Trolls on these boards

hmmmmm--never thought I was a troll, but basis the criteria of not having a bio available for all to read, I must be.   Fact is, when I first registered at bc.org that wasn't an option.   That feature came with one of their upgrades--I'm lazy--have never felt the need to fill it out.  Had no idea that the absence of my info was upsetting to anyone.  I gladly share when asked.

junie

Count me as another one that is hesitant to give out too much information as I deal with my dh's ex-wife who is bipolar and is gloating over the fact that I have cancer and I lost my hair.  She has also stalked me many times.  Believe me, I have never met an evil person before in my life until I met her.  And to top it off - I have never done anything to her.  I think she just hates me because my dh loves me so very much and *gasp* her own children actually like me

Konakat - you crack me up!  I hope I spelled your name right.  I am still dealing with chemo brain.

I know I have said the wrong things in the past, posted on the wrong forums but gosh....with all of the medication I am on it is hard to think straight.  There were periods of weeks that would go by and I wouldn't post because I didn't trust my brain to work my fingers properly. 

I usually only post a question, or answer a question, but all this arguing has made for some interesting reading, and to tell the truth, I'm kind of dumb about these things.. What exactly is a troll?  I'm assuming it's a lurker who likes to make trouble.  am I correct?

trolls get into threads only to start trouble. 

Boy, we sure are giving trolls a bad name here, aren't we??  I think they're the cutest little things -- ugly but cute!

 Funny,when I first heard the term "troll", I thought it referred to someone "trawling" through websites with open forums to see what kind of ruckus he/she could stir up.  Must've been a mix-up in CanAm pronunciations!

At any rate, our anonymity provides us the opportunity to ignore or rebut. Ignore is probably the best response, but rebut sometimes feels too good to pass up!   As for naming names, that's truly a dangerous game......

Linda (Madalyn's bleeding heart liberal pal,  Hey Shokk, howya doin'?!)

lindasa, you said this in a post on the previous page of this thread:  "Funny,when I first heard the term "troll", I thought it referred to someone "trawling" through websites with open forums to see what kind of ruckus he/she could stir up.  Must've been a mix-up in CanAm pronunciations!"

From what I've read, your understanding of the meaning of "internet troll" is correct -- or, at least, that's how the phrase "internet troll" was originally used.

The "wisegeek" website (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm) says this:  "An Internet troll is someone who posts offensive, controversial, or divisive material on an internet community. ... The evolution of the internet troll was a slow process which began as computer users started to more widely adopt the Internet. At first, the term referred merely to someone who was "trolling" for a response or opinion, in the same way that fishing boats cast out large nets to troll for a catch. Over time, trolls grew more aggressive, and the term began to be used specifically to refer to someone irritating or hurtful. In this sense, a troll could be compared to the nasty creatures of Scandinavian mythology which are also known as trolls."

otter 

Oh, thank you athena, you are too funny.  Next year I'm gonna be a foob!!!

I just read a post this morning that greeneyeslv passed away......

Here's the post from her daughter:

Hello it took me a while to figure out how to get on to here.. My mother was coming onto this web site for a short period of time and thought I would come on to regret to inform you that my mother passed away a couple of weeks ago and have just recently been going through her computer stuff to get in touch with anyone and those who touched her heart and where there for her if you could please forward to karen who she spoke with often on here about my dear mothers passing she will be dearly missed but her heart and spirit will go on and Im sure she will be watching over all of you wonderful people.. Take care and my prayers are with you all.. You may have known my mom by Lisa and or Greeneyes... God bless you all and wish you all the very best...

hmmmmmmmm  time to call in Sherlock Holmes.........

I personally prefer to err on the side of caution; the nature of internet is anonymity.  I would be devastated if I called someone out or didn't offer support because I thought it may be someone who is trying to cause trouble or gain attention, and it turned out to be someone in genuine need.

If the worst thing I do is give support to someone who doesn't "need" it, then I'm okay with that.

This is a very fine line that needs to be walked with care and caution.

As always, JMO.

I am more like Miss Marple than Sherlock Holmes, plus not that familiar with message boards and new to the concept of trolls. However, I was wondering if this might be a clue to the existence of a troll or simply a sign of stress: I have noticed that someone who has been posting recently has spelled her name differently within her post. Once it was Julie, another time Julia. As a Julie myself, I would never refer to myself as Julia. I am not sure if using different spellings of your own name other than formal vs informal (Katherine vs Kathy) is common or suspicious.  

Julie E

Ladies, I'm what they used to call a "net denizen."  I have been online since the late  80s on BBS's and was a USENET regular in the early 90s.  The term troll has evolved to a more catch-all phrase, but the original meaning was based on the fishing term.  Back in the USENET days, people would delliberately join a group and troll for victims.  Back then (and in some cases today) it was mostly about causing flame wars and then enjoying the show. 

As an example, somebody might join a group dedicated to fans of a specific model of car, and  then a troll would join for the sole purpose of getting people to fight about the car.  Good trolls were very subtle and injected themselves with the regulars.

Now people use the term more broadly, to mean anybody who is not quite what they seem.  Since the internet became accessible to everybody, it's spawned a new version of fraud.  These are people who don't want to cause fights but who are pretending  to be something they are not for their own purposes. 

The person in question, I would not consider a troll, but a needy person who has likely got some mental problems and latched on to one person here who gave her some kindness, and then to fulfill that need, began using multiple identities to get more attention from that person and the people close to her.

I have seen it many times in my role as a moderator, and many of them use illnesses as a way to fullfill some need. 

The forum I currently moderate has had the same regulars for 11 years now.  We have a hidden section of the forum for off-topic chat (you can only see it if you register) and one of our members grew very close to the group over the course of two years or so, then started throwing out hints about illness, then spread rumors of his impending death through PM and cryptic posts - then disappeared.  Many assumed he'd died and we mourned.  However, he came back as an alternate personality to watch the show.  He was very good at his deception and it took about 2 years to figure it out.  

There are other members who use illness to gain attention - we had one who ended up having a collection taken for them and turns out there was no illness at all.

I don't think the person we are suspecting is doing anything like that to gain the attention of other members, just the one.  And, I stayed out of it until that one member got some pretty devastating news on the same day this person posted trying to attract her again -  and I felt it was time to speak up.  This forum should be safe for her too.

I agree, as I said before, that it's best to err on the side of caution.  Only the moderators can know for sure via IP and registration information, if the multiple identies originate from the same place.   Being new to this forum, I don't know who the moderators are, and when you report a post, you can't explain why.  So, it's difficult to say 'can you check this person out for multiiple identities because one of our members is being harrassed"  You seem to only be able to say it on the forum, which is also bad form. But, perhaps there is a better way and we who are new just don't know about it yet.

There are often signs of people who have this problem - multiple identities with the exact same writing/spelling errors, a person who doesn't have facts at their disposal that you know they should have (how many of us don't know our diagnosis date), even when they forget their own name - those are all clues that things might not be as they appear.

The last thing that should happen to any legitimate person suffering from breast cancer would be to turned away as they are asking for help.  So, I agree that the benefit of the doubt should be given. However, on every forum, since the beginning of the internet, there have been these kinds of people and it's always best to be watchful.  In this case, we are pretty sure due to private PMs and other things, that this was not who she said she was.

I hope that explains some of my thinking anyway. There was no maliciousness in any of this.

I was coming here to see if this was referring to the "anti-alternative" fellow who keeps slamming us on the alternative forum, but this post caught my eye:

I have noticed that someone who has been posting recently has spelled her name differently within her post. Once it was Julie, another time Julia. As a Julie myself, I would never refer to myself as Julia. I am not sure if using different spellings of your own name other than formal vs informal (Katherine vs Kathy) is common or suspicious.

May I ask, is this in reference to me? My given name is Julia. My parents and brothers (and everyone who knew me through college), however, always called me Julie (when I was a kid, I HATED my name so Julie was an acceptable nickname). When I graduated, I decided to go by my real name. That is what everyone who knows me now calls me (even college friends call me Julia, which always makes me laugh because I think they should call me what I went by in college). 

I put "Julie" in my signature because at the time, it felt comforting to be thought of as my childhood nickname... what my parents call me... I don't know, I guess that was stupid. Just today I was thinking I wish I'd introduced myself here as Julia, because it feels fake now to be called something I'm not called by most acquaintances.

If you weren't referring to me, I apologize for all this blathering, but wanted to explain in case you were.

Anyway, I learned two nights ago that reading trolls' posts is HORRIBLE for my mental health (at least in the middle of a sleepless night while I'm weaning off of an anti-depressant). I saw in an older post that one of them had cruelly attacked someone else... so I reported that post... I didn't bother posting any of her (his?) attacks on me, I guess because at the time I didn't know they were a troll and were hurting other people, not just me.

As for people with multiple identities, the admins can see their IP addresses and, if necessary (if it's DEFINITELY a troll), ban their IP address... that way they can't re-register as someone else unless they do it from a different location.

CoolBreeze, I'm an old-time 'net girl myself (I sent my first email in 1989, freshman year of college)... remember IRC? Ah, good times! LOL

Hi All, 

We always need help with 'detective' work to keeping a safe and supportive environment. IP's change, making it extremely difficult. So, feel free to PM me with thoughts.

Thanks for your support  of the boards!

Melissa

A really informative post - thank you Rachel.

 Is it not possiblke to re-open posting on the Tamox thread and then chase the MFs off?

I don't think these trolls should be allowed to do this either.  I don't do the sympathy thing with them.

best wishes