the trouble with trolls: sources and solutions

The Trouble With Trolls:Sources and Solutions

Panelists:‖Dawn Patton‖ redpenmamapgh.com‖Eric Williams‖ funkydung.com‖Michael Pound‖ unclecrappy.com‖Andy Quayle‖ tubu.net‖Lisa Jenkins

‖@LisaJ77‖Danielle Jackson Thorn

@AskTheDivaDPodcamp Pittsburgh 6

Sources

Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one, and they usually stink.

Definition

• Wikipedia article “Troll (Internet)”– “In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,

extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

• Wikimedia MetaWiki “What is a Troll?”– “The idea of defining trolling is in many ways comical at best.

The nature of trolls is to slip from any definition intended to constrain their actions and to find new and innovative ways to annoy…[It] is not possible to identify everything someone might do to deliberately try to wreak havoc”

Types• Outsider

– Not really a troll, but treated as such for having contrary opinions

• Insensitive but sincere– Usually well-intentioned– Lacking tack/diplomacy skills

• Ordinary asshole– Not deliberately provocative– Just a jerk

• Gadfly– Not usually malignant– Attracted to controversy– Likes to stir the pot/upset the

applecart– Can be useful

• Deliberate flamebaiter– “Star Wars rules! Star Trek

drools!”– Often indiscriminate– Sometimes subtle (“happy

trolls”)• Sociopath/psychopath

– Related to terrorists– Anonymous, et al

• Personal heckler/bully/stalker

Happy Trolls

Examples

• http://www.schmutzie.com/weblog/2011/8/11/if-your-internet-is-full-of-assholes-its-your-own-fault.html

• http://www.schmutzie.com/weblog/2011/7/1/armstrong-and-viele-trolls-our-silence-and-my-apology-where.html

• http://www.sweetney.com/2011/06/solidarity.html

• http://www.sweetney.com/2011/07/if-your-personal-blog-is-giving-you-anxiety-attacks-its-your-fault.html

• http://herbadmother.com/tag/trolls

Psychology• Dunning-Kruger Effect

– Unskilled suffer from illusory superiority– Highly skilled suffer from illusory inferiority

• Deindividuation– Tendency to dissolve into collective will of a group– Looting, rioting, lynchings, beating, war, chasing a monster with torches– Three ingredients : anonymity, group size, and arousal

• Cyber-disinhibition– Lack of real-time, on-going feedback in conversation on internet– Inhibitory circuit of the brain has no signal to work from– Can turn anyone into a psychopath on the net

• Backfire Effect– Once something added to collection of beliefs, protected from harm– Corrections backfire and strengthen belief in ideology

Psychology• Generation Me

– 3 decade study: American college students not quite as empathetic as they used to be

– most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history

– Social media to blame?• Misinterpretation

– Study: only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message – Predicted accuracy of sender: 80%!

• Negative motivation– Study: People with relatively extreme opinions may be more willing to

publicly share their views than those with more moderate views.– extremists believe that more people share their views than actually do

Solutions

“Anybody can become angry – that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and the right way – that…is not easy.”

– Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Respond Carefully“Trolling can…

(1) be frustrated if users correctly interpret an intent to troll, but are not provoked into responding [Don’t feed the trolls.], (2) be thwarted if users correctly interpret an intent to troll, but counter in such a way as to curtail or neutralise the success of the troller [Hide or humiliate the trolls.], (3) fail if users do not correctly interpret an intent to troll and are not provoked by the troller [Be naïve and benign.], or, (4) succeed if users are deceived into believing the troller's pseudo-intention(s), and are provoked into responding sincerely. [Welcome and feed the trolls.] Finally, users can mock troll. That is, they may undertake what appears to be trolling with the aim of enhancing or increasing effect, or group cohesion. [Mock the trolls.]”

Just Ignore Them?

• Pros– Doesn’t dignify obnoxious behavior– Avoids escalation

• Cons– Requires universal participation

• Alternatives– Dodge– Fight fire with fire– Rise above

Dodge

• Crowdsourcing– Slashdot– User-based filters

• Selective invisibility– Introduced by Disqus– Thumbs up/down– YouTube

Fight Fire With Fire

• Disemvoweling– Boing Boing– “y r fckng sshl”

• Dunce caps– Scarlet letter– “kick me” sign

• Public ridicule– More attention than they really wanted

• Gang tackle– Call in reinforcements

Blame

• Point one finger at someone, three pointing back at you

• Yes, there are trolls and other jerks, but• Larger problem of general incivility,

impoliteness, and invective on the net• reverse trolling: automatically treating

disagreeing outsiders as trolls and not worth respect (i.e., prejudice)

Rise Above

• The Golden Rule– Interpretive charity– Empathy– Benefit of the Doubt

• Humility– Start with the man in the mirror.

• Rules of engagement– Free association and the fallacy of free speech– Know thy enemy…– As simple as “This is my living room”– As complex as named fallacies

The Golden Rule• “[Interpretive charity] means beginning with the assumption in any

disagreement that your opponent is not only sincere but is also rational and holds those opinions for sensible reasons. She is not being willfully stupid. Secondly — and this is by no means easy — it means restating those views to yourself in the most persuasive way that you can... In other words, the task is to take your opponents strongest argument and really listen to it so that you can restate it even more persuasively. It means looking at others in the best possible light.”

• Benefit of the doubt– Assume the other guy isn’t deliberately trying to be an asshole– Look for positive intention– Avoid dismissive labels– Identify secondary gain of ill behavior– Use clarifying questions

HumilityLord, what is man, whose thought, at times,Up to Thy sevenfold brightness climbs,While still his grosser instinct clingsTo earth, like other creeping things!

So rich in words, in acts so mean;So high, so low; chance-swung betweenThe foulness of the penal pitAnd Truth's clear sky, millennium-lit!

Vain, pride of star-lent genius!--vain,Quick fancy and creative brain,Unblest by prayerful sacrifice,Absurdly great, or weakly wise!

...

Search thine own heart. What paineth theeIn others in thyself may be;All dust is frail, all flesh is weak;Be thou the true man thou dost seek!

Excerpt from “Chapel of the Hermits” by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1852

Your Livingroom

• “Basically, the Happy Troll is happiest when he is ‘shitting in your living room’ without you actually noticing. That’s the art of it. He does this by ‘adding healthy, helpful dissent to the discussion’- at least, that’s what he calls his little turdpiles. And he’s hoping that’s how you and your other readers at first glance see them as- a reasonable yet dissenting voice, good for the debate and democracy itself yak yak yak.” – Hugh MacLeod, cartoonist at Gaping Void and CEO of Stormhoek, USA

• “Conduct yourself as you would in my living room and you'll generally be just fine.” – Mark Shea, author and speaker

Blogger’s Code of Conduct

• Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.

• Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.• Consider eliminating anonymous comments.• Ignore the trolls.• Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an

intermediary who can do so.• If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.• Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

How to Disagree: The Disagreement Hierarchy

• DH0: Name-calling– “u r a fag!!!!!!!!!!”– “The author is a self-important dilettante.”

• DH1: Ad Hominem– “Of course he would say that. He's a senator.”

• DH2: Responding to Tone– “I can't believe the author dismisses intelligent design in such a

cavalier fashion. “• DH3: Contradiction

– “I can't believe the author dismisses intelligent design in such a cavalier fashion. Intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory.”

• Nice elaboration in Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk (http://bit.ly/flBzhz)

How to Disagree: The Disagreement Hierarchy

• DH4: Counterargument– first form of convincing disagreement– first form of convincing disagreement – Too often arguing past each other

• DH5: Refutation– Most convincing, rarest– Not simply quoting

• DH6: Refuting the Central Point– “The author's main point seems to be x. As he

says:<quotation> But this is wrong for the following reasons...”

An Example of Civility

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross (American counter-terrorism expert and attorney):

“I’ve found the balance I strike in my own small corner of the public sphere to be rather intuitive and comfortable. I’m unyielding when making arguments, but generally try not to belittle the people I’m engaging. If they really are so dumb that I feel like I can’t help but insult them, it’s almost always easier to disengage than to tell them how I really feel.”

What works.

•Set rules and follow them.

What works.

•Require accounts.

What works.

•Encourage community input.

What works.

•Moderate.*

What works.

•Participate.*

Funky’s First Rule of Blogging

• Coined in 2005• Still the only one• The bright side of trolls• "You’re doing something right if trolls think

you’re important enough to annoy."

Sources References

• Troll [definition] (http://bit.ly/mSTHpy)• What is a troll? (http://bit.ly/rqVhIH)• Happy Trolls (http://bit.ly/oNKjsy)• Our Disembodied Selves and the Decline of

Empathy (http://bit.ly/oZqkZC)• Duty Calls (http://bit.ly/qW3xOO)• Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk

(http://bit.ly/flBzhz)

Solutions References• Blogger’s Code of Conduct (http://bit.ly/ruAg9O)• The Chapel of the Hermits (http://bit.ly/nUKEM2)• How to Disagree (http://bit.ly/pCJIEb)• How to Handle a Troll (http://bit.ly/nrOPjp)• Interpretive Charity (http://bit.ly/q3w3hs)• Being a Gentleman in the Age of the Internet: 6 Ways to Bring Civility

Online (http://bit.ly/qGbBhI)• Clive Thompson on the Taming of Comment Trolls (http://bit.ly/pA60uK

)• Special Abu Muqawama Q&A with Daveed Gartenstein-Ross (http://

bit.ly/pXcVj8)• God Help! These People Are Driving Me Nuts! (http://bitly.com/py0qz5

?)

Further Reading• Don’t flame me, bro (http://bit.ly/oisk4P)• Conversation Hackers (http://bit.ly/qaRuHG)• The Problem With Blogs (http://bit.ly/qyblld)• Some Thoughts on Free Speech (http://bit.ly/pgQDu9)• Whatever Happened to Online Ettiquette? (http://nyti.ms/qSlT9f)• I See Rude Tweeple (http://bit.ly/n0xqhr)• Malwebolence – The World of Web Trolling (http://nyti.ms/nXKlGf)• A Call for Manners in a World of Nasty Blogs (http://nyti.ms/nNkStA)• Negative emotions boost users activity at BBC Forum (http://bit.ly/oIHG1x)• Troll Slayer (http://bit.ly/orGgCO)• Oh, No! It's Making Well-Reasoned Arguments Backed With Facts! Run! (

http://onion.com/qPjkOt)• The Usenet Troll Song (http://bit.ly/obFwsx)• Usenet, AD 1540 (http://bit.ly/q0ZR6s)• Beware the Troll (http://bit.ly/qQEfAy)