Trolling is just a facet of communication now. Most people can spot a troll or at least shrug it off when they fall for one, learn from it, and move on with their life. The best way to identify someone who just can't grasp the dynamic or cope with it are those who actually think something can be done to stop it.
Well....being a newbie....all I can add is this. Mr Truth has made 23352 posts and there are 21352 'likes.' Impressive, and likely unmatched.
Yes, choose how you wish to engage with people. This pesky interweb thing is a minefield so be careful how you tread in it... ergo engage on your own terms...or not. Doing or saying nothing is an option. Make your case or engage with comment or not...choose your terms of engagement and with whom. Simple really....
I think most troll on forums are paid sophists. http://www.whale.to/m/disin.html http://www.whale.to/b/sweeney.html https://karmayogadaily.com/2012/09/...-confessions-of-a-paid-disinformation-poster/ They don't even believe their own arguments.
I'll see your "Steve Scalise" and raise you one Christopher Paul Hasson, the Coast Guard white supremacist who just got busted by the Feds who drafted an email discussing biological attacks and had what appeared to be a hit list that included prominent Democrats and media figures, and who wrote that he was “dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” and pondering how he might be able to acquire anthrax and toxins to create botulism or a deadly influenza. Hasson had acquired a huge arsenal of weapons and ammo and “began the process of targeting specific victims,” including several prominent Democrats in Congress and 2020 presidential candidates. In February 2018, he searched the internet for the “most liberal senators,” as well as searching “do senators have ss (secret service) protection” and “are supreme court justices protected”. Are you really that interested in painting all liberals and Democrats as Antifa or as somehow "sympathetic and supportive of Antifa"?
Do you want your nothing Burger on a troll? https://tenor.com/view/just-trolling-gif-10157688 https://media.tenor.com/images/077234833a766b534f348213f742eaf0/tenor.gif No gifs??
I find that participants to forums are labeled "TROLLS" immediately a person or persons are offended by their comments. They are fine as long as that same person (labeled TROLL) is agreeing or "liking" or supporting a given thread. The use of "TROLL" or "YOUR RANTING" are comments used by the intolerant in an attempt to shut down opposing points of view. It is easy to label anyone a TROLL or a RANTER. Such inferences are never followed up with settled arguments. They mostly come linked with the accuser being offended or triggered. The mere fact YOU ( and I don't mean a specific person on here) may not be labeled a TROLL or RANTER could be because others are tolerant of free speech and choosing not to slam dunk with labeling as a detour.
Is this an example.... (1) Leftie liberals tend to have deep emotional feelings during a political debate. (Not a TROLL) (2) Leftie liberals are so emotionally triggered it must surely be a mental impairment. (TROLL??)
I agree 100%. I will debate with total honesty from my principled beliefs. I speak directly but never insult personally. Its only when you are persistent and challenging the TRIGGERED label you a TROLL. It is speech control and no more. MY favourite obvious example is when you get a lengthy debate, say with 8 members.. 7 are agreeing... Lets say the subject is Control of Borders.... 7 will be patting each other on the back - all feeling wonderful that they are the ONLY people who love foreigners?? Along comes that one person .. ME.. who says, with total honesty, in proper debate - "I want absolute no free movement across borders".... this is taken as a personal insult and thus the labeling comes out from one or two or all of the other 7... "TROLL" even NAZI. But the real damage is that they gang together and often will see said opposing member booted off the forum. So I do not accept the myth to do with "TROLL" or even "RANTER". Speak your mind, be honest, dont dish our personal insult... simple as that.
I agree with your definition of trolling, but in all fairness it is NOT attributable to ONLY right wingers.
II think that there is things you can say through derision or mockery that you couldn't say otherwise. I can get why some people troll even if it was never something I appreciated to do. Personnaly, I prefer to avoid discussion when you can't talk seriously.
I don't care who trolls or why. I dont have to take any notice of them. But then neither do I filter the threads.
"I don’t think Republicans funded the Marx Brothers. Groucho and Harpo were big Democrats." Chico was too busy funding the race tracks to think about politics.
We have trolls of all varieties here. I'd say the far left has about as many trolls on here as the far right.
"Troll" - a label invented and applied only by people who don't like being challenged. Such people want a discussion to conform only to their liking. Labels are to forums what semantics are to politicians and liars.
If you are physically present in a group having a discussion you listen and challenge or agree with the comments. AS far as I am concerned forums, on the internet, are no different. You either agree or argue with the comments. Adhering to this invented crap on "Trolls" or "Rants" or whatever is not made valid just because a large number of people fall for it. What happened to the simple argument? or probing of the subject matter.