Forum Post: Do not be idiots, do NOT engage trolls, PEOPLE ARE WATCHING
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 14, 2011, 11:40 a.m. EST by imrational
(527)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
A lot of people, like the mainstream media, bloggers, and the general public come here and see intelligent threads being ignored while troll ones prosper. The trolls are here to cause dissent and division among us.
People you need to check your ideologies at the door. Do NOT engage in conversations with trolls.
When you see a troll thread, simply post that they are causing dissent and it is harming the movement. The OWS is inclusive and supports a wide variety of views in its efforts to
END CORRUPTION
and
STOP CORPORATE BRIBES
When the troll comes back and responds, IGNORE THEM! Let their threads wither and die.
Don't be stupid. Don't get drawn into arguments that you cannot win... because the moment you get sucked into divisive threads, you've already lost.
Thanks. I will try to refrain from correcting the inane.
Yeah, we should be searching for things we can all agree on. That makes sense.
Detect the Troll :
1°) Troll only want to win, and are not sensitive to your understanding.
2°) Speaking often alone to redraw answers.
3°) Use taunt, and doubtful matter to funnel opinion.
The movement here has much going on, and much will come from it.
New facebook page directed solely to get the money out of politics. No parties, no other issues.
Help it grow.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Money-Out-of-Politics/170454236375392
Facebook initiates invasions of privacy all the time by trying to change their policies on the sly. The US Government sent out bids for contractors to develop programs to "weaponize" facebook.
I simply don't trust it.
Not only that, but they're not trying to "win". They're trying to get people riled up, off their game and into a ridiculous flame war just for fun. Plus, you CAN'T win against someone who has already given up their own point of view for the media (Fox News) perspective.
Don't twist. There are plenty of people opposing this movement who are making intelligent arguments. DEFINITELY engage them. All the years I've longed for intelligent discourse on the internet, and it's finally here. Save the flame wars for somewhere appropriate. Like youtube.
Awesome - thank you. My only concern is the 'discourse' needed. I think it's good to have someone say I pay income taxes I'm the 47% because then we get our facts straight we can debate their assumptions about why they stay silent - i.e. because they have worked hard and lived their American dream. IN fact, they aren't living the American dream because democracy is part of that dream and we have no say in government now - it's owned. As you said corrupt. I do think we should 'ignore' the posts which talk about OWS being 'idiots' etc. but don't close down debate - it's healthy.
Thank you for posting this, it's direly needed! Also, what the heck is going on with this website. All we have to do is ask and we'll have the whole damn CUNY computer lab down there in half an hour! That problem is rediculous!
Just wanted to add, you can throw the troll comment to the bottom of the thread by voting up the good comment and voting down the troll comments. Just use the arrows next to each comment.
Your right!! We need to start with Obama. He has corn holed America long enough and sold us out. He has raised 1 Billion dollars just to get re-elected. Get him out now.
Many people here are vehemently against Obama. I think we have enough on our plate right now encouraging growth and building our communication infra-structure to worry about endorsing or targeting specific politicians at this point. Give it time. Concentrate on gathering more people to the cause of ending corruption.
Agreed. The existing politicians have all had their chance anyway. Why single one or two out. The past ten years have seen us through 3 recessions including the Great Recession, numerous wars, and the foreclosure crisis. The response has pretty much just been to throw good money after bad at the problems. The sole substantive systemic change that has resulted from all of it has been additional security at airports. We really need to remove all apathetic existing thought processes and politics and move forward with improvements, the foreclosure crisis and the Great Recession have resulted in no substantive systemic change.
Nothing can start until the biggest corporate shill is out. Obama must step down now!
I wish people could see that. Obama is violating his oath of office and the Constitution again and again.
Oh man...First Amendment is right out the door (although the First amendment applies to public domain and this is probably not 'public' domain. But again then don't claim to be the 99%
There is NO such thing as 99% agreeing on anything!
agreeable
Someone telling you not to do something is not the same thing as censoring them. You always have the freedom to say otherwise, although we are under no obligation to provide you a soapbox or microphone to do so.
Not to do what? This is all too vague and quite frankly, when people cannot handle differing opinions, I guess they have no business advocating on behalf of democracy.
Fact is...claiming to be the 99% is going to give you incredible diversity! Either don't make claims or include all and allow for a debate................way overdue!
I can handle different opinions, but trolls are merely seeking attention and disabling debate and discussion with their threads.
I guess I see one benefit to them being here, Ignore their threads and they will come to the more intelligent threads seeking attention. Feed them just a little and it will an intelligent thread alive for quite awhile. Heck, one of my YouTube videos is probably still has one of the "All-Time" awards there thanks to a couple of dedicated trolls.
I have been promoting including as many people as possible. The more our group represents the diverse demographics of our nation, the better the odds of our success.
That said, trolls incite dissent and division. Encouraging people to avoid threads which are about insults is not censorship.
but again....can't we all be responsible for identifying who we ourselves see as a troll? I mean there will not be any general concensus as to whom is a troll.
People may think I am a troll for debating them... Sometimes you have to accept.....you will be infiltrated. It is a given!
Debate is not trolling behavior. Trolling is throwing out insults, taunting and inflammatory statements that are not logically sound.
You can disagree with someone and that doesn't make them a troll. You disagreeing with someone and them making 4 new threads saying what an ass you are IS being a troll.
agreed but again..there will be many that see those that have differing opinion or are RP supporters as trolls as well and that is of course intellectual dishonesty. As I said...there is NO concensus among 99% of the population. The person who's idea that was ...most likely wasn't thinking clearly and should have picked a different concept in my opinion....
and you're more than welcome to your opinion. However I think there is consensus. I think 99% of people would say that the government taking your personal property via Eminent Domain and handing it over to corporations is wrong for example. I think 99% would be against corporations being able to "donate"/bribe unlimited amounts of money to politicians.
As to labeling someone a troll, so what? All I was advocating was that people avoid those threads or at the most, tell the person that what they were doing was not helping.
I agree with this post!
you are so right, but it's sooooo hard to ignore them :(
What is your definition of a troll? Is it someone who questions you, your movement, or your motivation? Is it someone who wants to engage in a two way conversation only to be called a troll, CONservative, REPUGlican, TEAbagger? What is a troll?
Pre-internet 'Trolling' was called 'Teasing'. Same thing. Annoy someone and get them to behave in an unbalanced way, so they look bad. And you can always say you were just joking, or playing devil's advocate, or whatever. Kids game really. By the way, you can respond to a troll and get through it OK, you just need to be extremely mature, rational, and cautious. If you follow those rules, it actually can be an opportunity to explain yourself, kind of like a tough question is for someone being interviewed.
good question...A troll is most likeley someone who disagrees with you but in all essence I believe it to be somebody that wanst to prevent from dialogue!
Trolls do not limit always limit themselves to one side of an issue. I would say the person who is calling conservatives in our movement Teabaggers, Repuglican, and other insults to be the trolls. Anyone blatantly insulting a large section of our membership with derogatory names is indulging in trollish behavior.
Come on, I think you're smart enough to realize when someone is trolling you. Obvious trolls are obvious.
So on the corporate bribes front, are you down with removing the ability of Unions to contribute to political campaigns?
Unions should not be able to give to politicians either.
Isn't the whole idea to win the argument? If we can't communicate clearly what we are saying I think that makes us look stupid.
Isn't the whole idea to win the argument? If we can't communicate clearly what we are saying I think that makes us look stupid.
You can't win an argument with a troll because they will not admit that they are wrong. They will shift the discussion and keep taunting you. Meanwhile, you are keeping their attention-seeking thread alive where more people see it and are drawn in.
If you want to argue with them, take it to private message. Click on their name (the one in blue-colored font).
very good idea, thanks
mine may be a more moderate view, but I believe that being able to tolerate the process of sharing ideas leads to better understanding of both sides and both points of view. Plus, as I share my ideas, what I truly believe becomes more structured and solidified so that I will get better in communicating my views with each new discussion.
If you ignore a troll's threads, they will go to the threads which are more intelligent in order to get attention. If you absolutely must, argue with them there because it will keep intelligent debate threads near the top. Personally, I think it is better to take it to PM.
The moment you go to a troll thread and start debating, you're only feeding them, keeping their threads near the top which forces good threads to the bottom.
You hit it on the head - integrity needs to be brought back into our politics. The corruption and legalized bribery must stop. The American people are being treated like an ATM and our politicians (both on the Right and Left) are complicit in the rip off. In my opinion, any politician who takes the bribes of the special interests is not worthy of representing the American people.
you are causing dissent - troll
could you explain how?
So now you're choosing to ignore and dismiss members of the 99% that have legitimate concerns with your movement? This is farcical, if you did some research you would find that this is more like 9%.
I would think that if a person had legitimate concerns, they could put them forward in an adult manner without insults.
Discussing and debating is not trolling. Trolling is insults, throwing out inflammatory statements and unwilling to support their point logically, etc.
This is excellent advice. Here are some known trolls to avoid:
pinki: http://occupywallst.org/users/pinki/ Coltsin: http://occupywallst.org/users/Coltsin10/
Please add further known trolls in comments.
your a troll
Actually... your grammar is all wrong. The proper way to write that would be to capitalize your first word (it is the first word in the sentence after all). Also, it is the wrong word. You should be using "You're" which is a contraction of "You are". Finally, you need to put a period at the end of your sentence.
So, next time you want to troll, you really should put down,
You're a troll.
Much better, don't you think?
Now that is prime trolling ;)
Hey, I want to help educate. Where's the problem in that?
Dont know who you are, but all threads here dissapear because the organisation doesn´t want this to be the place for constructive debate. But its ok, the aim is to get the people outside I suppose (like Obama´s campaign). Still you are right, just really wished there was some sturcture in this page, but I can see the complications. Keep it up!
If there are some threads you think deserve to be seen, comment on them regularly. Spread the URLs to other people.
Interesting, i´ll look into the "spreading url to other people". I´ll google it, thanks.