A Word About Trolls.....Keep Calling Them Out.

reply to post by cyoshi


I had a request to cut down off site content to a paragraph and leave a link to original content. This appears to have already been done for me. Is there anything else I need to do Moderators?

reply to post by Bicent76

a troll is someone who lives on message boards, has opinions on everything, knows it all, and personalizes, threads. Also the most important thing to a troll is having the last word, and usually a troll in real life is a loser...

This I can agree with. I just ran into one fitting this description yesterday.

I had some pretty intense and interesting encounters with trolls in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics concerning the Chinese crackdown in Tibet. Chinese Internet brigades. Although the Chinese members claimed to be anywhere but inside China, we kinda figured they were in China when they couldn't access the links that other members provided. I enjoy the thrill of discovering them.

reply to post by dirtybird


You mean the people who point out the almost dogmatic devotion that chemies have to the existence of chemtrails?

The chemtrail nonsense is one of the most far out conspiracies, completely devoid of facts and evidence, and its adherents closely resemble members of a cult.

They refuse to accept any fact that contradicts their view. Therefore anyone who points out their errors are trolls or disinfo agents. They almost seem like they want chemtrails to exist. They are more often than not entirely ignorant of the science behind contrails or the history of aviation.

If there was ever a topic to distract people from the pursuit of truth it is chemtrails.

Originally posted by vkey08

Originally posted by cyoshi

Sometimes, these strategies are used by AVERAGE people with serious personality issues.

If you see someone using these tactics often, or using many of them at the same time, you may be dealing with a paid internet troll.

So let me get this straight, if you disagree with YOUR opinions then you are being paid to troll OR you have serious personality issues. Forget the fact that people with different experiences and educations may disagree based solely on the fact that you could possibly be wrong.. or are you never wrong and everyone is a troll?

Hmmm.....

vkey08, let me get this straight, is it your understanding that trolls paid or not do not exist?

It is a very simple question.

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
trolls must be ignored, it's the only way to defeat them

paid trolls don't exist imho

I did this for a while but they just bombard the thread until it is dead.

If everyone were a little more identified maybe everyone would keep it check a little better than everyone does now hiding behind the screen

Originally posted by clairvoyantrose
One of the biggest things I've noticed about Chemtrail Troll's or "Dis-Informants" Is they will ALWAYS try to push their knowledge or their job knowledge on you.

"I'm a pilot for 'Merica we ain't sprayin' no damn chaff ya hear?"
"I am fluent in aviation, trust me."
"I specialize in the formation of clouds. I'm a cloud scientist. Believe me ok?"

Wouldn't a claim like the above three examples warrant evidence if asked, seen as the claimer is sure enough to inform every one of their past and or present associations or even expertises in that category or field?

reply to post by cyoshi

Just don't feed the trolls

I wish the problem was just paid and wannabe paid trolls working over the threads but the fact is there are just as many "Closet Geniuses" and fools spreading trash and wasting our time in attempts to refute them. I have been docked thousands of ATS points losing my temper with these dregs who it appears ATS often protects.

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Originally posted by dirtybird
debunk the truth

I understand your opinion and what you're trying to say, but you can not debunk the truth.

reply to post by Hefficide


Exactly a total non sequitur whatever the origin of the word I never use it,though some here will call me that because of my nature.
A person can press buttons enough to get anything you want from the other guy. I do it all the time when confronted with false ideologists who don't know their history or facts.
It 's ok to make mistakes just find out first and tell the truth,earn the respect and admiration as well as the satisfying experience of being a stand up guy.
I suppose this is what is meant by "old School".This aging crap is irritating I'll continue to ignore it.

No need to break out the pitchforks. It's as simple as choosing to not read words on a screen and to learn to think on your own accord. If you can do that, and surely you can, then you've silenced every single troll, and in the process discovered that you've made an issue out of nothing.

Oh God. You mean I could be getting paid for doing this?

reply to post by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by flexy123

Originally posted by MarkJS
Whether one is a paid troll or not, in my two-tiered thread proposal, if they disagree with the OP, their post would essentially be flagged. That will give advance warning to the reader of the nature of their post. The 'flagged' post would be easy to detect... Maybe the background color might be different, maybe the font style is different. It would be easy to distinguish apart from the posts that are actually trying to build on the OPs idea. This will serve as a way to skip over contrary posts (which I post at times as well).

The better alternative would be you simply unplug from the internet. This keeps the danger of encountering "dangerous" opposing view rather low, you will be surprised.

edit on 9-3-2013 by flexy123 because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by MarkJS
Whether one is a paid troll or not, in my two-tiered thread proposal, if they disagree with the OP, their post would essentially be flagged. That will give advance warning to the reader of the nature of their post. The 'flagged' post would be easy to detect... Maybe the background color might be different, maybe the font style is different. It would be easy to distinguish apart from the posts that are actually trying to build on the OPs idea. This will serve as a way to skip over contrary posts (which I post at times as well). It's not severe as an ignore button... It's a more civilized approach I believe.

This has to be the worst ideas i have heard yet in this thread. Quite simply if you want to preach something without anyone disagreeing with you then go and write a blog and then disable the comments

edit on 9-3-2013 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

Thank you for your responses... But as you know, unplugging from the internet isn't very civlilzed, is it? And making a blog w/no way to respond doesn't serve the same purpose as, for example, an ATS forum.

You see, contrary to the OP posts already have a certain, argumentative, defensive feel to them. So then why not colorize or change the font, so that the casual reader does not have to get half-ways into the post to realize this? Sure, if they chose to read it... which is why it's posted in the first place, fine... But then it's the choice of the informed reader... not something forced upon them. Its a civilized alternative.

reply to post by MarkJS


It's actually a very BAD alternative and here is the main reason why.

It gives one more way for people to gang up on others. Drawing attention to any one person, via a special tag, or color, will automatically subconsciously make people not pay attention to a post that my or may not be very well written, thought out, and have good info, simply because of the label. It's like labeling people's opinions based upon their jobs, certain members, myself included, have run afoul of others simply because we happen to work at such and such a place, and automatically our opinions, thoughts and ideas are labeled invalid, even if one of us has a lot of information, sourced out and researched, because of that subliminal label.

That is why it's a bad idea...and certainly not civilized..

reply to post by vkey08
I'm not talking about an 'ignore' button... That is overkill and uncivilized, IMO.

The poster can post all they want, and be as expressive and informative as they want. But if the nature of the post is contrary to the OP, the reader should be given fair warning before they dive into said posts. In this case, if they decide to start to read it... they chose to because they wanted to... not because the post looked like all the other posts on the surface, and consequently the hapless, unwarned reader was essentially tricked into reading it.

Fair warning to the reader is not an unreasonable request. It kind of resembles life.... On the internet, we don't have the ability to view the facial expression of the poster... This would serve as a substitute.

reply to post by MarkJS


I guess you're missing the entire point of debate and discourse. People disagree, it's a fact of life, you want the site to notify people reading of an opposing viewpoint to the OP in any thread, that automatically draws attention to the opposing viewpoint and on a purely subconscious level, it automatically makes people either start a gang mentality on the person disagreeing OR labels anything that person says anywhere as junk.

Methinks you just don't like people disagreeing with YOUR Op's and that's why you want this (or by extension you don't' like anyone who disagrees with YOUR take on a topic)

I personally WANT to see the opposing views, they are no less or more valid than many OP's are, and sometimes have vital information to be able to make an informed decision on a topic, always being a yes person, is really boring.

reply to post by vkey08

It gives one more way for people to gang up on others. Drawing attention to any one person, via a special tag, or color, will automatically subconsciously make people not pay attention to a post that my or may not be very well written, thought out, and have good info, simply because of the label. It's like labeling people's opinions based upon their jobs, certain members, myself included, have run afoul of others simply because we happen to work at such and such a place, and automatically our opinions, thoughts and ideas are labeled invalid, even if one of us has a lot of information, sourced out and researched, because of that subliminal label.

I totally agree. MarkJS's ideas are completely counter productive to a discussion forum like ATS. Color labeled posts based on opinions are a ridiculous idea and would cause nothing but feelings contempt from most of the people posting.

This site is about stimulating discussion not encouraging people to preach to the converted (preaching is what blogs are for).

trolls are hired by the NWO to give people high blood pressure and speed up the fatality rate

If you want to draw the line in the sand against disinformation and trolls, it is simple to do. Just make it obvious in your profile. Make a statement there about how you feel concerning shills and trolls. Sure it is confrontational, but if that is what you want to do anyway, start there. (No direct name calling though, T&Cs)

If a paid shill is running a dozen "fake" profiles on a half dozen forums, or what have you, they don't have the time to make every one an elaborate and convincing profile, so make sure your profile is genuine and full of friends and RIVALS to show you are for real.

Doing those things will get the point across to people with the "real" profiles as well as the trolls and shills.

Use your profile as both a sword and a shield, I think that will make my last cryptic posts more understandable, I hope.