05-05-2017, 12:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-05-2017, 01:32 AM by APeacefulWarrior.)
Ugh, really? I have a different opinion than you on the matter of rights and infringement, so I'm "softly trolling." Yes, let's just go around calling everyone a "troll" the moment they say something we disagree with! Then we can all be like little children on a playground calling each other stupid poopyheads. Won't that be fun!
(Also, I explicitly said in posts above that it was a different matter if the trolls moved out of the public forum and into direct personal attack...)
But otherwise, you know what? If some troll was so pissed at me they were spending huge amounts of time sending stupid childish texts at me, I would be laughing at them. All that effort being expended on their part, just to create such an inconsequential effect! In fact, something similar did happen to me about 15 years ago, when I was running my own message board and some troll was filling it with lengthy sh*tposts attacking me. I mean, the dude was spending what had to be hours and hours trying to disrupt the board, even though it would only take me a couple minutes in the admin console, a couple times a day, to clean up his filth.
What a waste of his time! What a pathetic display of his lack of anything productive to do with his life! Why would I let someone like that get under my skin?
I even sent him a couple messages pointing out what a colossal waste of his time it all was and suggesting he find something better to do. But when he still didn't stop, I pulled his IP addresses from the logs, discovered he was posting from a major university's computing labs, and informed them of the matter. The combination of the IPs and timestamps meant they could pinpoint who was doing it and, while I don't know exactly what happened to him, the attacks ceased immediately.
And yes, I've also had Redditors try to follow me around trolling me. Every time, I've made them regret their poor tactical choices, or at least give up and go away.
Like all bullies, trolls like that only have power over a person if that person gives them that power. In fact, that's one of the big reasons I try to point out whenever people are acting like victims or going around looking for excuses to think of themselves as oppressed. Such behavior ONLY emboldens the trolls and the bullies and the victimizers and the oppressors. It's the equivalent of wearing a "kick me!" sign on one's back in perpetuity. A sense of personal empowerment is called for, not throwing away that empowerment at the first sign of adversity. When a troll has become so fixated on you that they're stooping to such behavior, then that gives YOU power over THEM, because their behaviors are dictated by your behaviors and they are the ones sticking their necks out. Take the opportunities they give you to out them as trolls to the world, get them banned, report them to the police, whatever. Hell, if nothing else, just laugh at them and keep laughing until they give up and find another target.
BE EMPOWERED.
Recognize that trolls (and I mean real trolls, not "oh, this person has an opinion that makes me angry so I'm calling them a troll") are sad, empty little people whose opinion should not matter in the slightest to a reasonable person, and their power is nearly eradicated.
(Also, I explicitly said in posts above that it was a different matter if the trolls moved out of the public forum and into direct personal attack...)
But otherwise, you know what? If some troll was so pissed at me they were spending huge amounts of time sending stupid childish texts at me, I would be laughing at them. All that effort being expended on their part, just to create such an inconsequential effect! In fact, something similar did happen to me about 15 years ago, when I was running my own message board and some troll was filling it with lengthy sh*tposts attacking me. I mean, the dude was spending what had to be hours and hours trying to disrupt the board, even though it would only take me a couple minutes in the admin console, a couple times a day, to clean up his filth.
What a waste of his time! What a pathetic display of his lack of anything productive to do with his life! Why would I let someone like that get under my skin?
I even sent him a couple messages pointing out what a colossal waste of his time it all was and suggesting he find something better to do. But when he still didn't stop, I pulled his IP addresses from the logs, discovered he was posting from a major university's computing labs, and informed them of the matter. The combination of the IPs and timestamps meant they could pinpoint who was doing it and, while I don't know exactly what happened to him, the attacks ceased immediately.
And yes, I've also had Redditors try to follow me around trolling me. Every time, I've made them regret their poor tactical choices, or at least give up and go away.
Like all bullies, trolls like that only have power over a person if that person gives them that power. In fact, that's one of the big reasons I try to point out whenever people are acting like victims or going around looking for excuses to think of themselves as oppressed. Such behavior ONLY emboldens the trolls and the bullies and the victimizers and the oppressors. It's the equivalent of wearing a "kick me!" sign on one's back in perpetuity. A sense of personal empowerment is called for, not throwing away that empowerment at the first sign of adversity. When a troll has become so fixated on you that they're stooping to such behavior, then that gives YOU power over THEM, because their behaviors are dictated by your behaviors and they are the ones sticking their necks out. Take the opportunities they give you to out them as trolls to the world, get them banned, report them to the police, whatever. Hell, if nothing else, just laugh at them and keep laughing until they give up and find another target.
BE EMPOWERED.
Recognize that trolls (and I mean real trolls, not "oh, this person has an opinion that makes me angry so I'm calling them a troll") are sad, empty little people whose opinion should not matter in the slightest to a reasonable person, and their power is nearly eradicated.