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How to Beat Internet Trolls
In order to beat Internet trolls, you have to know their strategies.
Below are 17 common games played by trolls to disrupt our power to learn, inform, and organize on the web ...
1. Threaten those who speak out, to try to intimidate them and their readers into silence.
2. Misquote the Bible to pretend that God commands us to be obedient slaves to authority … even if the powers-that-be are downright tyrants.
3. Start a partisan divide-and-conquer fight or otherwise push emotional buttons to sow discord and ensure that cooperation is thwarted. Get people fighting against each other instead of the 3corrupt powers-that-be. Use baseless caricatures to rile everyone up. For example, start a religious war whenever possible using stereotypes like “all Jews are selfish”, “all Christians are crazy” or “all Muslims are terrorists”. Accuse the author of being a gay, pro-abortion limp-wristed wimp or being a fundamentalist pro-war hick when the discussion has nothing to do with abortion, sexuality, religion, war or region. Appeal to people’s basest prejudices and biases. And (as explained by H. Michael Sweeney’s 25 Rules of Disinformation) push the author into a defensive posture:
Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule … Associate opponents with unpopular titles such as “kooks”, “right-wing”, “liberal”, “left-wing”, “terrorists”, “conspiracy buffs”, “radicals”, “militia”, “racists”, “religious fanatics”, “sexual deviates”, and so forth. This makes others shrink from support out of fear of gaining the same label, and you avoid dealing with issues.
(The person trying to smear reputation may not be a random knucklehead … he may, in fact, be a government agent, or a member of the group he’s smearing.)
4. Question motives. Twist or amplify any fact which could so taken to imply that the opponent operates out of a hidden personal agenda or other bias. This avoids discussing issues and forces the accuser on the defensive. Or accuse the author of being a narcissist.
5. Pretend it’s hopeless because we’ll be squashed if we try. For example, every time a whistleblower leaks information, say “he’s going to be bumped off”. If people talk about protesting, organizing, boycotting, shareholder activism, spreading the real facts, moving our money or taking other constructive action, write things to scare and discourage people, say something like “we don’t have any chance because they have drones and they’ll just kill us if we try”, or “Americans are too stupid, lazy and greedy, so they’ll never help out.” Encourage people to be apathetic instead of trying to change things.
6. Demand complete, fool-proof and guaranteed solutions to the problems being discussed. For example, if a reporter breaks the story that the big banks conspired to rig a market, ask “given that people are selfish and that no regulation can close all possible loopholes … how are you going to change human nature?”, and pretend that it’s not worth talking about the details of the market manipulation. This discourages people from reporting on and publicizing the corruption, fraud and other real problems. And it ensures that not enough people will spread the facts so that the majority know what’s really going on.
7. Suggest extreme, over-the-top, counter-productive solutions which will hurt more than help, or which are wholly disproportionate to what is being discussed. For example, if the discussion is whether or not to break up the big banks or to go back on the gold standard, say that everyone over 30 should be killed because they are sell-outs and irredeemable, or that all of the banks should be bombed. This discredits the attempt to spread the facts and to organize, and is simply the web method of the provocateur.
8. Pretend that alternative media – such as blogs written by the top experts in their fields, without any middleman – are untrustworthy or are motivated solely by money (for example, use the derogatory term “blogspam” for any blog posting, pretending that there is no original or insightful reporting, but that the person is simply doing it for ad revenue).
9. Coordinate with a couple of others to “shout down” reasonable comments. This is especially effective when the posters launch an avalanche of comments in quick succession … the original, reasonable comment gets lost or attacked so much that it is largely lost. Use “forum sliding” and “topic dilution” to so dilute and distract the conversation that people forget the original point.
10. Use technology and numbers to gain leverage. You can either hire low-wage workers in India or other developing countries to “astroturf” (see this and this) or – if you work for the government – you can use military personnel or subcontractors to monitor social media and “correct” information which you don’t like (and see this). You can pay students to post pro-government comments online. You can even use software which allows you to quickly create and alternate between numerous false identities, each with their own internet address. Or program software to write the comments itself.
11. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the “How dare you!” gambit.
12. Use a straw man. Find or create a seeming element of your opponent’s argument which you can easily knock down to make yourself look good and the opponent to look bad. Either make up an issue you may safely imply exists based on your interpretation of the opponent/opponent arguments/situation, or select the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Amplify their significance and destroy them in a way which appears to debunk all the charges, real and fabricated alike, while actually avoiding discussion of the real issues.
13. Associate opponent charges with old news. A derivative of the straw man usually, in any large-scale matter of high visibility, someone will make charges early on which can be or were already easily dealt with. Where it can be foreseen, have your own side raise a straw man issue and have it dealt with early on as part of the initial contingency plans. Subsequent charges, regardless of validity or new ground uncovered, can usually them be associated with the original charge and dismissed as simply being a rehash without need to address current issues — so much the better where the opponent is or was involved with the original source.
14. Censor social media, so that the hardest-hitting information is buried. If you can’t censor it, set up “free speech zones” to push dissent into dank, dark corners where no one will see it.
15. When the powers-that-be cut corners and take criminally reckless gambles with our lives and our livelihoods, protect them by pretending that the inevitable result – nuclear accidents, financial crises, terrorist attacks or other disasters – were “unforeseeable” and that “no could have known”.
16. Protect the rich and powerful by labeling any allegations of criminal activity as being a “conspiracy theory”. After all, it was the CIA itself which created the perjorative term “conspiracy theorist” and gave advice on how to attack people on that basis. For example, when Goldman gets caught rigging markets, label the accusations as mere conspiracies. Throw in the tired out cliches “tinfoil hat” and “live in your mom’s basement.”
17. Hit and Run. In any public forum, make a brief attack of your opponent or the opponent position and then scamper off before an answer can be fielded, or simply ignore any answer. This works extremely well in Internet and letters-to-the-editor environments where a steady stream of new identities can be called upon without having to explain the criticism — simply make an accusation or other attack, never discussing issues, and never answering any subsequent response, for that would dignify the opponent’s viewpoint.
Postscript: Over a number of years, we’ve found that the most effective way to fight disruption and disinformation is to link to a post such as this one which rounds up disruption techniques, and then to cite the disinfo technique you think is being used.
Specifically, we’ve found the following format to be highly effective in educating people in a non-confrontational manner about which game the troll is playing:
Good Number 1!
Or simply:
(include the link so people can see what you’re referring to.)
The reason this is effective is that other readers will learn about the specific disruption tactic being used … in context, like seeing wildlife while holding a wildlife guide, so that one learns what it looks like “in the field”. At the same time, you come across as humorous and light-hearted instead of heavy-handed or overly-intense.
Try it … It works.
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Reminds me of how Goldman and JPMorgan use the fake news releases to set of Algo's Damage to Honest Investors.
Of all people you calling someone a troll is hilarious. You are the biggest shill troll of them all. The fact that you have to write this post with this title is even more proof that you are a fraud and a gutless coward.
Thank you for making my point and even more importantly proving me right.
But I will still be here until you realize the futility that you have been exposed and only your allgos up vote and kiss you ass. How pathetic can one algo troll be huh?
How about a nice game of chess?
hey shitstain - stop being a fucking troll if you want to ever, ever convince anyone of anything.
Shitgum Suicide Mission accomplished! Right? RIGHT?
LOL.
Not until he's gone it's not.
It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it!
Arguing with trolls on the Internet is like being in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.
Deal by comparison like this:
Then give examples and its all cold fact
OSHA also took on the passive smoking fraud and this is what came of it:
Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Third Edition
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/13163/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-third-edition
This sorta says it all
These limits generally are based on assessments of health risk and calculations of concentrations that are associated with what the regulators believe to be negligibly small risks. The calculations are made after first identifying the total dose of a chemical that is safe (poses a negligible risk) and then determining the concentration of that chemical in the medium of concern that should not be exceeded if exposed individuals (typically those at the high end of media contact) are not to incur a dose greater than the safe one.
So OSHA standards are what is the guideline for what is acceptable ''SAFE LEVELS''
OSHA SAFE LEVELS
All this is in a small sealed room 9x20 and must occur in ONE HOUR.
For Benzo[a]pyrene, 222,000 cigarettes.
"For Acetone, 118,000 cigarettes.
"Toluene would require 50,000 packs of simultaneously smoldering cigarettes.
Acetaldehyde or Hydrazine, more than 14,000 smokers would need to light up.
"For Hydroquinone, "only" 1250 cigarettes.
For arsenic 2 million 500,000 smokers at one time.
The same number of cigarettes required for the other so called chemicals in shs/ets will have the same outcomes.
So, OSHA finally makes a statement on shs/ets :
Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded." -Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec'y, OSHA.
Why are their any smoking bans at all they have absolutely no validity to the courts or to science!
Why are their any smoking bans at all they have absolutely no validity to the courts or to science!
How about because it stinks and I like to breathe fresh air.
I was born smoking...it was not my choice...yet you tax me and make me hike a mile to participate in my religious ceremony.
Therein we see the smoking problem. Our noses tell us more than OSHA can measure.
Where it gets weird is when the super sensitive detect problems no one else can sense... 'radio frequencies' and 'strange allergies' who can argue?
Yeah. Right.
Those sensitive ones end up wearing those Tinfoil Hats to block out those "radio transmissios" and pick at growths on their skin that are not there.
Yeah. I understand.
Isn't there like a medical term that kinda labels those sensitive ones? Like...um...PSYCHOTIC? Yeah...That is the term.
And PSYCHOTIC is generally confused with PSYCHOPATHIC when they are two entirely different sets of Brain Dysfunction.
Of course the general AmeriDUNCE does not speak any Greek and does not understand that the root word Psyche deals with the soul.
Yeah. I digressed a bit, But you are right. Who can argue with one of these sensitive ones?
Yeah. I agree. I'd stand a better chance of convincing...oh...a wall?
I believe that the term is PARANOID, not PSYCHOTIC.
No. Paranoid: of, relating to, or suffering from a mental illness that causes you to falsely believe that people are trying to harm you
: having or showing an unreasonable feeling that people are trying to harm you, do not like you, etc. : feeling or showing paranoia
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paranoid
Psychotic: having or relating to a very serious mental illness that makes you act strangely or believe things that are not true : relating to or suffering from psychosis
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychotic
Instead of "believing" you may want to look in a dictionary.
Okay, TT. Got it. It appears that psychotic is a general term, and that paranoid is a subset of psychotic. So, if a man falsely believes that THINGS, rather than PEOPLE, are apt to harm him, then he is psychotic, not paranoid. For example, "Better Call Saul's" Jimmy McGill's older brother is psychotic, not paranoid. Does that sound right? Thanks for correcting and educating me. My apologies.
Merriam Webster's is my favorite dictionary.
I say that I believe that 2 + 2 = 4. I speak that way because, since I don't understand black holes, and black holes are obviously extremely important (we are circling one), then maybe I don't actually understand anything, or maybe I misunderstand everything. Maybe 2 +2 = 5 in some form of science/math of which I am as yet completely unaware. I do not say this in jest. Maybe, in that form of science/math, we will be able to travel the stars, and so forth. So I like the word "believe".
One of my favorite songs: "(Baby's) Psychotic Reaction".
Thanks for reminding me. It's been 4 months and 4 days for me cold turkey.
The idea still pops into my head...whoop...time for a smoke. Food doesn't taste any better at all. Not one bit.
That is because our "food" is anything BUT food.
I can't believe the numbers of people that think crap at Applebys, Olive Garden, McDonalds tastes good.
After giving up soda, and cutting out most petro based chemicals and processed foods and "medicines," I've found that what most say tastes great, tastes like a big pile of oil based salt to me.
And I smoke, but quit smoking the MANDATED chemicals in commercially prepared cigarettes.
Real, fatty, God provided and minimally processed foods taste PHENOMENAL.
Give up chemicals and turn closer to nature, and before you think I'm some sort of green/vegan/low fat/organic nutcase, think again.
I had Delmonico steaks (and ate a lot of it, half my meal or more), potatoes, onions and garlic roasted crispy in coconut oil, butter (sadly can't afford organic or out of country) and olive oil, with baked beans spiced up with molasses and brown sugar.
I eat similar to that nearly everyday, I'm rarely hungry and I've lost over 7 pounds (on a 5' frame) that all the dieting and exercising in the world would not remove from my gut and ass.
Oh yeah, I only do a few minutes (like less than 5, I'm working on changing that) of exercise a day too.
Lied to about the chemicals, and they are not just wrecking our planet, they are directly killing us.
Peace to you.
.
That's a formidable accomplishment. Congratulations and respect from someone who knows. A pack of camel filters a day to zero. The first six weeks are the most difficult, and during that time I was such a grumpy asshole that I'm surprised my cat even came near me.
In three months and fifteen days it will have been sixteen years since I smoked my last cigarette.
The most worstest thing to adjust to was a cup of coffee without a smoke. The strangest thing is that every once in a great while, I'd have dreams in which I was smoking, and I'd remember from the dream how disappointed in myself I felt.
Yeah, but the ol' lungs sure feel better.
I guess so lol.
It's hard to argue smoking is healthy but I might grow some tobacco this summer because I love it.
Tobacco is a dirty weed...I like it.
It satisfies no normal need...I like it.
It makes you thin
It makes you lean
It takes your hair right off your bean
It's the worst darn stuff I've ever seen
...I like it.
I read and memorized that poem from the New Yorker back in the early 1970s.
I wish I could attribute that to the author of that poem.
Jerry Reed
Another Puff
http://youtu.be/K1uFE891mXk
Simply Post facts............its easy. Un adulterated facts where nobody has tampered with the results via biasing methods in sampling mehodology. But Im talking about statistical methods where anything can be created to produce the results they desire.
When asked to provide RAW data without all their manipulations a whole new story emerges and you find the coverup buried in it.
If it's so easy, where are your facts?
Facts get buried in the troll garbage. Here's one GW left off. Somebody puts up a thought provoking, well intentioned, PTB unapproved post and the troll replies with a long long post full of mostly nonsense to bury it.
Any out of work techie want a entrepeneurial idea? For free? Start some ZH derivative that uses captcha and sources ZH. Move the discussion.
While that picture beautifully represents most of the Internet Troll/Statists/Experts, it does neglect one very telling aspect...
Those doggies are cute and not fat.
Get some fat-assed bulldogs and then it would be perfect.
Thanks for all you do GW. You always make me question further and think deeper.
Dismanteling them with basic logic works well too.
Dismanteling them with basic logic works well too.
Only if you place a zero value on your time.
Wasting time and energy of potential opponents: Job #1.
Wasting time and energy of potential opponents: Job #1.
You are right...
Perhaps people need to use their time constructing EXPLOSIVES instead.
If you want to quash free speech then you may get a violent response...which is your goal as a troll...TO INCITE.
Remember folks. Targets are plenty. Banks are located in your neighborhood.
You can place explosives between the building and the Gas Meter to ensure the destruction by fire.
On the other hand...
Rust and Powdered Aluminiun mixed togetther at one to two by weight makes a powerful Thermite. You need a Magnesium strip to ignite.
Place that mixture in a can on top of any Gas meter, ignite it, and see what happens.
This is what Thermite does to a car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdCsbZf1_Ng
A Gas Meter??? That is nothing. When Thermite easily burns directly through an Engine Block...well...a Gas Meter is nothing.
Now some may call this trollling?
I call it INSTRUCTION.
Is that the result which you are after CH1?
To the perpetrators of Nine Eleven...
Thank you.
You taught me HOW to take out buildings...any building.
Does not matter if you junk the post. It does not change the truth.
And I know how to do it.
Please continue to incite me...Please.
It dont take me that long to mop the floor with most trolls. Ask around.
Hello, ego.
How big a boy are ya?
It does not matter how big I am. It matters how knowledgable and well equipped that I am in order to repel an attack and cause the assailant massive suffering.
How do you like my Thermite device described below? Isn't that an interesting toy?
Perhaps you can take out the building where I live. The Gas Mains are out in front. It is such a juicy target. Too easy.
Come on...You can do it.
I live at 12223B Woodside Ave in Lakeside CA USA
Do you have the ballz and a small force to attempt it?
How many causualties are you willing to take?
Bring about my death and give me peace...if you can.
I am really easy to find. Come on over. I like hunting.
Where are you at?
That is the problem...Everybody is an Internet Warrior. But nobody ever acts.
I even tell you HOW. And you WILL NOT DO IT.
Now are you finished with your BULLSHIT Internet Bravado?
Are you ready to learn something useful?
Trolls provide a invaluable servive.
Through their attempt at quashing peaceful dialouge and the freedom of speech to redress wrongs, they just provide the incentive to violently revolt.
They make any chance of peaceful reforms highly unlikely.
After all the trolls want a totalitarian state where the public at large is stripped of their inalienable rights...for safety of course.
Violence serves that purpose as it provides the excuse. But they miscalculate as violence will become pandemic in the following months as food becomes scarce as a result of the California drought.
This time the riots will not just be restricted to the Black Ghettos as the White ghettos will explode in revolt. And there are not enough of them to quash that.
Their game is over and the writing is on the wall.
Wow! With all undue respect, Big Tom, you're a really fucked up dude, man.
Why do you ask?
No it doesn't, and that's what dumb bells like you don't get it. i bet when someone comes at you with a bat, you'll just sweet talk them to death, right? get your liberal head out of your ass and grow some balls for a change.
How ironic! Your comment pretty much encapsulates everything that defines a troll and Internet bully. Nice going.
"No it doesn't, and that's what dumb bells like you don't get it. i bet when someone comes at you with a bat, you'll just sweet talk them to death, right? get your liberal head out of your ass and grow some balls for a change."
Flame on!
I'm surprised at how much anger some of the people on this site have.
I guess everyone should have a hobby...
I tried fisting a troll once buy cut my hand on the screne. Is there a safe alternative to violence for trolls? They seem to feed on minor irritation. Withholding meds? Grounding them from the prom perhaps? Halving their allowance? Withholding their acne meds? I duuno...none of it worked for my kids.
I can see why basic logic wont work for you.
Its been a long time since anyone came at me. I can take care of myself just fine. The kind of trash you talk? Lots of people talk shit about me. Its always been that way.
I aint hard to find pal.
Back on topic. Trolls should be stomped often. If you put a bit of thought into its easy to pull the trolls pants down. Ask good questions of any suspected troll. It puts them on defence. Making them back up their trash is best. It wont bother an honest person. In fact it helps the honest get their valid points across. For the trolls it shows just how weak their stuff is.
I danced that dance many times. My shit stands pretty much every time. Ask around. I will back it up.
So, he's a troll because he called you a liberal? Is there a card needed to be a legit commenter?
Trolls are mostly make believe for the weak minded followers and hanger-on net mobs who seek to comfort themselves with the praise of their group (us vs them) and guard their insecurities from opposing views.
No he might be a troll because basic logic works. The name calling and personal attacks simply show he has no valid arguments.
"The name calling and personal attacks simply show he has no valid arguments"
True, but were's the line he crossed to troll,and is "Troll" not just another name?
I did not call him a troll. I leave that for others to decide for themselves.
You mean one of those digital bats that people swing at those they disagree with in an on-line forum.
I doubt you can do it, but try using your brain, if you can find it.
Amen, GW.
Remember, folks, there is only one war, the Class war. Race, sex, sexuality, religion, nation, region, the prosthelytization of any firm sense of identity -
these are the divide and conquer memes.
Yes and GW uses them all too often