#16 Trolling

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Question Of The Day #16: Have you ever witnessed or been a "trolling" user?

Anonymity is an interesting subject. Because this is the Internet, one can usually create an identity for themselves without having any kind of real world implications or effects on them. As such, some people take advantage of this ideology and use it to their advantage by blasting people on the Internet. Why exactly the person chooses to do that is completely up to debate. Usually though, the actions of a troll is to ignite some kind of reaction from the person on the other end for their own amusement. So, what is your opinion on trolling? Do you find it amusing or do you think it's downright annoying? When was the last instance that you've noticed someone being trolled? Have you ever been trolled? Or rather, have you been a troll to someone else? Why did you choose to do so?

Feel free to discuss all entities of this question below.​

 

[Hikamaru]

I'd never come off as a troll, in fact I'm a tad too friendly to even be considered a "troll". Although I have on a few occasions witnessed others getting picked on by trolls and there was even a time where I actually wanted to comfort the victim.

In fact, recently I did comfort someone who was getting picked on. He did feel better after my interaction so that's a good thing.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Not going to lie, trolling is very amusing if done correctly. I hate it when people spam pointless crap and think they are doing a good job of "trolling" forums or chatrooms because they are not at all haha. When people put thought into trolling it can make for a good laugh! That said, I don't think it's right and our staff team does an excellent job of handling these trolls. In fact I can't remember the last time we had a really bad case of one here. We get them at the battle server a lot and some are pretty funny, but most are just annoying and are banned immediately.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

We get them at the battle server a lot and some are pretty funny, but most are just annoying and are banned immediately.

*whistles to self*

I'll admit, I'm a big troll when it comes to the Battle Server. Overall all though, I mainly just gifs for comedic effect some of the things people say there. If it gets too overbearing I'll usually tone it down or otherwise just stop it because I know what it's like to be on the other end of things. But like you said, it's pretty humorous from time to time given the circumstances.

 

[Auraluxe]

I'm annoyed by trolls of all kinds, whether they're good trolls or nooblets who couldn't tell the difference between trolling and spamming. I do think people take their online lives a bit too seriously and let trolls get to themselves too much, but that doesn't make it right. It just doesn't seem at all funny to me, I dunno. People throw huge hissy fits over bullying, but you don't see anyone getting outraged over trolls, despite it being essentially the exact same thing. Years and years ago, when I had first discovered the internet (and was probably far too young to be online, but I digress), I was on the edge of suicidal and I can't even count how many trolls nearly pushed me over into ending my life. My father had recently killed himself, my grandfather who I was very attached to had just died from some kind of lung cancer he'd gotten from exposure to some crap overseas fighting in some war or another, etc. I'm not trying to be melodramatic, I'm just saying that trolling can have real-life implications. You don't know what the person you're trolling may or may not be going through offline, and quite frankly, trolls don't care. It seems as if they'd get a good laugh out of the person killing themself. Kind of like 'lol I was just kidding, but they take it that seriously? loser.'

tl;dr I hope there's a special place in hell for trolls, because they're barely more than subhuman animals.

 

[moon]

I kind of heavily despise anyone who would make someone else feel bad on purpose, especially for no fair reason. Internet trolls who hide behind their anonymity when striking are one kind of such people.

It's one thing to "troll" to have a laugh and annoy people slightly in a chat or so, but you should make sure that nobody took offense after the laugh is over. Or do I have a naive daycare nurse mentality? :p

 

[Nick]

I legit don't care.

It's amusing to read because they're so good at getting under some people's skins and their reactions are pretty funny and that's the extent of my opinion.

I know you guys aren't going to be surprised when I say that people sort of bring it upon themselves by reacting to them in the first place and taking things so seriously. I'm not saying that some things shouldn't be taken seriously on the Internet but at the same time if you take things too seriously on here then that will affect your mental health and that isn't good for your psyche to get angry and livid over someone whose trolling you.

 

[Aquacorde]

Trolls are obnoxious when their intent is malicious and they are severely upsetting the balance of the community. If it's mild and infrequent, whatever, but constantly just tearing into things is rude and not amusing.

Battle Server gets me being brash as hell and antagonistic sometimes when I'm in that mood. I'd be annoyed if I had to deal with me at those points. Apparently BSS have a higher tolerance for me than I do.

 

[starseed galaxy auticorn]

I don't like them. To me, trolling is another reason for cyberbullying others who are vulnerable to certain things online. Trolls shouldn't even exist because all they do is cause problems for the person they are bothering. Sadly, there's nothing you can do to stop them from doing what they do though. I have run into a few during my first time being online. I've actually been accused of being fake before because people didn't believe what I said online.

 

[Skystrike]

Yes, I witness trolls all the time on a site I go to. It's sickening, really.

As for being a troll... *afraid to answer that question*

 

[Radioactive]

Any group or system of people who take themselves a little too seriously are more than asking for it. The chaps at ED seem to have a good catalogue on those peeps, don't they?

There's also the reverse of that, when trolls become the trolled - usually this happens when they forget that anon is not their personal army and that their personal issues aren't everyone's issues. Either way, I don't really care one way or another as a member.

To a larger (but still minimal) extent I see more of a need to watch that stuff when you're in the shoes of a supervisor or some admin or what, for the longevity and success of your website.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

*whistles to self*

I'll admit, I'm a big troll when it comes to the Battle Server. Overall all though, I mainly just gifs for comedic effect some of the things people say there. If it gets too overbearing I'll usually tone it down or otherwise just stop it because I know what it's like to be on the other end of things. But like you said, it's pretty humorous from time to time given the circumstances.

This is the fun type of trolling though I was referring to. It's amusing and the anonymous use of /html makes it even better.

 

[Khoshi]

It's funny, watching people get frustrated over someone intentionally being annoying for lols. Seeing reactions makes me laugh, honestly.

I've trolled and I've been trolled. It's funny sometimes, annoying other times.

 

[Aurora]

I love trolling. It's fun and if I get a good reaction I get a bit of a kick out of it. Some of the reactions I've gotten from trolling people on Smogon by acting like a self-entitled, special-snowflake Tumblrina have been downright hilarious. There's a hypothetical line I don't cross, but whether it's acting like an ultra-right religious apologist or posing as a transethnic otherkin, I indulge in it and try and perfect my art.

 

[Meganium]

I love watching trolls get busted in the end. xD

Overall, I think it's pretty dumb. Some trolls are pretty funny, while others are like...lolwtf. I never trolled before though.

 

[Synerjee]

Hahahaha. Trolls are amusing most of the time, though they can easily get out of hand and that's when things start to get real ugly real fast. I see them every other day at the server so I know more or less how to deal with them, I guess. Also fyi, I don't troll nor ever intend to lol.

 

[obZen]

I trolled the SPP chat when I was 14
I thought it was funny as hell
However, I got bad reception from the other members and a ban (wow, surprise? no)
It didn't take long for me to realize how stupid it is to troll
At this age, I find trolling just plain stupid

I was "trolled" I guess yesterday; but it subsided quickly

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I like to play this ambiguous line between trolling and genuine nature with people typically. It is funny to see people fly off the handle. I don't put enough effort towards that these days though.

As for trolls, I've seen a couple here and they were hilarious.

 

[Ooka]

Depends, I like trolling when it doesn't cross the line to bullying or spamming. Of course it's very annoying on the PS PC server because you can bring up a serious topic and everyone on their decides it's time to troll with stupid answers and jokes (I feel like this falls into the spamming). It's the main reason I never go there. xD

 

[Pendraflare]

Nah, i'm not that guy. I know that there was a lot of trolling to that one user (I think his name was BABAgareeb) and that was funny to watch, though. But as for me myself, I don't exactly roll like that.