Let’s Get It Straight On Trolling

[Shulem]

“Circle jerking" is a slang term to describe a group of people who pat each other on the back and obsessively agree with one another while excluding or mocking outside opinions.  It’s the digital equivalent of a "mutual admiration society."

Oh that's nice to know. Thank you for informing me. I stand corrected.

[malkie]

I would rather see MG encouraged to answer substantive, though awkward, questions, and discouraged from constantly rerunning his pity party.

Your post is more or less a derail from the OP. I would rather you stay on topic or simply back off if you don’t have anything substantive to say.

I believe that my comment is on topic, because there would be less of what you call "trolling" if you would modify your behaviour. However, as I noted on another thread, I don't hold out much hope for that.

But do go ahead and flag my comment as a derail. Oh, wait, I forgot - you believe that the mods are part of the plot against poor little you.

...
I’ll leave it there.

But did you?

[MG 2.0]

Your post is more or less a derail from the OP. I would rather you stay on topic or simply back off if you don’t have anything substantive to say.

I believe that my comment is on topic, because there would be less of what you call "trolling" if you would modify your behaviour. However, as I noted on another thread, I don't hold out much hope for that.

But do go ahead and flag my comment as a derail. Oh, wait, I forgot - you believe that the mods are part of the plot against poor little you.

...
I’ll leave it there.

But did you?

What I’m observing is that you are claiming they you not the aggressor, but simply an unbiased judge. Are you?

Your mild harassment/mocking of me here and there is a form of pretending (at least in my mind) that your actions are a "natural consequence" for my actions. I think you are mistaken. A pretender.

Essentially, it is you who is victim blaming. But it’s based on at least one or more of the things I’ve talked about in the OP.

At the end of the day you and others attempt to get me to agree and/or cave in with/according your accusations. If I agree I am admitting I was wrong (even if I wasn’t) That gives you and others the ‘right’ and/or permission to "police" me forever. Some have attempted to do that as though I’m going to be an unwitting dupe. If I disagree, on the other hand, you and/or others use it as "proof" that I am "unreasonable" and "deserve" more trolling.

Classic Double Bind.

Anyway, I appreciate your perspective and the lens that you are viewing things through. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
MG

[malkie]

I think I understand your perspective on this.

"What I’m observing is that you are claiming they you you are not the aggressor, but simply an unbiased judge. Are you?" Did I fix this correctly?

I'm claiming that my comment was not a derail, but was relevant to your OP.

I admit to mild mocking - honestly, I thought you could take that as part of the normal give & take here, without complaining. However, I apologise for offending you.

Here's an offer, MG, that you can refuse. But I hope you don't.

Select anyone on the board that you think we would both trust - thoughtful, unbiased. DM them the URL of the thread, and ask if my initial reply to you was a derail. Post the reply without naming the person. This way we get past your distrust of the mods.

If I am judged to be derailing the thread, I will apologise for that.

[MG 2.0]

If I am judged to be derailing the thread, I will apologise for that.

At first blush when I read the words, "I would rather", I saw that as a move towards taking the thread into an unassociated topic unrelated to the OP. You are expressing a 'preference' which does have a loose connection with what behavior is trolling vs. what behavior should be encouraged.

I will back off of and retract that accusation. Apologies.

When I am pointing fingers at those that I would consider trolls, by definition, in accordance with my OP...I would not consider you to be in that group although there are one or two descriptors that I would say apply to you. I can live with a bit of give and take and don't mind that. It is the planned/orchestrated and what appears to be coordinated efforts to 'shoot the messenger' that rubs me the wrong way.

Even it that entails loose organization based upon the principles/practices outlined in the OP and my other posts.

One thing I've noticed thus far. There has been only one person on my ignore list that has shown up to this thread...and he asked that I be banned! That person along with others who I've listed earlier, upon request, are those that I would posit/argue meet the classic definitional model (laid out in the OP).

The truth cuts like a knife.

I don't expect the others to show up here and offer any good defense against the rather obvious accusations that I've made. The thing is, I probably should have done this before now but I was somewhat resistant to it. But enough is enough.

Wishful thinking on my part.

Regards,
MG

[MG 2.0]

I think I understand your perspective on this.

And I yours. Although I would be interested in the perspective of those that are on my ignore list. Without contextually destroying/manipulating what I actually said or creating just another false flag/bad faith narrative having do do with my sincerity, etc. That accusation on the part of some...along with other accusations...have been obviously silly and even transparent to those that observe with eyes that are not jaundiced or simply turned away in ignorance.

Regards,
MG

[Limnor]

Poor fellow.

[I Have Questions]

For quite a while now I have listened to certain posters make accusations of one particular poster being a troll.

Let’s straighten up the record. Recently on a couple of threads I have shown that there are certain posters on this board that fit the bill in regard to being trolls and participating regularly in troll like behavior. Since those posts are likely to be buried in one way or another by those same posters I will repost ‘what a troll is’ and try to put this to rest:

Characteristics and types/kinds of an online troll:

Wikistalking/Cyberstalking
Follow Target Troll
Stalking Troll

From what I've read their goal isn't just to disrupt a thread, it's to discredit or silence a specific individual across multiple discussions.

This last evening ( March 19th) and at other times a particular poster makes a habit of doing just this very thing. It's been ongoing and disrupts the flow of almost any given thread that I make a comment on. Rather tiresome. But predictable.

Targeted harassment involves monitoring posts of one particular individual to "correct" that person, insult that person, or pick a fight wherever that person goes. This description applies mainly to one person on this board and very possibly two or three others.

In my opinion they should be sanctioned/curtailed from being able to disrupt the board in this manner.

Three common tactics (I had to look this up) used by one or more posters:

1.Sealining: Pestering a poster with "innocent" but endless questions to exhaust him or her.
2. Character Assassination: Attempting to turn the rest of the board against a person by bringing up his or her past posts out of context.


Other attributes/characteristics of the type of troll I’ve talked about on the SS Presidency handbook thread are:

Algorithmic Gaming- pushing their comments to the top to bury a post they would rather not have seen.

Psychological Wearing- using words such as “clearly” and “absolutely “ and the like, act as triggers to influence others to your own way of thinking and overwhelm the ‘mark’.

Circle jerking- my guess is that many here know what that is and some have participated in it.

I would encourage the moderators to consider whether certain members of this board have created a pattern of Brigading with the intent of targeting certain posters.

This is trolling behavior by definition.

This is the only time that I have and will put this out there and hopefully to rest.

Truthfully? I expect more of the same behaviors/strategies.

It seems to be compulsive…OCD.

I’ll leave it there.

Regards,
MG

This thread is not about Mormonism and should therefore be moved to a different forum - Spirit Paradise perhaps. I note the OP has already been reported so hopefully the mods will relocate the whole thing quite soon.

[MG 2.0]

From my point of view, there are trolls that are difficult if not impossible to control on a basically free wheeling board such as this. It's just gonna happen.

And you end up with the silly memes, name calling, etc.

The "rules" for them are not the same rules I'm following in regards to the various kinds of trolling they exhibit and I have explicitly named and called out.

I'm under no illusion that I can control what trolls do. The proof is in the pudding.

Regards,
MG

At least two instances of psychological wearing so far from one or more posters.

Regards,
MG

[Limnor]

The long-time poster suffers through another day in which the mob gangs up and pummels him with facts. He sits alone, considering the whyfores and wherefores. This will not do! But wait, perhaps more analysis is required, a faint whisper hums out soothingly.

Let’s see. They keep responding. Why? Either they’re drawn to the argument and cannot defeat the impenetrable logic, or they’re targeting me. If they’re targeting me, which I expected, it means what I say is true. They’re drawn to it, because the case is airtight. Either way, the conclusion holds. If they say it’s unclear, that’s just how it reads to them. It doesn’t change what I meant. My brilliant defense and coherent replies bury their every move. Yes, that must be it. I, after all, carry the priesthood.

Yet the nagging voice returns, a lingering dull voice amid the fuzziness that won’t go away. No, they don’t know! How could they? Smoking guns?! KJV errors?! King’s names?! I’ve explained so many times how those things are irrelevant facts that get in the way of what I want, therefore they can be dismissed as trivial matters in the big picture. Black and white thinking and pesky facts can’t hold a candle to Monet.

Right?