How to recognise a Troll

Wikipedia definition

An Internet troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response often for their own amusement.

Interestingly, it is possible to use an algorithm to identify trolls as research shows that they display specific patterns of behaviour. This might someday prove useful, but this platform is still in beta. Knowing how to identify a troll is more than half the battle.

Signs that you are engaging with a troll

"The truth hurts"

Trolls will want to enlighten you on “the truth” even when that truth is subject to their personal opinion. The truth hurts, and the truth matters more to them than your feelings or perspective, feeding their compulsion to enlighten you.

"I hate to rain on your parade"

Trolls LOVE raining on parades. They feed off the positive energy you exert online and find something negative to take you and your positivity down.

"This is just silly"

Trolls have no respect. Even their words 'with all due respect' are usually followed by something disrespectful. It is acceptable for people to disagree with your opinion, but if they respond to it with disrespect, you are dealing with a troll.

"I'm sorry but..."

Trolls often apologize for the way they are about to mistreat you. They justify their behaviour by believing that the mistreatment is necessary and make themselves feel better about knowingly mistreating you by first apologising.

How to Deal with a Troll

Depending on the abusiveness of your troll, you could use any number of the recommendations below. Often the first step is the only one needed. You should not resort to the fourth without trying the first three first.

First: Do not respond

Trolls just want to trigger a reaction from you. They don’t care about anything. They just get off on your reactions because they’re either lonely or bored or mentally troubled and trolling is a coping mechanism for this. Do not pity the trolls. You cannot save them. They will suck you down to their level to turn you into a troll so that they won’t be so lonely. Save yourself.

Second: Mute the troll

You can tell a troll that you no longer wish to engage with them. You can then press MUTE and pretend that the troll no longer exists. The MUTE feature is still pretty limited, so you will have to pretend as hard as you can. Resist reading any replies from the troll. At this point they will say anything to make you feel compelled to feed them with a response. DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS

Third: Seek help

Trolls can be extremely verbally abusive. We can all pretend that sticks and stones are the only things that hurt us but in truth, it takes a lot of strength not to let this kind of abuse bring your mood down. Trolling can turn into cyberstalking and cyberbullying (intent to cause serious harm or even suicide). If you need to report a particular abuser you can use the dispute resolution channel on https://steemit.chat to seek help. The moderators will look into your concern and advise you on how to deal with your problem. It is highly likely though, that you will be advised to Mute the person and move on. Often this is the most effective approach.

Fourth: Flag the Troll

After they have been notified that you do not wish to engage with them, you can expect a troll to react like a three year old toddler and become extremely persistent in replying to any posts or comments you have, filling up your reply box with troll poo. Flagging the unwanted responses is currently the only way to punish a muted troll that is harassing you.

Warning!

Flagging your troll will result in retaliation flags. If the troll has a reputation higher than you do, they can do damage to your reputation. Even if it seems their reputation is lower than yours, it is still possible that this user has another account which they can flag you with. Flag at your own risk

How to Not be a Troll

If after reading this far you find yourself feeling defensive of your own behaviour, then perhaps you have picked up some trolling tendencies from your years of perceived online anonymity and getting bitten by other trolls. Don't feel bad. We all pick up bad habits. There's a little troll in all of us.

Apart from avoiding the troll behaviours listed above here are some other ways you can prevent yourself from stooping to the level of a troll.

Firstly, always read a post before commenting. Usually when somebody decides to comment on a post before reading it, they have been offended or “triggered” by the title or thumbnail. Things are not always as they seem.

Never judge a book by its cover.

Remember, most trolls don’t know that they’re trolls. In fact, most of them think they are making the world a better place by "calling you out on your BS".

Treat people on Steemit like you are at a dinner party or family gathering.
You wouldn’t say these things to your elderly neighbour.

“That is just ridiculous.”
“How stupid can some people be?!”
“This conversation just makes me so mad.”
“Why the heck can’t people just see that…”
“I want to shoot myself in the face right now.”
“Did you fall asleep on the Dum Dum Bus and wake up in Stupidville?”

For all you know, it could be your elderly neighbour on the other side of the screen. Try to imagine everyone you encounter as somebody you would not wish to cause harm before reacting to words you disagree with.

Steemit allows for five replies in succession on a post.

---

|My Opinion Post

---

|> This is illogical
|>> Logic is subjective
|>>> Here are the facts
|>>>> I disagree
|>>>>> I can’t accept that

---

When you get to the end of this succession of replies, the ‘reply’ button on steemit is no longer available.
At this point you should ask yourself 3 questions.

• Does this argument benefit me?
• Is this argument getting anywhere?
• Should I care if this persons views do not match mine?

In most cases, the answer to all three of these questions will be no.

Step away from the keyboard!

Finally,

If you spend a great deal of your time pretending to be an asshole to get a reaction from people...you aren't pretending. You are an asshole.

—Ed Brayton