Who are the trolls in this forum (and what do they want?)

[SecretIsland]

I'm new to this forum so I'm not really aware of trolling here. On Reddit there are the so-called "downvote trolls" that intentionally post alarming bait material that receive hundreds to thousands of downvotes. I do not understand the reason for them doing so, however.

It seems like, though, that every other thread that I've visited (yes, I looked through the entire first page since I was bored :P) someone calls out the OP for being a troll. I've avoided posting in those threads so far.

There are a lot of threads where people accuse the OP of being a troll like
e.g.:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...need-the-story.

e.g.:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...on-post-launch.

e.g.:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...rdcore-players.

Many people also complained about trolls in the discussion thread I started yesterday when I asked about the high volume of drama here. Someone mentioned "There's a few notable trolls (MPK for example)".

I can't distinguish between legitimate posters and trolls, so help me out here: who are the trolls in this forum, and how do I avoid them? Bonus: What do they want (on Reddit they apparently want negative karma, not sure why though)?

Edit: Since there's a post limit I cannot reply to everyone but I'll like your post if you help me out! I'll try to communicate via edits!

Edit2: Looks like I'm already being trolled by the first reply so now I've personally experienced trolling on the forums, I suppose.

Edit3: Oh wow, just noticed the reply is from MPK. Should I feel honored to be trolled by a notable troll or worried? :P

Edit4:

To be honest, anyone that posts something absolutely stupid that you fundamentally disagree with or comes across as someone you wouldn't want to meet on the street I'd class as a troll.

The reason being is if you can discern in a paragraph that they are not relatable and are not a nice person, then you have enough information to make the call to note devote any further attention or energy.

I don't think fundamentally disagreeing with someone would be trolling. IMO trolling is intentional, in that someone trolls when they want to make people upset without necessarily holding that PoV.

Edit5:

Typically the trolls are the ones claiming people are a troll.

Sharing an unpopular opinion as a counterpoint to gcbtw consensus is often called out as “trolling” to certain delicate individuals, but that’s only because the gcbtw isn’t accustomed to outsiders.

Keep in mind the worst of the worst of that gcbtw make this game notorious for death threats and dogpiles the instant any criticism is levied against their precious game.

I can agree with you but it's hard for me to differentiate between genuine unpopular opinions and "troll" unpopular opinions. Guess that's Poe's law in action :P

Edit6:

I wouldn't go down this road. Its too close to naming and shaming. Which will get you banned faster than being a troll will ever. Only advice I would give is checking first post date to see if it been necro. Those are typically troll post to start off with. And the necro typically is too.

Thanks for the tip. It's the same on Reddit where you can't name and shame but I'll watch out for that here too!

Edit7:

There has been one particular troll that has multiple accounts, so people usually accuse any troll of being him. Or anyone who found an old thread through google and bumped it, since he's known for his necro bumps.





Just don't worry about it. Trolls gonna troll. You probably can't avoid them or get them banned, but most of the time they aren't even aggressive or inflammatory since the rules around here are strict about that.

Thank you. I just don't want to fall into an endless discussion with someone who isn't even genuine. If I can't avoid that, oh well, but maybe someone will find that discussion useful :P

Edit8:

Uh, not sure why I'm being accused as a troll as well, but if I'm caught in the crossfires in this troll war or something I want out. Just a new player here and wanted to catch up with my friend. Maybe I should go back to Reddit haha.

[MPK]

You're forgetting the best example of them all:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-they-want-%29

[van_arn]

Typically the trolls are the ones claiming people are a troll.

Sharing an unpopular opinion as a counterpoint to gcbtw consensus is often called out as “trolling” to certain delicate individuals, but that’s only because the gcbtw isn’t accustomed to outsiders.

Keep in mind the worst of the worst of that gcbtw make this game notorious for death threats and dogpiles the instant any criticism is levied against their precious game.

[Nafreyu]

To be honest, anyone that posts something absolutely stupid that you fundamentally disagree with or comes across as someone you wouldn't want to meet on the street I'd class as a troll.

The reason being is if you can discern in a paragraph that they are not relatable and are not a nice person, then you have enough information to make the call to note devote any further attention or energy.

[Bsrking5]

I wouldn't go down this road. Its too close to naming and shaming. Which will get you banned faster than being a troll will ever. Only advice I would give is checking first post date to see if it been necro. Those are typically troll post to start off with. And the necro typically is too.

[BunniEclair]

You're forgetting the best example of them all:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-they-want-%29

MPK rushing into this thread like

[Fawkes]

There has been one particular troll that has multiple accounts, so people usually accuse any troll of being him. Or anyone who found an old thread through google and bumped it, since he's known for his necro bumps.

I can't distinguish between legitimate posters and trolls, so help me out here: who are the trolls in this forum, and how do I avoid them? Bonus: What do they want (on Reddit they apparently want negative karma, not sure why though)?

Just don't worry about it. Trolls gonna troll. You probably can't avoid them or get them banned, but most of the time they aren't even aggressive or inflammatory since the rules around here are strict about that.

[Vahlnir]

MPK rushing into this thread like

lol

Yeah, pretty much.

[Ralph2449]

It is pretty easy to find the trolls, most of them are really low quality/effort so it becomes pretty obvious.

They will say absurd things with no evidence or explanation like "Nobody likes the story" or other forms of exaggeration that for anyone who has played the game knows they are blatantly false, specifically saying something so blatantly false makes people want to correct them which leads to people correcting them and taking the bait which often results in other people maybe not agreeing exactly with the agreement of the previous person which leads to silly arguments that only started because of the first posters ridiculous statement.

For example that person who said he doesnt like story and explained why they themselves happen to not be into it probably arent a troll because they gave a good explanation and didnt say anything absurd, they just talked about their own PERSONAL preferences, now if that same person kept making absurd posts to get people baited it could be considered trolling but he has not, so more than likely he was fed up with the majority's idea that story is important. Which it is but i can accept someone playing a video game for reasons other than story so even if the story was the best story ever they still wouldnt care.


Though no, having an unpopular opinion that goes against the majority isnt always trolling, I ve been called troll many times when I was playing WoW because I had the audacity to talk about solo rewards and casual progression in a community whose egos depend on achievements from high end group content and when you go against the status quo many people who depend on it CANNOT imagine someone being that much different to them.


Of course there's more elaborate forms of trolling but that would probably require learning more about them through experience.

[Cidel]

They've been pretty easy to spot for the most part.

Been noticing that they like to make disposable sock-puppet accounts. A sudden new account that seems to only participate in/create threads that are controversial or filled with drama? Just look for people with Join Dates either that very same month or a month before and low post counts... Can check their character on the Lodestone. Maybe they don't actually have anything levelled. Maybe they just unlocked a bunch of jobs with no exp and one job that might have been boosted? Maybe they make multiple sock-puppet accounts and post in the same thread?

*stares*