Another Look at Trolls
by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer
Don’t tell anyone, but I have a secret fascination for trolls. Not the fantasy ones that hide under bridges, but the internet trolls, particularly the Home trolls – the ones you see a lot at the five core spaces, especially at the Hub.
You see, they help make our Home life diverse and diversity is interesting. That is, interesting in a old Star-Trek-TV-series-Mr.-Spock way of saying that word. In other words, not always good, but always fascinating, even when the troll, himself or herself, is not that compelling to watch and “listen” to. Analyzing and discussing their motivation with other people almost always is interesting, if you can get them to stop and think about it.
I’ve heard some theories as to why trolls troll.
One theory is that these are kids who are bullied at school. Bullying is an age old problem, with not very many good solutions. In real life, a bully is usually a master of intimidation, which makes many of their victims afraid to report the bullying. While I feel sorry for any one who is physically or emotionally bullied and I can understand their desire to strike back, I can’t sympathize with people who are trying to hurt random people they just happen to run across. After all, for all they know the person they are trolling may be an innocent victim of bullying, too.
A related theory is that these are kids who may feel inadequate in some way in their real lives, such as being overweight or clumsy or unpopular. Somehow making other people feel awful, with insults and/or crude remarks, makes these trolls feel better about themselves. I guess the thought is that “if others are worse than I am, I must be better overall”. You will often hear them accusing others of having the perceived faults that I believe they may have themselves. This is not unheard of among adults in the real world, also.
Some trolls may have poor home lives, without a lot of parental support and attention and they are “acting out” on Home. They may insult other people for being “losers who spend a great deal of time on Home”, while they themselves do the same. It can be hard on parents who may both work, have long commutes and a lot of household responsibilities, to meet the emotional demands of a high-need child. Even really good parents who make a lot of effort with their kids can’t be with them every minute and supervise every activity. And this is saying nothing of single parent households where parenting is at least twice as hard.
Sometimes people (of any age) are taking out a really bad day on others. Maybe their boss yelled at them, they were cut off in traffic and made late for work, or a teacher gave them a poor grade. Once on Home, they feel they are anonymous and safe from any real consequences, so they can act in any way they choose. It’s sad to say, but for some people anonymity brings out the worst in them.
Overall, a troll is looking for attention and anyone responding to them in any way, negatively or positively, gives them what they want and makes them feel their efforts are worth while. Sometimes, they even troll for the amusement and attention of their friends. They just like an approving audience for their pranks. They often become masters at keeping to the actual terms of service, though not to the spirit of them.
It’s also interesting if you ask and can get a troll to tell you why they are trolling.
Some say they are getting revenge for being trolled, especially when they were new to Home. Without knowing the ethos or mores of a new place or group, almost anyone can be made to feel awkward and unwelcome, with a few insulting phrases and name-calling. There’s little that can be done to stop others from being rude to newcomers; we can only do our best to greet and welcome those of them who we meet and are truly new to Home.
There are also those who say they are trolling the trolls, but they don’t seem that careful to me about whom they pick on. This just seems like they are looking for justification to troll. I’ve even had people “jump to my defense” in a situation where I was not actually being trolled. I don’t believe this helps the state of affairs in most cases. These situations can escalate very swiftly into verbal wars with a lot of yelling (all caps), name calling and even swearing. And, of course, two wrongs never make a right any way.
Others have replied, “It’s only game.” to this question, as if that were an acceptable reason to troll. I now reply that “Home may be a game, but I am not an NPC in your game.” on the advice of a friend. Occasionally this provokes further discussion of the fact that we are all real people people behind these avatars, with real feelings. But usually there is little direct response to my comment and the trolling continues or the person just walks away, looking for their next victim.
There are those who feel they are acceptably poking fun at the pompous and over-serious. These are people who decide that their opinion should apply to everyone, that Home is a non-serious place where no worthwhile conversations need to take place. They make it their business to interrupt these conversations with remarks designed to provoke, upset and de-rail the conversation taking place.
Of course, there are those who say that it’s fun to troll, to make others unhappy or uncomfortable, to spoil other’s good times. I was stunned the first time a troll openly admitted this to me. I’ve given a lot of thought to this issue and I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes people are just not nice and don’t care about others. They can almost seem like sociopaths, in their uncaring for other people.
While I am fascinated with trolls and I have had conversations of various types with them, I am no way pleased about them. I don’t have a solution to the troll problem on Home or the internet, in general. There is only so much moderators can do about this situation. They can’t be every where at once, listening to every conversation taking place. I can only suggest that people use the tools they have been given, such as the ignore feature, and remember the new adage, “Don’t feed the trolls.”
August 2nd, 2013 by Kassadee Marie | 9 comments
Home is endlessly entertaining to this California girl. Kassadee has been in Home for about four years, and loves almost everything about it (with a few notable exceptions). She spends way too much money there, and perhaps too much time... Someday she will travel the world and write about the people she meets and the places she sees.
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Yeah, I kinda enjoy looking at a troll in action; it’s just fun to try to work out what’s mentally wrong with them lol
Usually how and what they type is an open window to what they’re all about, bit of a let-down too because you lose half the fun figuring them out that way.
I’ll admit though that sometimes I’ll take a funny turn and just go all silly, which can be interpreted as trolling -- I think some are just over-sensitive in that regard too though and any daft behavior will label a person a troll.
There’s a huge difference in someone just having a laugh and being a bit crazy than someone maliciously coaxing another into a ban for using “alert words”. But that’s generally the main goal for a troll; get the victim banned.
They say the best way is to just report, block, ignore. That will work for sure, and keep you safe but really, where’s the fun in that?
My rule is more like; stay alert, stay witty and remember; STICKS AND STONES!
In real life or the internet whether it be on Home or news groups/bulletin boards or other social activities some people want control, to be the leaders and will use force or threats or intimidation to get it.
In real life, it might be physical force, fighting in which the only solutions may be to follow, walk away, or fight back. It’s hard to fight physically on the although I guess it can be done depending on one’s definition. In real life anyway, fighting back physically doesn’t mean a person has to win the fight but just to fight back and make it more difficult for the aggressor(s) to have control using more effort than they intended. And sometimes the one being picked on will win.
Trolls or bullies to be leaders if that’s their goal need someone to follow them. Don’t follow. Just be yourself.
Sorry to say, but being a troll or bully is sometimes someone just being themselves for whatever reason lies in their mind’s eye. They don’t care much about whether they hurt someone physically or verbally and they see things differently than most of us. I wonder why? Watch and learn.
I just tend to ignore them, and I also use the tools at our disposal. I have always said (sadly) that we need to have thick skins in Home, and the thicker the better. The fact is bad people will always be around us, just these trolls have some anonymity, but if you just pay them no mind, they leave for the most part. I find that for most people, when you just don’t acknowledge them, it becomes pointless to continue harassing, so i ignore them alot. That and the fact that I have made good use of my estates that when my belly is full of trolls, I just go home. Good article, very good.
Awesome article Kass my dear!! Covers just about everything I have learned about trolling. There has seemed to be an up tic in trolling lately in my observations and I can’t explain why but I am studying it.
I do believe that the vast majority of trolls do want attention. Like you mention, the best tools you have is to ignore and don’t give them the attention they crave (for whatever reason they crave it). Rewarding such behavior only encourages it… like petting and praising a puppy for peeing on the floor.
I do however enjoy the challenge of “Troll Whispering”. I seldom work but when it does it is very rewarding. The other night in the Hub there was a young man trolling verbally and sniffing crotches. A mob of people formed around him and smothered him with the attention, albeit negative, that he so wanted.I respectfully called him by name and ask it we could go talk away from the crowd. You would be amazed at what you can do with respect. Often if dealing with trolls or angry people if you treat them with respect you can point out if they don’t do the same to you and ask if they would… anyway, back to the troll turning,,, once I got the young man away from the overcast sky of hate filled text bubbles I asked why he was acting that way. You can insert any reason you have heard here, why they do it is never excusable. I asked him if he enjoyed being hated. If this who he wanted to be. I explained that with just a few words I could teach him he could go back to where he had just offended so many and get positive attention instead and maybe even make some friends. I couched him a little and walked him back to the crowd that was still fuming. I got their attention and re introduced the ex troll to them and asked if they would let him say something to all of them. It got quiet and he told them he was sorry for what he did and didn’t want to be like that anymore and didn’t like how he had acted and asked for their understanding and forgiveness. Before anyone could jump down his throat I told him in front of everyone that I was proud of him for coming back and manning up and I know it isn’t easy to do that. Other joined in and told him it was okay but not to do it anymore. And everyone for the most part gave him a second chance. The positive attention he got felt so much better than the backlash he got from trolling that he was able to join into the conversations and made some friends.
Sometime I get discouraged by what I see and experience in Home and while trying to help others. But just one small win like that every once in a while makes it all worth wild and recharges my soul. I get addicted to that feeling much like a troll craves attention. It seldom works out that well, but just trying sometimes is worth it.
Loved the article sweety and keep up the awesome work!
Tlod ya I was going to write a long comment
Reading back over what I just wrote I can see that it might seem like I am contradicting myself. Starve a troll yet try and turn them. I make sure I pull them aside where our conversation isnt in the middle of the crime scene so to speak. Then I give positive attention so they can see the difference and so I can play the equal respect card if need be. I must admit that this often doesn’t work and blows up in my face… at least it can server as a temporary reprieve to the victims. If anyone can change the actions of just one person for the better on Home and help them become a better citizen then the pay off is exponential.
I just look at it as Trolls are so 2007. It was in style before and was during the /B/-tard era. However, it’s an old fad now and one can see the amusement behind it to conform a volatile solution that they are bored and have nothing better to do than to perform the latter of what Kassadee stated in the article.
You speak the truth, Olivia. You and Kassee, both.
You’re a fruit ball though, but you speak the truth.
Incredible article Kassadee, and so true. Trolls will always be there, if we could only tap into what it is that makes them do what they do then maybe we can end trolling. But since we cannot we have to live with it and have “tough skin”. Use ignore and/or report them.
As soon as you understand the trolls game, they will change the rules. It’s like living in Australia theres loads of things that can hurt you, bit if you want to live there you have to put up with them. If someone has no driving force except to create anarchy, you can end up creating more anarchy by trying to stop it.
I try to exercise caution with individuals I meet, whether they are acting normal or ‘trolling’. We have to remember that there are people on Home with serious psychological, mental or emotional issues trying to look for answers or help on Home instead of seeking real-world assistance from a professional.
My biggest concern is ensuring someone in that state of mind isn’t getting pushed around by others, and if possible, try to encourage them to ‘log-off’ if necessary…