Writing about school shootings and gun violence produces
some odd responses. Indeed, all sorts of people crawl out from under the rocks
to share their lack of wisdom with others. They have certainly hit my Facebook
postings as well as my blog.
A troll is broadly defined as “a member of an online social
community who deliberately tries to disrupt, attack, offend or generally cause
trouble within the community by posting certain comments, photos, videos, GIFs
or some other form of online content.”
Elsie Moreau has categorized them in “10 Types of Internet
Trolls You’ll Meet,” subtitled “Haters Gonna Hate.” I would say there are even
more types than Moreau lays out, but no matter how many types you come up with
they all seem to have certain characteristics—arrogance often sprinkled with a
healthy does of ignorance, illogical argumentation, and name calling with a
dash of hysteria. Some Trolls, particularly the Trump supporters and the 2nd
Amendments extremists use profanity so much that their words indicate they are
willing to in their mouths what most people would not put in their hands.
Here are Moreau’s 10 types—with some comments by me:
THE INSULT TROLL
“The insult troll is a pure hater, plain and simple. And
they don't even really have to have a reason to hate or insult someone. These
types of trolls will often pick on everyone and anyone – calling them names,
accusing them of certain things, doing anything they can to get a negative
emotional response from them – just because they can. In many cases, this type
of trolling can become so severe that it can lead to or be considered a serious
form of cyber-bullying.” This type
particularly likes to attack my postings—I have been called a lot of names. I
have been threatened (so much for freedom of speech).
THE PERSISTENT DEBATE TROLL
“This type of troll loves a good argument. They can take a
great, thoroughly researched and fact-based piece of content, and come at it
from all opposing discussion angles to challenge its message. They believe
they're right, and everyone else is wrong. You'll often also find them leaving
long threads or arguments with other commenters in community comment sections,
and they're always determined to have the last word – continuing to comment
until that other user gives up.” The characteristic of believing they are right
and everyone else is wrong cuts across all ten types. You have to ask, “Who
left the door to the asylum open?”
THE GRAMMAR AND SPELL-CHECK TROLL
“You know this type of troll. They're the people who always
have to tell other users that they have misspelled words and grammar mistakes.
Even when they do it by simply commenting with the corrected word behind an
asterisk symbol, it's pretty much never a welcomed comment to any discussion.
Some of them even use a commenter's spelling and grammar mistakes as an excuse
to insult them.” I would add that many times this type of troll is dead wrong.
English is the fastest changing major language in the world—our rules are
always in flux. This troll relies on some obscure, out of date, rule she or he
learned 30 or 40 years ago, but like the other Trolls, knows everything.
THE FOREVER OFFENDED TROLL
“When controversial topics are discussed online, they're
bound to offend someone. That's normal. But then there are the types of trolls
who can take a piece of content – often times it's a joke, a parody or
something sarcastic – and turn on the digital waterworks. They're experts at
taking humorous pieces of content and turning them into an argument by playing
the victim. People really do get upset by some of the strangest things said and
done online.” Some people walk through life in a perpetual state of
indignation. They apparently are craving attention jumping on the “I’m a victim
bandwagon” thinking they will get some sympathy for what is their apparently
miserable life.
THE SHOW-OFF, KNOW-IT-ALL, BLABBER MOUTH TROLL
“A close relative to the persistent debate troll, the
show-off or blabbermouth troll is a person who doesn't necessarily like to
participate in arguments but does love to share his or her opinion in extreme
detail, even spreading rumors and secrets in some cases. Think of that one
family member or friend you know who just loves to hear his or her own voice.
That's the Internet equivalent of the show-off or know-it-all or blabbermouth
troll. They love to have long discussions and write lots of paragraphs about
whatever they know, whether anyone reads it or not.” Rather than be a separate
type of troll, this should be the title for all of them, “Show-off,
Know-It-All, Blabber Mouth Trolls.”
THE PROFANITY AND ALL-CAPS TROLL
“Unlike some of the more intelligent trolls such as the
debate troll, the grammar troll and the blabbermouth troll, the profanity and
all-caps troll is the person who has nothing really of value to add to the
discussion, spewing only F-bombs and other curse words with his caps lock
button left on. In many cases, these types of trolls are just bored kids
looking for something to do without needing to put too much thought or effort
into anything. On the other side of the screen, they're often harmless.” A lot
of these people are not bored kids, they are uncouth—lacking in manners,
vocabulary, and the ability to engage in an adult exchange of ideas. I think
many of these profane individuals are dimly aware of their shortcomings and
inability to engage in intelligent exchanges, so they result to screaming
profanity.
THE ONE WORD ONLY TROLL
“There's always that one contributor to a Facebook status
update, a forum thread, and Instagram photo, a Tumblr post or any other form of
social posting who just says "lol" or "what" or
"k" or "yes" or "no." They're certainly far from
the worst type of troll you meet online, but when a serious or detailed topic
is being discussed, their one-word replies are just a nuisance to all who are
trying to add value and follow the discussion.” I agree, this is probably the
most benign troll. Unfortunately their unwillingness or inability to use
sentences or phrases and the result is confusion. What does “lol” mean—lots of
luck, lots of love, lots of lunacy? The use of “k” is really the height of
laziness—this troll cannot even take time to type the “o” in front of the “k.”
THE EXAGGERATION TROLL
“Exaggeration trolls can sometimes be a combination of
know-it-alls, the offended and even debate trolls. They know how to take any
topic or problem and completely blow it out of proportion. Some of them
actually try to do it to be funny, and sometimes they succeed, while others do
it just to be annoying. They rarely ever contribute any real value to a
discussion and often bring up problems and issues that may arguably be unrelated
to what's being discussed.” This troll might better be called, “I Need
Medication Troll.” Most of the postings I have read from this sort of troll
appear to be written by people who rely on temper tantrums to get their way.
They also display written examples of arrested development—somewhere around the
age of four or five. I responded to one of these Trolls, asking him his level
of education. He responded he wasn’t going to tell me because, “I would make
fun of him.” Inferiority complex at work here?
THE OFF TOPIC TROLL
“It's pretty hard not to hate that person who posts
something completely off topic in any type of social community discussion. It
can be even worse when that person succeeds in shifting the topic and everyone
ends up talking about whatever irrelevant thing that he or she posted. You see
it all the time online – in the comments of Facebook posts, in threaded YouTube
comments, on Twitter and literally anywhere there're active discussions
happening.” This Troll apparently has to say something, anything. He or she has
nothing of value to the topic under discussion. This Troll might better be
called, “I Don’t Have A Clue Troll, But Want Attention Troll.”
THE GREEDY SPAMMER TROLL
“Last but not least, there's the dreaded spammer troll. This
is the troll who truly could not care less about your post or discussion and is
only posting to benefit himself. He or she wants you to check out his or her
page, buy from his or her link, use his or her coupon code or download his or
her free ebook. These trolls also include all those users you see littering
discussions on Twitter, Instagram, and every other social network with
"follow me!!!" posts.” I have had my share of those. They post
something about a book or service they are selling. This Troll might be called,
“My Product Is Not Selling, Please Try It—I Need The Money Troll.”
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