The Trolls of Blogging

August 31, 2006 in Blogging, Stupid People | 20 comments

Troll- One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup, blog, or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.

I guess I’m pretty lucky, for as long as I’ve been online (going on 10 years now) I’ve never had a troll of my own. Here at AIS I can count the number of random anon-asshole comments left on one hand. The emails I get about my language and various other bullshit isn’t extremely large in volume but I’d have to say that it’s the closest thing to trolls I have ever had thus far in my time bloggin’. Usually a well worded reply concluded with a verbose “Go fuck yourself.” shuts the email senders right up and those have never escalated into huge public issues. Other times I just ignore them, everyone has a red X on their window…it’s amazing how many people still don’t know how to use it. *rolls eyes*

Trolls Suck

Many bloggers I know have trolls that literally plague their sites. Some bloggers just brush them off while others get so bogged down by the negative that is thrown at them they simply close up shop and leave the interwebs altogether. Personally I really don’t know how I’d respond if I was to acquire a real troll here. And I’m hoping I never have to find out. But it got me to wondering:

Have you ever had a troll on your blog?
If so, how did you react/respond to your troll?
What made your troll finally leave?

  1. franky on September 1, 2006 at 5:52 am

    I can troll ya, if you really want to have one :D

  2. RisibleGirl on September 1, 2006 at 7:29 am

    Nope, never had one (and not looking for one either.)

  3. Bethy on September 1, 2006 at 7:40 am

    I don’t know if I’ve ever been trolled but I have been lurked apon for many years. I just ignore them and they leave me alone. Also a good reason for the good ol’ red X. If they want to read about my life and spy upon my blog, let am. I have nothing to hide.

  4. mike on September 1, 2006 at 9:35 am

    I’ve had them. They are usually anonymous trolls and I just make fun of them. Seriously, no one takes anonymous trolls seriously anyway. They’re cowards.

  5. Mr. Fabulous on September 1, 2006 at 10:41 am

    I have been lucky, I have mostly only had a lone comment here and there. Although once when I was in a contest I had a bunch of guys from a blog run by trolls come over and spam me constantly. I just went to comment moderation for a few days and they went away.

  6. Scooter on September 1, 2006 at 11:10 am

    I had one troll who would routinely leave a gay homosexual slur on every post on my front page for a couple months, every time I just deleted it. He finally left after he said I didn’t have the guts (pharaphrasing) to not delete it and I pointed out that this gave from a dude who wasn’t man enough not to post anomoumously even though I knew exactly who he was.

  7. Caryn on September 1, 2006 at 11:11 am

    I’ve had a few trolls, I guess… but they were people I knew. People from my RL who didn’t like something I said on my blog. They threw a fit and then when my other friends tried to defend me, the assholes would start insulting them, too. It was awful.

    When it was my sister, I told her off in person. She stopped. When it was an old friend from school, I freaked him out a little bit b/c he started posting anonymously (yea, like I didn’t know who it was), but then emailed him and told him that if he was going to post nasty comments, he shouldn’t do it from work. He had no idea I could look up his IP from my comments. heh. So he stopped.

  8. Phelan on September 1, 2006 at 12:11 pm

    never had to deal with trolls on anyone my blogs. Have pitchfork, will use.

    Oh and thanks for the plug by the bye. I got someone to rant about NAIS with now.

  9. The Chad on September 1, 2006 at 1:17 pm

    Never had any trolls (yet), but I have been starting to recieve hatmail, in which I just ridicule them.

  10. Amy on September 1, 2006 at 2:03 pm

    Wow… no trolls, no hatemail…

    OMG BUG!!!! I’M BORING!!!!!! EEEEEEK!!!!

  11. Jade on September 1, 2006 at 5:11 pm

    I’ve had a couple of them.

    One, I figured out was trolling from work, so I reported it to her boss, after taking screen shots of her visits on my stat recorder. It stopped.

    The other one got ganged up on by my loverly readers and she just melted away into the black abyss that is the internet….good riddence to both! ;-)

  12. Jade on September 1, 2006 at 9:09 pm

    I’m here votin’ for ya, chica! :-)

    Oh, and, you’ve got email…

  13. Sodapop on September 2, 2006 at 9:54 am

    No trolls and no hate mail really. Back in February I had someone who could have become a troll, but he backed off when all the commenters started in on him too. He didn’t remain anonymous, which I appreciated. I have no idea whatever happened to the guy

  14. jane on September 2, 2006 at 9:59 am

    This is so totally weird cuz my next FOAD Thursday is about someone whose had a troll for about a year & it’s caused them to close their blog to the public.
    I’m like you though, I’ve never had my very own troll. I think if I did have one, I probably wouldn’t post their comments & that would discourage them. My blog is strictly for fun & good things, so I wouldn’t let a situation get to where I didn’t look forward to blogging.

  15. Thaed on September 2, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    I’ve never had a troll, but I have gotten into arguments with people on blogs and forums. I wonder if one person’s arguer is another person’s troll? Although, I never name call. IMHO that’s the true mark of a troll.

  16. Grins on September 3, 2006 at 5:16 pm

    Never had one on mine no, but have one hit online message boards before. Fun huh?

  17. Luka on September 4, 2006 at 3:15 pm

    this one time, right after I opened a new domain, I got linked on cruel.com and I got a lot of traffic, and some trollish behavior. other than that I’ve been pretty lucky. if I have a troll they don’t leave any nasty comments. my bigger problem, freakin referal spam! aii. that shit is the baine of my exsistance!

  18. Mom on September 4, 2006 at 6:57 pm

    Okay, does your mother commenting on languge count as trolling?
    :-)

    Glad to see ya back!

  19. Cash on September 4, 2006 at 9:05 pm

    I have never had a troll but that’s mostly because people witness my creative reflex and rhetorical ability and know I will make them cry.

    Plus, I am a guy … and I don’t wear hottie schoolgirl outfits. No one is bothering guys not wearing hottie schoolgirl outfits.

  20. Cat on September 6, 2006 at 7:44 am

    I got ‘wtf’ as my captcha…neat!

    Anyhow, I have had a few trolls but I just did like Mr. Fab and kicked into moderation during that time for the IP they had. I’m pretty tech. savvy so I can usually narrow down either who it is or how to get rid of them via blocks.

    I know many others have had trolls that are incessant and horrid. I hate it for them and don’t welcome that on my blog at all. Anon. sucks…I respect someone much more if they just say it like they mean it and attach a name. I think that’s important. I’m less likely to feel trolled if they do that.

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