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Troll School- presented by wizer

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Author Topic: Troll School- presented by wizer  (Read 2397 times)
wizer
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« on: June 09, 2008, 06:44:26 pm »

Troll Tip of the Day...We continue with the classifications of trolls.

Tactical Trolls

Tactical trolls take much more care and effort over the creation of their personae. Such trolls are likely to take the time and effort to become established on a firum, and have gained the trust of some of the "regulars". They use many of the techniques listed for Playtime Trolls, but in addition:

    * They engage in off list email dialogues to gain the confidence and trust of influential individuals on the board.
    * They are friendly and humorous in the posts, to put you at ease with their persona.
    * They have a well-thought-through story such that the persona seems to be very real. They will give apparently personal and intimate information, particularly in PMs.
    * They win trust by giving trust. For example, they may hint at something confidential on-list, but then only reveal the full story to someone off-list. By bringing someone into their confidence, they create a feeling of confidence towards them by the individual's concerned.
    * In manipulative PMs they win allies and support for some of their views.
    * They 'set up' bona fide members to argue with each other. Any view, no matter how outrageous, can be made to sound rational when put in a certain context.
    * They use gimmicks that win sympathy and bring out the 'nurturing parent' in other list members, which also suppresses any feelings of suspicion. E.g.: being blind, handicapped, an orphan, rejected, bullied, major medical problems, etc.
    * They build up a reasonable knowledge of the topics on the board.
    * They don't enter into the argument directly, but facilitate an argument between list members, e.g.: by highlighting points that one list member has made, perhaps in a way that is more confrontational than the original intention.
    * They sometimes create a fictitious persona supported by a web-site, photographs and apparently personal data.
    * They may suggest meeting up in real-life, but the meeting doesn't take place.

Many of these behaviours are things that 'real' people would engage in. It is very difficult to distinguish real people from trolls in an internet environment. The only method that can be used to verify the bona fide nature of list members is to investigate their personal information. Trolls will invent personal information, but when you investigate it you will keep coming to dead ends. For example, if their employer is company "xyz", then you may be able to find a web site at www.xyz.com, but there is no contact information. However, with bona fide people, their personal information will lead to an ever-increasing wealth of data, such as:

    * if a real person cites "xyz" as the employer, then the web site will give a phone number;
    * the company's phone number will be answered by an operator who will be able to tell you the person's extension number;
    * company xyz may list clients on their web site, whom you can ring up and verify exist;
    * the person may be a member of professional associations;
    * you may have met some list members in real life, who will have met other list members and can therefore vouch for them.

There are some tricks that the tactical trolls may use to deceive you:

    * Some trolls will exchange some fictitious data - e.g.: phone numbers, addresses, family details - on the basis that you are not going to actually ring them.
    * They may have dedicated personal phone lines that they may use for the purpose of taking verification phone calls
    * They will want to hide other personal information, because it can demonstrate that they are not for real.
    * Various excuses can be used for not releasing personal information, including privacy.

There are some bona fide people who do not wish to be traced via the internet - but this makes it difficult to distinguish trolls from real people. If in doubt, assume that they are a troll, and don't simply believe the sophisticated lies that trolls use to hide their identity. Also, don't rely solely on your intuition - you need to establish hard data to help find out whether your intuition is for real.
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