The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #79664 Message #1446869
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
30-Mar-05 - 09:33 AM
Thread Name: BS: Dealing with Flamers and Trolls
Subject: RE: BS: Dealing with Flamers and Trolls
Genuine trolls aren't people with unpopular opinions, or who lose their temper in the course of discussion, I suggest. They are people who say things which they believe will provoke discord or anger, and with the specific aim of sowing discord and provoking anger. Nothing to do with having any specific beliefs about the actual issues or controversies they choose to dabble around in. The phrase that sometimes gets used as a kind of triumphant sneer when this succeeds is "like shooting fish in a barrel".
Flamers on the other hand probably do have some kind of beliefs, but they think that the way to express this, when confronted by people who disagree with them, is to launch into full attack mode, which in some cases can mean foul-mouthed and personal attacks which go way over any reasonable limits, as cited by Big Mick.