Trolls with multiple handles

I am now convinced (as many of you are aware) there are various trolls with multiple handles whose sole purpose is to infiltrate well meaning threads with obfuscation and red herrings and with the intent to dummy down and discredit whatever topic is being discussed.

Now, these are not your typical die-hard skeptics or die-hard believers. These are people who intentionally try to railroad threads with nonsensical arguments or off-topic rants.

You can usually spot them due to their activity level, stars, flag counts, etc. They usually don't have avatars but that does not preclude them from having more of a prominent presence.

ATS is a free forum, for the most part but I believe if these people minimize their activity, this place will be a better place to discourse, debate and have well meaning discussions.

reply to post by Jaellma


Popular as that idea is, I can tell you that staff are REALLY good at finding, and weeding out trolls.

Are there people can come here to goad our members into a frenzy for the LOL's?!

Sure there are. But they never last long.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower

Popular as that idea is, I can tell you that staff are REALLY good at finding, and weeding out trolls.

I suppose I'll take that as a compliment...

reply to post by Jaellma


I just encountered this in a thread. I'm convinced that there are three different accounts under the same operator.

Either that, or they are all of the same below average intellect, use the same terminology, and fail to use quotes when using outside material.

reply to post by nomnom
Yes, they usually jump on a thread, make an amazingly outrageous statement and then log out of ATS until whenever.

It is quite irritating and I hope management focuses on weeding out these characters.

reply to post by Jaellma


community policing as such can take care of this too, be it alerting mods, or contacting the supposed troll u2u... i knew of one recently who i talked around after quite a few messages and he or she became much nicer to play with.
another one i know of was driven off the site by a slew of u2u's from annoyed members, some nice, some apparantly not so.
it's also worth remembering that some folk just plain disagree with us and stand their ground or continue to find point to debate, or get irate and distracted and just have to debate every tiny point you make.. it does not make them a troll though

Usually what I find is what the perpetrators usually do is come into a thread, and make a nonsensical argument and then when you challenge them they never respond.

I have also noticed this as well , and I have my suspicions about some people ,including someone well known here, that did something that I found was Quite suspicious.

It goes without saying that if you suspect such, please alert staff to the thread and the members in question so that we can double check and take action if necessary.

I think that stupid word gets thrown around way too much here. Often, especially for people on different timezones - when u eventually get back to a thread, its 50 pages long and you dont have time to go through every page looking for responses to your posts - then sometimes you do and its just people calling you a troll because you have not continued the discussion.

Originally posted by nomnom
reply to post by Jaellma

 

I just encountered this in a thread. I'm convinced that there are three different accounts under the same operator.

Either that, or they are all of the same below average intellect, use the same terminology, and fail to use quotes when using outside material.

That's easy to believe, really.

reply to post by Jaellma


I don't know if ATS checks ip's on trolls but that would be the best way to find out if they are using multiple accounts. I do a bit of troll hunting myself now and then, like checking the post history on ones I find suspicious. Lately I have been checking up on [Snipped mischievous link], I don't have a solid case yet but it's only a matter of time




Mod Note: ATS Terms & Conditions Of Use – Please Review This Link.

reply to post by cripmeister


Ha, very clever.

Very True, I live in Australia and the majority of people on here live in the USA or Canada. I get accused of being a troll quite frequently due to the fact I may make a comment, whilst using the internet at work (oops) and then come back the next day when there is 5 million pages.

I'm not a troll, however I do have an opinion.

They do say opinions are like assholes......everybody has one.

reply to post by cripmeister


LOL, long ago, I fell for that same trick, and thought, "Holy Cow, they think I'm a troll!"

Seriously though, yeah, they're out there. Patently obvious, very see-through, and tiresome!

Wish the product below was real!

reply to post by cripmeister


Very clever indeed Mr Cripmeister, very clever, almost had me worried there for a moment.

reply to post by cripmeister


Oh, hell. You caught me. Yep, I'm a troll, but I'm still more useful than the rest of the wannabes around here.

reply to post by cripmeister


o sugar frog you got me

Originally posted by homeslice
I think that stupid word gets thrown around way too much here. Often, especially for people on different timezones - when u eventually get back to a thread, its 50 pages long and you dont have time to go through every page looking for responses to your posts - then sometimes you do and its just people calling you a troll because you have not continued the discussion.

I had this happen to me. I work 3 12 hour shifts at night a week. I posted a message in a thread right before I went to bed (in the morning), got up, went to work. We got slammed and work all 3 nights was a nightmare. All I had time to do was work, sleep, shower, and go back to work. Finally, after sleeping all day and getting on, what would now be the 4th night after the post, I found multiple messages demanding answers from me in that thread, making absurd accusations about me, calling me names, etc.

The person THEN went to my profile, I assume, and started posting copy and paste messages of the original post by me along with demands that I answer him! First, totally off topic in the other threads, but wow, talk about stalking!

I replied a rather curt reply, and alerted a mod. The original thread was closed, but not because of the alert, but because it was Sandy Hook gone bad, IIRC. The persons' messages were allowed to stand, both in the thread that got closed, and where he stalked me.

He did end up leaving me alone, but the off topic posts should have been removed, IMO.

Quite simply, people have lives and jobs outside of ATS, and even I even forget to follow up every single message I ever post. Most if the time, no one replied to it anyway, it gets lost in the fodder. Lol.

I think people jump to crazy conclusions sometimes.

I also think stalking should not be allowed. If I choose to not reply for whatever reason, that is my choice. Perhaps I am in a bad mood, and afraid I may get banned if I respond, so I self moderate!


ETA: PS I don't and never have had an avatar. I must be a hairy troll, too.

Originally posted by homeslice
I think that stupid word gets thrown around way too much here. Often, especially for people on different timezones - when u eventually get back to a thread, its 50 pages long and you dont have time to go through every page looking for responses to your posts - then sometimes you do and its just people calling you a troll because you have not continued the discussion.

have to agree or its people just responding to your post cause your grammars crap.....if my post is readable then i,m not going to respond to people who have nothing better to do than say sort out ur grammar........i couldn,t care less how someone writes something..... as long as i can read it its fine by me.

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