but if you scratch the surface just a bit you find a scared, lonely child, underneath all the bluster, crying out for attention. Since there's really no way to help them, the best thing to do is to ignore them. Never respond to them. Response only fuels their fire and nobody gains from the interaction.

 

[stargazer]

It's helpful for me to understand that these trolls are lacking in self-esteem.? I hadn't quite seen it that way before, since trolls "comes across" as though extremely sure of themselves.? In fact, the way that a troll will come across is something I have found really scary.? But now that I see that this air of extreme confidence is only a cover-up for low-self-esteem and a childlike need for attention, it lessens the "power" that I've attributed to these people.?

(Oh, and thanks, NotSureAnymore!)

 

[ThatLady]

Yep. Once you see these little demons for what they are, they lose a lot of their fearsomeness. If you try, you can almost picture them sitting there, at their computers, trying to find a way to be the biggest and baddest internet baddie that ever existed. It's sorta pitiful when you think about it.

 

[stargazer]

Yeah, you're right.? It is kind of pitiful.? Really, these folks ought to "get a life."? But it's probably their very lack of social confidence in any normal & healthy context that spawns the trollish behavior in the first place.? If they believed they could get a "life," they'd go out and get one.? But they don't, so their trolling is a more-or-less desperate attempt to channel their social energies, even if in an awkward and ultimately unfulfilling fashion.

 

[ThatLady]

Excellent insight, stargazer! Never again will you be intimidated by some erstwhile internet "baddie". Now, you can sit back and realize how really sad this person's life must be. To be honest with you, I feel far more pity for these poor fools than for any of us who are working so hard to find our way to a happy, healthy life by using the right methods.

 

[stargazer]

Right on. No matter what we might think or feel about ourselves from time to time, we've sure got a better grip on life than these trolls do. And it behooves us to recognize that, and take full advantage of our blessings.

 

[stargazer]

About six months ago, I rejoined a relatively small blogging community I'd been participating in for several years. I had left the community largely because I was feeling hassled by a certain troll, although there were other reasons. When I came back, it wasn't long before the troll appeared. I began to ignore everything she said, and I never responded, although it was still irritating. Then, recently, I learned that she's been doing the same thing with other diarists in the community. I wrote to the owner of the service, and he said the best thing to do would be to ban her IP address. I replied that I'd already banned several IP addresses of hers--she just goes and finds another computer. She also keeps changing the name by which she posts, and she fixes her diary so that no one can comment on anything she says, which encourages long arguments on people's own comments pages. Finally, I found out her full name and the general area in which she lives. So, isn't there some way to simply file a legal complaint against this person...harrassment or something? In "real life," this kind of thing could lead to a class action suit. Why do Internet trolls get away with all this? I honestly feel like gathering a whole bunch of people together who have been affected by her comments, and calling the authorities.

 

[foghlaim]

which encourages long arguments on people's own comments pages.

this i think is why this particular troll is continueing to harrass you and others on the site. I think ( could be wrong) there is probably a lot of satisfaction being derived from the fact that there is such arguements or debates even, centering on this person. get the ppl together alright, but maybe plan NOT to have anymore discussions or even an acknowledgement that she exists. trolls like getting attention, NO attention and she will most probably go elsewhere to seek same.

Not sure the authorities can do anything, as you have pointed out, she just goes and uses another computer.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

If she is in the US or Canada, you might have some hope; trying to launch action against someone internationally is a nightmare. Additionally, she could always just start using "anonymizers" and proxies to avoid tracing.

Best to just keep ignoring her and advise everyone else to do the same.

 

[stargazer]

I hadn't considered that (the international factor)...the whole thing would have to be on the DL, as in perhaps someone having a cop friend in Germany, but now we're getting into high drama. You're right, it's best to just keep ignoring her. It's just that every now and then people become indignant en masse and wish that something could be done about it.

I still can't fully comprehend why she's so flagrant about her name, whereabouts, job, etc. -- one would think she'd be doing all she could to hide all that. I wonder if it's a sign of some specific mental health condition? I've also noticed, when I've bothered to have read her posts, that she's very articulate and almost poetic in use of metaphor, etc., so I'm wondering if she's one of these people who thinks she's being cool or artsy, when in reality all she is is a royal pain.

 

[ThatLady]

She (if it is a "she") is simply an attention whore, SG. Any attention, bad or good, will serve her needs. Attention is what drives these people, and the deprivation of attention is what puts them to rest. If trolls are ignored, they'll go elsewhere looking to fulfill their need for center stage. As long as people on your blogging site are reacting to her, she'll continue her foolishness.

She's probably already using proxies. That's very easy to do.

 

[stargazer]

I'm not sure what a proxy is.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

It's basically a way of accessing the net through a generic IP address instead of your own, so it disguises your actual origins. For example, if you are an AOL customer, AOL uses a series of proxies shared among several other customers so there's no way to directly tell where (or who) the person is.

 

[ThatLady]

AOL addresses are impossible to trace because of the use of proxies. There are also a number of free, online proxies that can be accessed by anyone who wishes to do so; thereby, masking their true IP address (if you check, the check returns the address of the proxy server instead of that of the user). There are also lists of proxy addresses available (you can Google them) for use by changing your IP addresss through the Tools function of your browser (IE Tools - don't know what the other browsers use, but the function is available, I'm sure).

 

[^^Phoenix^^]

I'm coming in on this conversation really late, but some of the original article made me think of this: http://gprime.net/video.php/reallifevsinternet

It is a link that I have had bookmarked on my browser for like two years or something, because I find it so funny and true.

 

[just mary]

but some of the original article made me think of this: http://gprime.net/video.php/reallifevsinternet

:lol: I've never seen this one before, it was good, I'm going to bookmark it too.

Back to the topic however, I think she just wants attention also. Not much you can do about her, other than try to ignore her and know that most everyone else feels the same way. You're not alone.

jm

 

[stargazer]

Allow me a moment to catch up! Again, I didn't receive any notifications, so I missed the last four posts. I'll be back in a bit.