"Troll" and other terms

[JSojourner]

Help me out.  Are all these people trolls or are there other cyber-terms for them...


*  Someone who creates threads habitually to draw attention to himself or who responds a certain way in threads so as to steer the conversation from the subject at hand to himself.

*   Someone who says viscious and hateful things about others (either forum members or various groups and classes of people) but doesn't really believe what they are saying.

*   Someone who says the hateful things and really believes it.

*   Someone who takes contrary opinions and positions, not out of conviction, but just out of sheer spite or to stir up a sh*tstorm.

*   Someone who spams crap from totally biased sources, left or right, and never really comments.

*   Someone who continually changes names, avatars, party loyalties, predictions, etc. not out of genuine change of heart or mind...but because it gets him noticed.

*    Someone who insults others and becomes verbally abusive because negative attention is better than no attention at all.

*    Someone who posts under a completely different name, pretending to be another person entirely...sometimes vigorously agreeing with messages posted by their true persona.

Did I miss any?  Are there any other deviant cyber personality types I haven't covered?  Can all of these be called trolls?

Also, isn't it possible to track someone's IP and see if they are posting under two different names?  I haven't the slightest clue, technically...

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Sounds like you're calling out BRTD.

Ohhhhhh snap.  It's on.

[JSojourner]

Sounds like you're calling out BRTD.

Ohhhhhh snap.  It's on.

Not at all.  I neither like nor dislike BRTD...I am thinking of the whole tribe of usual suspects.  BRTD is one of them, but I gotta say -- he doesn't change his avatar and he seems pretty consistent on where he stands.  I often disagree with it, but...

I can't comment about Straha, because I have never interacted with him.  I came here around 2006 but I honestly don't remember the guy.

I'm just wondering if all these sorts qualify as "trolls"?  Or can you be an attention whore without being a troll...a racist asshole without being a troll...etc....

I'm not up on my cyber terminology.

[NDN]

Help me out.  Are all these people trolls or are there other cyber-terms for them...


*  Someone who creates threads habitually to draw attention to himself or who responds a certain way in threads so as to steer the conversation from the subject at hand to himself.

Sometimes, definitely attention whoring.

*   Someone who says viscious and hateful things about others (either forum members or various groups and classes of people) but doesn't really believe what they are saying.

Yes, by definition.

*   Someone who says the hateful things and really believes it.

Yes.

*   Someone who takes contrary opinions and positions, not out of conviction, but just out of sheer spite or to stir up a sh*tstorm.

Yes.

*   Someone who spams crap from totally biased sources, left or right, and never really comments.

No, unless they do it routinely solely to annoy people.

*   Someone who continually changes names, avatars, party loyalties, predictions, etc. not out of genuine change of heart or mind...but because it gets him noticed.

Generally no.

*    Someone who insults others and becomes verbally abusive because negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Yes.

*    Someone who posts under a completely different name, pretending to be another person entirely...sometimes vigorously agreeing with messages posted by their true persona.

Not necessarily, unless again it's done to annoy. In and of itself it's just sock puppeting.

Also, isn't it possible to track someone's IP and see if they are posting under two different names?  I haven't the slightest clue, technically...

It's entirely possible if they're not using a proxy. If they're using a good proxy server, then that's much harder. Believe me I have experience in dealing with these people (and using proxies myself).

[JSojourner]

Help me out.  Are all these people trolls or are there other cyber-terms for them...


*  Someone who creates threads habitually to draw attention to himself or who responds a certain way in threads so as to steer the conversation from the subject at hand to himself.

Sometimes, definitely attention whoring.

*   Someone who says viscious and hateful things about others (either forum members or various groups and classes of people) but doesn't really believe what they are saying.

Yes, by definition.

*   Someone who says the hateful things and really believes it.

Yes.

*   Someone who takes contrary opinions and positions, not out of conviction, but just out of sheer spite or to stir up a sh*tstorm.

Yes.

*   Someone who spams crap from totally biased sources, left or right, and never really comments.

No, unless they do it routinely solely to annoy people.

*   Someone who continually changes names, avatars, party loyalties, predictions, etc. not out of genuine change of heart or mind...but because it gets him noticed.

Generally no.

*    Someone who insults others and becomes verbally abusive because negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Yes.

*    Someone who posts under a completely different name, pretending to be another person entirely...sometimes vigorously agreeing with messages posted by their true persona.

Not necessarily, unless again it's done to annoy. In and of itself it's just sock puppeting.

Also, isn't it possible to track someone's IP and see if they are posting under two different names?  I haven't the slightest clue, technically...

It's entirely possible if they're not using a proxy. If they're using a good proxy server, then that's much harder. Believe me I have experience in dealing with these people (and using proxies myself).

Thanks NDN!  SOCK PUPPET!!! That's the term I was looking for on the latter.  I knew there was a code word for that.  Cheers!

[NDN]

Cockpuppet works too for people who troll under another name.

Oh and you actually can troll with opinions that aren't extreme or hateful, so long as they're contrary in some way. It just has to be sufficiently annoying to whatever forum you're doing that on. The most obvious would be bringing up the holocaust or how awesome interracial relationships are on a site like StormFront. But there's plenty of other more subtle ways to do it.

[JSojourner]

Cockpuppet works too for people who troll under another name.

Oh and you actually can troll with opinions that aren't extreme or hateful, so long as they're contrary in some way. It just has to be sufficiently annoying to whatever forum you're doing that on. The most obvious would be bringing up the holocaust or how awesome interracial relationships are on a site like StormFront. But there's plenty of other more subtle ways to do it.

There must be a whole new branch of psychology dealing with cyber psychotics and neurotics.  It would be fascinating...and depressing.

[John Dibble]

*  Someone who creates threads habitually to draw attention to himself or who responds a certain way in threads so as to steer the conversation from the subject at hand to himself.

Yes

*   Someone who says viscious and hateful things about others (either forum members or various groups and classes of people) but doesn't really believe what they are saying.

Yes

*   Someone who says the hateful things and really believes it.

No

*   Someone who takes contrary opinions and positions, not out of conviction, but just out of sheer spite or to stir up a sh*tstorm.

Depends on the degree. Playing devil's advocate can be non-troll behavior.

*   Someone who spams crap from totally biased sources, left or right, and never really comments.

Only if done to annoy people intentionally.

*   Someone who continually changes names, avatars, party loyalties, predictions, etc. not out of genuine change of heart or mind...but because it gets him noticed.

Yes

*    Someone who insults others and becomes verbally abusive because negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Yes

*    Someone who posts under a completely different name, pretending to be another person entirely...sometimes vigorously agreeing with messages posted by their true persona.

Not a troll, just an asshat.

[JSojourner]

Asshat.  LOL.  I like it, Dibble.  ;-)

[dead0man]

As long as we all agree these people should be called out and made fun of.  It might not "fix" them, but it will certainly (hopefully) warn others not to play the role of the douche.