Anti-Troll
Internet SJW Users
are just as worse as Trolls
Worse
than trolls:
1.
An overzealous moderator.
2.
Siamese Fish Trolls. 2 trolls bump into each other on the same thread
by accident, something sparks it off and they fight to the death,
also kills the thread.
3.
Goody Goody Troll. Disguises itself as the saviour of all humanity,
ambition in life is to be a moderator and rule like a god. Posts like
crazy in every forum on every topic being discussed, always gives
itself away however by often saying "I have reported him
already".
4.
Never Really Read The Thread Troll. Opens a thread, jumps straight to
the end, or picks some comment at random, then types something stupid
or abusive.
5.
Last Word Troll, saved the worst for last, no explanation required.
Procedural
background from the unpublished case Unicorns
et al. v. Anonymous Moby,
currently on appeal, considered by some scholars to establish Poe’s
Law
unless
overturned:
A
trollish old troll on a roll,
Beneath
himself dug a great hole.
They
all said “It’s a crime!
He
can’t think of a rhyme!”
He
pled nolo.
They gave him parole.
See
these overzealous anti-troll SJWs :
Personal
preferences about “acceptance decisions,” such as whether one
prefers vanilla or chocolate, are the most meaningless things a
person can post. We all have them, and the fact that someone else
prefers something different does nothing to change anyone else’s
opinions. That’s why this was used as the example.
The
concept eludes a great many people. As for rights, there are
substantive arguments to be made. While there may be grandstanding
involved, that depends entirely on the quality of argument. This too,
obviously, eludes some people.
This
guy used to hate on me the most on imdb boards, and look at his post.
So full of hate and vitriol, and hyper-trollish.
Idiot.
People
like these are considered anti-troll warriors
They
are worse than trolls themselves
These
are 'normal' users
Antitroll
Noun-
The troll's counterpart, analagous to a hero's antihero. To put it
briefly and bluntly, trolls try to make you look like a pussy;
antitrolls try to make you look like an asshole.
To
further explain:
The
common troll seeks to sow discord and negative emotion among an
otherwise peaceful (may or may not be intelligent) dialogue, which is
usually held on an Internet thread or message board.
The
common antitroll attempts to inject logic and positive reasoning into
an otherwise hateful (may or may not be unintelligent) collective
diatribe, also usually held on the Internet.
However,
note the three characteristics both have in common:
1.
Both are contradicting the purpose of the thread they target, and
quite often don't care about the topic itself.
2.
Both are commonly the subjects of hatred for doing so; they also
enjoy this hatred.
3.
Both usually have nothing better to do with their lives, at least
during the actual troll/antitroll session, and know that their
efforts won't change anyone's opinions/views. It's just for the lulz
(trolls)/ to pass the time(antitrolls).
‘
ANTI-TROLL.ORG
IS THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE ANTI-TROLL ALLIANCE
WE
ARE A COLLECTIVE ORGANISATION ACTIVELY CAMPAIGNING TO MAKE 'TROLLING'
A RECOGNISED CRIMINAL OFFENCE
“Freedom
of Speech does NOT mean Freedom to abuse people. People who ‘Troll’
online are in effect guilty of Cyber-bullying, and we believe should
face the same punishment as the crime of Cyber-stalking. This is why
we are campaigning to have Trolling or Cyber-bullying re-classified,
so that it can carry the same punishment as Cyber-stalking. We hope
to have Trolling included in the The current US Federal
Anti-Cyber-Stalking law, and have that law updated to suit as such.”
– Colin
J Todd 2010
WHAT
IS A ‘TROLL’?
A
‘Troll’ is a person who posts a deliberately provocative or
abusive message to a newsgroup or message board, with the intention
of causing maximum disruption and argument.
These
people are essentially a type of ‘Cyber-bully’, who get off on
other people’s pain or distress.
That
is why many of us hardcore Anti-Troll campaigners are campaigning to
have Trolling or Cyber-bullying re-classified, so that it can carry
the same punishment as Cyber-stalking. We hope to have Trolling
included in the The current US Federal Anti-Cyber-Stalking law, and
have that law updated to suit as such.
We
classify Trolling the same as Cyber-stalking, because lets face the
facts - Trolling is exactly the same as cyber-stalking, though with a
limited timespan.
While
cyber-stalkers concentrate on only one target, the Troll can have up
to 100 targets (the number of victims in the forum he posts) per day,
and can move from group to group creating more and more victims.
HOW
CLOSELY RELATED ARE ‘TROLLING’ AND ‘CYBER-STALKING’?
Let’s
look at the definition of ‘Cyberstalking’, and see just how
closely it relates to the mentality of a Troll, or ‘Cyberbully’.
Cyberstalking
is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or
harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It
may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity
theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for
sex, or gathering information in order to harass. The definition of
"harassment" must meet the criterion that a reasonable
person, in possession of the same information, would regard it as
sufficient to cause another reasonable person distress.
A
number of key factors have been identified for cyber-stalking:
False
accusations.
Many
cyber-stalkers try to damage the reputation of their victim and turn
other people against them. They post false information about them on
websites. They may set up their own websites, blogs or user pages for
this purpose. They post allegations about the victim to newsgroups,
chat rooms or other sites that allow public contributions, such as
Wikipedia or Amazon.com. – The exact same methods that Trolls
employ to abuse their victims.
Attempts
to gather information about the victim.
Cyberstalkers
/ trolls may approach their victim's friends, family and work
colleagues to obtain personal information. They may advertise for
information on the Internet, or hire a private detective. They often
will monitor the victim's online activities and attempt to trace
their IP address in an effort to gather more information about their
victims. – ANOTHER common tactic that your average Troll employs to
abuse their victims.
Encouraging
others to harass the victim.
Many
cyberstalkers try to involve third parties in the harassment. They
may claim the victim has harmed the stalker or his/her family in some
way, or may post the victim's name and telephone number in order to
encourage others to join the pursuit. And yet ANOTHER common tactic
that your average Troll employs to abuse their victims.
False
victimization.
The
cyberstalker will claim that the victim is harassing him/her. Bocij
writes that this phenomenon has been noted in a number of well-known
cases. – And yet ANOTHER hallmark of your average Troll.
Attacks
on data and equipment.
They
may try to damage the victim's computer by sending viruses. –
Exactly what Trolls do.
Ordering
goods and services.
They
order items or subscribe to magazines in the victim's name. These
often involve subscriptions to pornography or ordering sex toys then
having them delivered to the victim's workplace. – ANOTHER typical
Troll tactic.
Arranging
to meet.
Young
people face a particularly high risk of having cyber-stalkers try to
set up meetings between them. – And yet ANOTHER Troll tactic.
(Please see our article ‘Why do people Troll’ below for the links
between Trolling and Pedophiles)
As
you can see from the above, ALL of these methods of abuse /
harassment are ALSO the key factors of Trolling / Cyber-bullying.
Cyber-stalkers
meet or target their victims by using search engines, online forums,
bulletin and discussion boards, chat rooms, and more recently,
through online communities such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo,
Friendster, and Indymedia, a media outlet known for self-publishing,
in exacty the same way as Trolls. They may engage in live chat
harassment or flaming or they may send electronic viruses and
unsolicited e-mails, in the exact same way as Trolls do. Victims of
cyber-stalking may not even know that they are being stalked.
Cyber-stalkers / Trolls may research individuals to feed their
obsessions and curiosity. Conversely, the acts of cyber-stalkers /
Trolls may become more intense, such as repeatedly instant messaging
their targets.
More
commonly they will post defamatory or derogatory statements about
their stalking target on web pages, message boards and in guest books
designed to get a reaction or response from their victim, thereby
initiating contact. In some cases, they have been known to create
fake blogs in the name of the victim containing defamatory or
pornographic content, just as Trolls do.
When
prosecuted, many stalkers have unsuccessfully attempted to justify
their behavior based on their use of public forums, as opposed to
direct contact. Once they get a reaction from the victim, they will
typically attempt to track or follow the victim's internet activity.
Classic cyberstalking behavior includes the tracing of the victim's
IP address in an attempt to verify their home or place of employment.
WHY
DO PEOPLE ‘TROLL’?
We
have been studying Troll behavior for many years, and find that the
main reason they act this way is because of mental health issues or
psychological problems. This has been discussed in depth with
psychologists and therapists, and they have come to the same
conclusions: That trolls are people with serious socialogical,
psychological and deep-seated mental issues, stemming from either
sexual abuse, mental illness, and problems with their sexual
identity.
Do
you really think any sane person would want to go onto a discussion
board, with the sole purpose of starting an argument, if they were
not mentally ill? These people would not act that way in the street
in front of a random stranger, so what gives them the right to do it
in an online environment? They are deluding themselves if they think
that trolling is acceptable behavior. In my opinion, Trolls should be
banned from the internet, and made to attend classes for their
'mental health issues', and be made to discuss why they feel the need
to upset / harass / defame / belittle people online.
To
understand why people 'troll' you first have to understand mental
illness. Trolling is a sign of someone who is mentally ill, or who is
emotionally unbalanced and angry at normal people for some reason or
other.
We
find that most people who are trolls do this for 5 reasons:
1.
An
abusive childhood.
The
highest percentage of trolls have been abused in their childhood,
mainly sexually. You will find that a family member, often their
father/grandfather/uncle, has been interfering with them in a sexual
manner, leaving them with deep-seated emotional and psychological
problems. This makes the child withdrawn and often angry at the
world, and many of these type of Trolls suffer from sexual
inadequacy, and problems with intimacy with the opposite sex. This
leads to negative thoughts and frustration, and they vent their
frustration by attacking other people online. You will find these
types of trolls often post the most violent or abusive posts, mostly
towards women because of their sexual inadequacy.
2.
Mental
illness / Mental Health Problems
Mentally
ill people are the next highest percentage that make up trolls.
Children with learning difficulties, ADHD, dyslexic or have emotional
problems or some other sort of retardations. These trolls are the
easiest to spot, as their spelling, grammar, and overall posts are
quite horrendous. Sometimes it is even hard to understand what they
are saying because of their bad grammatical errors.
3.
Homosexuals
in denial.
The
next highest percentage of trolls is made up of repressed
homosexuals, or homosexuals in denial. Children with homosexual
tendencies, who are often confused with their sexual identity. Most
of these type of Trolls are generally immature young men, many of
whom are still in their early teens, so it seems to me immaturity and
sexual inadequacy would be the main factors. While normal young men
are out chasing girls, acting the way boys should, these Trolls would
rather spend their time harassing grown men in forums and discussion
boards. It does have all the hallmarks of problems with their
sexuality. These types of trolls are easy to spot also, as their
posts are generally made-up of sexual innuendos, references to sexual
acts, discussions about the size of their manhood, or immature rape
fantasies. You will find that many of these people have problems with
sexual intimacy or sexual inadequacy.
4.
Social Outcasts
The
next highest percentage that make up Trolls are what we could class
as ‘social outcasts’. People who, for some reason or other, have
turned their backs on society’s ‘norms’. These people are
unable to fit in at school / college / the workplace, and because
of this harbour a deep seated hate for all that is normal. Most type
of people in this group display sociopathic tendencies brought on by
a deep seated inferiority complex. They see everyone as their enemy
because of their feelings of worthlessness, inferiority, and negative
emotions. Most of this group are the type of people who regularly cut
or self-harm, are loners who listen to anti-social music (punk / loud
aggressive heavy metal), or are part of the ‘emo’ or ‘Goth’
community (A dangerous teen sub-culture that were responsible for the
Columbine High-School tragedy).
5.
Sexual
Predators
The
last of the group that make up ‘Trolls’ are what we like to refer
to as ‘Sex Predators’. These types of Troll like to masquerade
online using a profile of young boy, though they are much older.
These Trolls spend much of their time Trolling forums and social
networking websites for teenage girls to harass and verbally abuse.
While their victim may not realise this, they target these girls so
to gain access to their personal information, list of their friends
and acquaintances, and gain access to their personal photograph
sections.
This
is the most dangerous type of Troll, and the ones in the highest risk
factor to children. Though we estimate that around 60% of ALL Trolls
have pedophile tendencies, and download pictures of child-abuse,
child-rape, and animal-rape and abuse, this 5th
category
pose a VERY REAL threat of actually carrying out a rape to a child.
HOW
DO YOU DEAL WITH A ‘TROLL’?
The
best ways to deal with trolls are the following :
Ignore
postings that you suspect may be from trolls.
Don't
invest any of your self emotionally until you have verified beyond
all doubt that the person you are dealing with is genuine Beware of
off list emails that praise and flatter, or seem to evoke sympathy.
If
you feel yourself beginning to like someone, ask first: how much
verifiable data do I have about them?
If
you do get involved in anyone, seek out verifiable data. Trolls will
provide some data that will lead to dead ends; real people will
provide some data that is open-ended and leads to a myriad of sources
which enable you to verify their genuine status If you must respond
to a troll posting, don't get involved in the argument; limit it to
pointing out that the posting may be considered as trollish, for the
benefit of other list members.
Put
the suspected Troll on your block or banned list.
Write
to the listmaster to highlight what is happening.
Write
to the postmaster of the troll's domain. Keep it simple, polite and
to the point (they are very busy!). Include your evidence (e.g.:
offensive emails) and the full email header information, so that the
troll can be properly traced.
Contact
the Troll’s ISP. (This can be easily traced by using their IP
Address) Note: Many Trolls may be using the computers at their works
/ school / college to post their abuse. If you find out where the
abuse is originating, contact the IT Department of their school /
college / place of employment, and give them all the information,
including IP address, times when the abuse happened, email address
that the abuse was sent from.
Listmasters
can also make their lists restricted, and conduct a security analysis
of each list application before allowing them to subscribe. This is
probably easier to do in areas that have professional associations or
qualifications.
HOW
CAN I DEAL WITH A ‘TROLL’ IF THEY REFUSE TO STOP THEIR CAMPAIGN
OF HATE?
An
assortment of agencies and organizations are working to improve
internet safety and advise people on dealing with online harassment.
Most
internet service providers have terms of service that prohibit
abusive behaviour, but don't do much to put an end to trolling. Ed
Opperman, president of Opperman Investigations, says, “...the
Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("CDA") Section
230(c)(1) shields providers of interactive computer services from
liability for the actions of the individuals using those services.
Since they have no liability for the actions of their members they
make very little effort to identify them or even discourage the cyber
harassment of other members.”
Complaints
To Internet Service Providers
Making
a complaint is often a convoluted process that involves finding the
right form to fill in, only to discover that marking an inappropriate
message as spam is the solution offered. When the complaint is
received and investigated, the response is typically unhelpful –
unless the offending message came from one member to another, they
won't do anything.
Recipients
of unwanted emails are referred to Halt Abuse or WHOIS and invited to
conduct their own investigations by contacting the internet service
provider of the originating email. When it can be proved that the
abusive email did come from another member, the service providers
claim that they cannot disclose the action taken on another user's
account with a third party. There is no way of finding out what is
being done.
Complaints
To Cyber Crime-fighting Authorities
The
efforts of Jayne Hitchcock, president of Halt Abuse, to bring the
issue of cyberstalking to the attention of the law enforcement
community has borne some fruit in terms of the offence being taken
more seriously, but, to date, there are no federal laws that can be
brought to bear on any but the most egregious abusers. Even then, a
material threat or proof of actual damage to an individual must be
proved.
Complaints
about all forms of harassment are accepted at cybercrime.gov, where
they are directed to the IC3 Internet Crime Complaint Center. While
it is unlikely that anything will be done to stop abusive or unwanted
material being sent, they do keep a record of troll activity so that,
when they finally do cross the line and commit a criminal offence
(cyber harassment is a misdemeanour), their other activities can be
brought to light when the case goes to court.
When
threats are made, complaints are directed to the local FBI office and
the local police. If the abuser can be identified, launching a civil
case is a possibility. If illegal behaviour is proved in court,
criminal charges may be brought.
Cybercrime
Support Groups
Organisations
such as Halt Abuse, Cyberangels and Wiredsafety.org are run by
volunteers to fight online harassment through education of the
general public, education of law enforcement personnel, and
empowerment of victims. They have a range of articles on their web
pages giving advice on internet safety and what to do when targeted
by trolls. Associated helplines and forums offer emotional support,
and some of them have connections to detective agencies and law firms
to enable victims to identify and prosecute their tormentors. While
the problem of cyberbullying and trolling isn't going away, the
proliferation of volunteer groups working in tandem with law
enforcement agencies is giving people a chance to fight back – and
occasionally win.
NEW
TROLLING / CYBERSTALKING / CYBERBULLYING LEGISLATION
The
current US Federal Anti-Cyber-Stalking law is found at 47 USC sec.
223.
The
first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in 1999 in California.
Other states include prohibition against cyberstalking in their
harassment or stalking legislation. In Florida, HB 479 was introduced
in 2003 to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law on October
2003.
Some
states in the U.S. have begun to address the issue of cyberstalking:
Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, and
New York have included prohibitions against harassing electronic,
computer or e-mail communications in their harassment legislation.
Alaska, Florida, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and California, have incorporated
electronically communicated statements as conduct constituting
stalking in their anti-stalking laws.
Texas
enacted the Stalking by Electronic Communications Act, 2001.
Missouri
revised its state harassment statutes to include stalking and
harassment by telephone and electronic communications (as well as
cyber-bullying) after the Megan Meier suicide case of 2006.
A
few states have both stalking and harassment statutes that
criminalize threatening and unwanted electronic communications.
Other
states have laws other than harassment or anti-stalking statutes that
prohibit misuse of computer communications and e-mail, while others
have passed laws containing broad language that can be interpreted to
include cyberstalking behaviors
Cyberstalking
has also been addressed in recent U.S. federal law. For example, the
Violence Against Women Act, passed in 2000, made cyberstalking a part
of the federal interstate stalking statute. Still, there remains a
lack of legislation at the federal level to specifically address
cyberstalking, leaving the majority of legislative prohibitions
against cyberstalking at the state level.
Most
stalking laws require that the perpetrator make a credible threat of
violence against the victim; others include threats against the
victim's immediate family; and still others require the alleged
stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat. While some
conduct involving annoying or menacing behavior might fall short of
illegal stalking, such behavior may be a prelude to stalking and
violence and should be treated seriously.’
----
They
are worse than
nazis!
