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The Secret Playbook of Internet Trolls
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
What’s confusing you
Is the nature of my game
- The Rolling Stones
The reason that Internet trolls are effective is that people still don’t understand their game.
There are 15 commonly-used trolling tactics to disrupt, misdirect and control internet discussions.
As one interesting example, trolls start flame wars because – according to two professors – swearing and name-calling shut down our ability to think and focus.
And trolls will often spew divisive attacks so that people argue against each other, instead of bad actions and policies of the powers-that-be. For example, trolls will:
Start a religious war whenever possible using stereotypes like “all Jews are selfish”, “all Christians are crazy” or “all Muslims are terrorists”.
Yesterday, the alternative news site Common Dreams caught a troll using scores of different user names to spew anti-Semitic bile. (Common Dreams discovered that the same troll was behind the multiple user names by tracking their IP addresses. And the troll confessed to Common Dreams.)
The troll is a “a Jewish Harvard graduate in his thirties who was irritated by the website’s discussion of issues involving Israel”.
He posted anti-Semitic diatribes – such as Hitler should have finished the job and killed all Jews – using one alias. Then – a couple of minutes later – he’d post an attack on the first poster using a different alias, claiming that criticism of Israel is the same thing as anti-Semitism. (Note: Holocaust survivors and Israeli ministers say it’s not.)
Why would a Jew post vile anti-Semitic comments? Because normal people are offended by – and don’t want to be associated with – pure, naked anti-Semitism, and so they will avoid such discussions. If the discussion was originally criticizing a specific aspect of Israeli policy, the discussion will break down, and the actual point regarding policy will be lost.
Similarly, anti-Semitic posts weaken websites by making them seem less reputable. Indeed, Common Dreams says that the troll’s anti-Semitic comments drove away many of that site’s largest donors … dealing a severe blow to its continued viability. That’s exactly what trolls spewing anti-Semitic bile are trying to do: shut down logical discussion and discredit and weaken sites which allow rational criticism of policy.
It is well-known that foreign governments and large companies troll online. See this, this this, and this. For example, the Israeli government is paying students to post pro-Israeli comments online.
And American students are also attempting to influence internet discussion.
While the Common Dreams troll claims that he’s not sponsored by the state of Israel, government agencies have manipulated Internet discussion for years. This includes the use of multiple “socket puppet” aliases. The potential for mischief is stunning.
Unless we learn their game …
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Actually, yeah, sort of. My nephew is getting married at the end of September.
Troll Antipersona: GW, you're a fucking worthless idiot!
McCormick #9: I really must demurr. GW presents some very thoughtful and provocative ideas, and the world is a better place for him.
TA: Ahh, go fuck yourself. GW should have been sent to the gas chambers!
MC9: Dear sir, I believe GW wasn't even born when the Nazis were in power. His insightful articles that expose tyranny at home and abroad strengthen America's democratic system.
...I suppose this is how it works, George?
Perhaps ZH should implement a third choice for readers when evaluating others' comments. Besides the up arrows and down arrows, we need a "suspected troll" arrow. That way lazy readers can easily ignore certain posts rather than at least seeing the poster's name and evaluating the potential value based on past posts. Or maybe we should we should all just watch TV, where the only form of commenting is to stop watching.
I don't think we should encourage ZH reader to be lazy.
That being said I hope to see more frequent restraint from Radical Paragraphujuana on the size of comments
Aw hell, GG, some serial junker will adopt an go though spamming it. We'll all end up flagged.
Actually, I'd like to see an "Ignore" button. When I've determined that a particular poster is devoid of useful thought, I could simply choose not to see their comments.
I wouldn't use this on people I simply disagree with, as those are the people who challenge your thinking, and that's why I come here. I'm talking about the truly useless.
Pithy
Trolling has been around since the Sophists.
The internut fits into the Jaynesian paradigm as just another false authority for those who need to gaze at totem poles instead of thinking.
...and here you are. What do you think of the pole on the left?
It could use fresh paint but other than that at least it helps indicate the time on a sunny day.
It really is difficult to tell a troll from a true nincompoop. They look so much alike.
I think the facial expression gives it away.
Derp: http://conmedisys.com/img/5a/5ab/DERP_SONG_10_HOURS.jpg
Troll: http://media.desura.com/cache/images/members/1/393/392106/thumb_940x3000/Personal_Trollface_HD.png
Concern Troll (don't be fooled by puppy-dog eyes faked-concern): http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/356/2/b/chibi_trollface____by_spacebunny2221-d5os8z2.png
a keeper: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/78/f4/fe/78f4fedb6687d1ae1c52118ae672c7f4.jpg
a keeper: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.comtire6x/78/f4/fe/78f4fedb6687d1ae1c52118ae672c7f4.jpg
It's very unusual to see the entire international community assembled in a single photograph.
You can trace their IP addresses and get rid of the amateurs but what are the odds that the .GOV trolls don't use a way to mask their origin?
Interesting if the sites could provide IP tracing tools, either when the ID is setup or probably better, as a trace-back link on every post....
I have heard of these tools but they always seem to be too difficult to use in a day to day setting.
Most forum packages provide IP logging and tracing. Every time a post is made, the IP address is logged. There are also tools for sorting, identifying and flagging the data.
All of this is available to the administrators, behind the scenes.
what are the odds that the .GOV trolls don't use a way to mask their origin?...
I appreciate the time some people spend here to see how long a poster has been commenting, like "Wow, Mr. 2 weeks, 4 days and 6 hours..."
I don't often post, but when I do, I try to sway opinions. I've only been posting for a little over 4 years, but I've been appreciating ZH articles and commenters since the days of Marla and WB7 was just getting his wings.
I'm a New Testament Christian and know from the history of the guys recorded there they never backed down from a verbal challenge regarding the nature of life, virtue, truth and the bodily resurrection of Christ. They took heat from both Jews and Gentiles, so it feels pretty good to be a part of fight club, the pain of the punches has a certain ring of authenticity of faith.
jmo.
I'm a New Testament Christian ...
As distinguished from an Old Testament Christian? Is there such a thing as an Old Testament Christian?
Test: Am I being a troll here, or am I asking a useful question for those who don't know?
As distinguished from an Old Testament Christian?...
I suppose technically there would be no difference. The men responsible for teaching the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the New Testament only had the Jewish law, prophets and Psalms to work with when teaching first century Jews initially before moving on to Greco-Roman and other Gentiles.
These guys were equally despised and rejected by all groups and suffered humiliation, imprisonment, violent physical attacks and martyrdom by all as a result of their convictions. Christians today have a far easier row to hoe as we have the historical records of their teachings and the benefit of their arguments as they presented them to Jewish religious audiences, secular Greco-Roman civil / intellectual pederasts and other societies and nations as well.
The Benjaminite Saul, (later changed to Paul) was a product of highly regarded, privileged Roman and Jewish parents and though he claimed both the rights and freedoms of joint citizenry, he was willing to forego it all for the sake of the excellency of his hope of eternal life through the knowledge of Jesus being the fulfillment of the Jew’s law, prophets and psalms and embracing what the state regarded as utter foolishness.
When I say “New Testament Christian” it’s mainly in reference to his history and writings as recorded in what are considered the canon of New Testament literature.
Jmo.
The english term Christian was a derisive Greek term (Christianos) applied to those who followed Christ's teachings and gave their allegiance to Christ rather than to the emperor of Rome. Since Christ was not alive in the Old Testament, it would be rather difficult to have Old Testament followers of Christ's teachings (Christians). By definition, a Christian is one who adopts the New Testament approach to God, not the Old Testament approach. So the term "New Testament Christian" is redundant. ;-)
But my larger point is that some would label me a troll for doing what I've just done. But the truth is, I'm genuinely trying to be helpful to those who may not know what I just said. I think it is very presumptuous of others to imagine they know the true motivation for why someone says something and so can "know" who is a troll in most cases. But labeling someone a troll is a convenient way of avoiding thinking about what the person said.
labeling someone a troll is a convenient way of avoiding thinking...
I don't mind thinking for the most part. I appreciate the opportunity to defend what I consider a legitimate world view in the context of ancient historical writings, archeological evidence and logical deductive reasoning.
Your comments upstream regarding land constantly being reacquired by peoples more capable of defending it than their predecessors seems to square all the way back to Abraham and his travels from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land bridge currently occupied by the replacement team, aka Israelis.
As for the “derisive” term “Christian” being applied by the Grecian citizenry, I’ll defer to your understanding. Historically, I was taught the term was first applied to believers of the way in Antioch. As for their allegiance to the Christ in lieu of the Caesars, that’s a bit of a sticky wicket.
They were taught to recognize civil authorities as agents of God sent to provide order but to not regard the state as divine or supremely endowed with progenerative, creative capabilities. This put them at odds as most conquering entities are not content with being mere temporary office holders and prefer their subjects to worship them for beneficent conduct as opposed to standard run of the mill fear.
Christians typically tell these kind of authorities to pound sand, worship is reserved for Christ / God alone.
Jmo.
... the “derisive” term “Christian” being applied by the Grecian citizenry ...
My point was "a Greek root word" - not "applied by Grecian citizenry". And yes, at Antioch. At the time of Christ, Greek was still pretty widely used as a language. The Septaugint, which Christ would have read from in the Temple, was written in Greek. Look up Septaugint and Christian on Wikipedia for pointers to more in-depth study if you are interested.
From the beginning of the New Testament body of believers, some were followers of Paul, some were followers of Peter, some were followers of Barnabas, etc. They did not all believe the same thing. And some, not all, believed they owed no allegience to the Roman emperor.
which Christ would have read from in the Temple,...
For sure, the near universal usage of Greek, thanks to Alex the Great, would've put the Jew’s historical records, i.e. law, prophets and psalms / wisdom literature, into the hands of virtually every nation and tribe he conquered. This fact alone should be able to put to rest subsequent "original" language aficionados reliance on King James, etc preferences. It also was of great assistance to the first century church leaders, though they still had divine assistance to utter at least 12 unique languages on the birthday of the church, 50 days after the Crucifixion.
Being God, Christ’s use of language was nothing more than “baby talk” regardless of the tongue he chose to use for his creature’s benefit. I still chuckle to think many have gone to their graves holding the Latin Vulgate as being the Language of God.
One thing we do know, when God speaks, universes are birthed.
As for individual believers following various individual leaders in the church in lieu of the bodily resurrected Christ, it evidently happened, but the practice was strongly condemned once it became known.
Jmo.
Amen, Merlot!
What is old is new again just on a more grand scale.
The tactics and archetypes tend not to change even if the targets and battlefields do. Like viruses they only mutate into slightly different variants after each outbreak to avoid being detected by the internet immune system until recognized again.
http://www.flamewarriorsguide.com/
Regardless whether its a troll or not is not important. If the argument posted is logical then its worth reading. If its racisist or crude or ilogical then it was probably posted by an idiot, redeneck or a Troll and not even worth a down arrow. No arrows means the post is pointless
I look at the up arrows to see how many people thought the post valuable.
Then I read it to see if my preconceptions were right.
Max
I tend to wait for a CNBC poll to help me form an opinion.
People care about arrows?
Why?
maybe it's their
inner indian
It is understood Psychology. It is called Groupthink. Many high intellect people actually fall victim to this tactic.
Personally I do not give a damn about arrows, or social acceptance, as I am one opinionated old man.
But others whom read a reasonable comment, when heavily downarrowed, are much more likely to reject the validity of the comment.
Actually this is a feature of the Comment Section which Tyler needs to get rid of.
Actually it's a good heuristic for a long post if enough people have found it not worth reading.
I hope the feature never goes away but I would suggest adding the Troll button.
It was nicer all around when we could junk a post off the page.
Neeto-Mosquito.
Pre-dates my usage here. What a feature!
Despite the veracity of the claims, if I laugh, spit beer or it's an audacious comment, I up it regardless of how I feel about the subject. But then again...
Signed,
Redneck idiot troll
You forgot: Civis Mundi
++ Max Fischer, Penis Flagellum. That's English for the Latin "Dick Smack".
Is that fucking idiot back again? I thought he was doing his own tweet/twit/twat thing.
Look, I swore, and reduced all our abilities to think clearly. I wonder if these "professors" could identify a left handed crescent wrench?
.
Easy - it's metric.
Heeeey - he said crescent wrench - that makes it a terrist weapon.
Even if it's a red crescent wrench?
I don't understand why anyone would leave a handed wrench anywhere. I know that when I am working on something, I always could use an extra hand, so a cresent wrench with hands on it should be pretty useful.
And as far a professor identifying a handed wrench that got left behind...I think anyone could do that, really.
Just sayin'...
Maxthrust
really?
the up/down arrows indicate other than just popularity,
but indicate whether a comment is logical and factual?
I must then suppose trolls and idiots never get to vote.
It has also been revealed that NSA and others can hack into websites' arrow counts.
Some websites monitor for "trash" comments, but that can also be problematic.
Sadly, it appears there is no good and less labor-intensive way
to separate the wheat from the chaff other than to sharpen one's reading and comprehension skill.
Do practice here at ZH.
It's alway refreshing to see someone who can think for themselves.
Preconception of sarcasm?
Awaiting your arrows....
Another pointless article on ZH. Pointless articles are more and more frequent here. You guys need another meltdown soon otherwise .... well you know!!
Are you forced to read these pointless articles. Must suck to be you.
13. Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or reporting a distraction
8. Dismiss the charges as "old news".
6. Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money
How am I doing so far?
http://www.brasscheck.com/martin.html
This article is loaded with fallacies.
Your anus is loaded with phalluses.
Pot, meet Kettle.
Same as it ever was; GW, certified Troll Magnet
Jeebus George, that's just fucking desperate.