"Thank you, @slipperyhero for this insightful, helpful piece on trolls. I'll take your advice & enjoy time here much more!" @MorriganResists - 11/17/21
I've found it useful when dealing with trolls to stay on offense; while also picking up on their attempts at asserting themselves to jam little hot needles into their self-concepts. Also, hit their profiles; and if they're low-follower "burner" accounts, mute or block every one of their followers, as well as everyone who "likes" their replies. This will frustrate them, bc they can't draw help from their chatslime buddies when they start to lose the interaction.
Have a new piece coming out soon that gives somewhat similar advice to to staying on the offensive. Preemptive flying monkey strike. I like it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you so much Janey! Music to every writer's ears. If you liked that, CNI should have several other pieces of entertaining & useful psychological analysis you should also enjoy.
Thanks again & Welcome. My Mastodon is @slipperyhero but since CNI has been growing so nicely, I'm not spending much time elsewhere beyond writing, researching and Notes at the moment.
Thanks so much Char! Please share with all who can use more knowledge about online dangers and maybe suggest supporting my work by becoming subscribers. Love to you. Sam
This is so spot on and detailed in a way anyone can understand, hopefully more will come to understand or at least be more alert to the traits so not to have an experience that only facilitates bringing you down instead of building you up and educating. Thank you for this and your kindness.
Thank you Jules! Your support is much appreciated. This is free public service content so please share with those who will find it beneficial &/or want to understand what their kids and grandkids are up against online.
Well said and I understand the focus on psychology, but this gains to mention one of the most common and most dangerous reasons for trolling; troll farms.
Several Russian troll farms that pushed far right ideology and interfered with the 2016 election have been sit down by the FBI. It is an objective fact that many of these are shills for some other power, trying to sow chaos or push propaganda (ie IDF, big oil, CCP, GMOs, etc).
These should be engaged to disrupt their disinformation campaign. You don’t have to reason with them, just drop the facts (preferably with good sources) and move on.
Done a lot of offshore fishing near Catalina Island. The local sea lions are a very smart gang of fearless monsters who sit on the beach watching the action until one or two guys on the boat get a strike, or a boil starts. Then the entire lion gang swims out and eats whatever is hooked and chases down the rest. The hope is to land a few fish before the toothy 250# monsters can steal them.
The mouthy guy you just sealioned deserved what he got. Too bad there aren’t pictures because sea lions don’t leave much, and often only part a fish head remains.
A compelling, eye opening read. I recall once asking aloud if trolls were sociopathic types and being shut down as being hyperbolic using inflammatory language and wanting to cancel others. It just never seemed normal and trolls seem like they enjoy hurting people. It makes so much sense, and you are right, as l should have done recently, simply walk away.
But when you know that you're dealing with demons, you can without shame use them to get attention or sometimes even information: State something wrong, and someone will try to hurt you by posting a correction that helps you (Cunningham's Law).
Thanks so much Kri. Always pleased to hear I shared something new and interesting. There are many layers but in oversimplified terms, psychopathy (parts of the brain are malformed or can become deformed) and can be passed down through generations as any other physical trait can be. There is also what is known as the "warrior gene" which tilts a person towards more violence and aggression. I don't remember reading about a hereditary aspect but it is implied in being a "gene" variation.
Those are three different things. I think there's clearly "good" psychopathology; competitive nature as a trait that is rewarded with propagation taken to extremes, then there's "bad", Aaron Hernandez with giant functional chunks of his brain rotted away at 24 with violent sadism and zero impulse control. But that discussion shouldn't be mushed up with the three different things you reference without clearly delineating these things, and also allowing for telomere damage as a real thing, and a genuinely Lamarckian mechanic in a sense, sadly, as a transgenerational damage thing.
I'm not mushing anything up. You're reading it that way. I talk about all the things you mention in several other articles and profiles. You do seem to be on the right track about Ron DeSantis though.
Speaking of ultra-controlling personalities, isn't it incredible that James L Montgomerie is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has been a political player for over a dozen years now, yet has managed to totally keep his face from the public domain? Some narcissists are on another level. That is true power in 2023, the power to make all media erase your face.
"Thank you, @slipperyhero for this insightful, helpful piece on trolls. I'll take your advice & enjoy time here much more!" @MorriganResists - 11/17/21
"Very well written, Sam. Good read." - @DoctorMcCoy2022 "Great article. Thank you, Sam." - @CaptainKirk2023 - 1/14/22
I've found it useful when dealing with trolls to stay on offense; while also picking up on their attempts at asserting themselves to jam little hot needles into their self-concepts. Also, hit their profiles; and if they're low-follower "burner" accounts, mute or block every one of their followers, as well as everyone who "likes" their replies. This will frustrate them, bc they can't draw help from their chatslime buddies when they start to lose the interaction.
Have a new piece coming out soon that gives somewhat similar advice to to staying on the offensive. Preemptive flying monkey strike. I like it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Shaggy, you and I could start a business thwarting trolls. You’ve got great ideas!
Great advice
This is so good I can’t over state it
Thank you so much Janey! Music to every writer's ears. If you liked that, CNI should have several other pieces of entertaining & useful psychological analysis you should also enjoy.
I just shared it on Mastodon. I couldn’t find you so I hashtagged you. #SamRay. I’ll read more, for sure.
Thanks again & Welcome. My Mastodon is @slipperyhero but since CNI has been growing so nicely, I'm not spending much time elsewhere beyond writing, researching and Notes at the moment.
Thank you so much, dear Sam. You are honestly sharing what needs to be shared in a very sick world. You are an angel. Love to you, Charlene
Thanks so much Char! Please share with all who can use more knowledge about online dangers and maybe suggest supporting my work by becoming subscribers. Love to you. Sam
Wow, such great information. I know someone on this platform being threatened and impersonated by a troll. Good to know. Thanks, Sam.
Thanks so much Donna. Please of course pass it on to those who could find it useful.
This is so spot on and detailed in a way anyone can understand, hopefully more will come to understand or at least be more alert to the traits so not to have an experience that only facilitates bringing you down instead of building you up and educating. Thank you for this and your kindness.
Thank you Jules! Your support is much appreciated. This is free public service content so please share with those who will find it beneficial &/or want to understand what their kids and grandkids are up against online.
Well said and I understand the focus on psychology, but this gains to mention one of the most common and most dangerous reasons for trolling; troll farms.
Several Russian troll farms that pushed far right ideology and interfered with the 2016 election have been sit down by the FBI. It is an objective fact that many of these are shills for some other power, trying to sow chaos or push propaganda (ie IDF, big oil, CCP, GMOs, etc).
These should be engaged to disrupt their disinformation campaign. You don’t have to reason with them, just drop the facts (preferably with good sources) and move on.
100
Will do, Sam. I already sent it to my friend. Thank you for caring 💙
Done a lot of offshore fishing near Catalina Island. The local sea lions are a very smart gang of fearless monsters who sit on the beach watching the action until one or two guys on the boat get a strike, or a boil starts. Then the entire lion gang swims out and eats whatever is hooked and chases down the rest. The hope is to land a few fish before the toothy 250# monsters can steal them.
The mouthy guy you just sealioned deserved what he got. Too bad there aren’t pictures because sea lions don’t leave much, and often only part a fish head remains.
A compelling, eye opening read. I recall once asking aloud if trolls were sociopathic types and being shut down as being hyperbolic using inflammatory language and wanting to cancel others. It just never seemed normal and trolls seem like they enjoy hurting people. It makes so much sense, and you are right, as l should have done recently, simply walk away.
This study suggests that people who publicly shame & dogpile on social media are not motivated by moral outrage or a desire to do good, but by sadism:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4359608
But when you know that you're dealing with demons, you can without shame use them to get attention or sometimes even information: State something wrong, and someone will try to hurt you by posting a correction that helps you (Cunningham's Law).
Thanks so much Kri. Always pleased to hear I shared something new and interesting. There are many layers but in oversimplified terms, psychopathy (parts of the brain are malformed or can become deformed) and can be passed down through generations as any other physical trait can be. There is also what is known as the "warrior gene" which tilts a person towards more violence and aggression. I don't remember reading about a hereditary aspect but it is implied in being a "gene" variation.
Regarding the narcissism spectrum, it mostly all comes down to the brain, the genes and/or abuse occurring in childhood.
Those are three different things. I think there's clearly "good" psychopathology; competitive nature as a trait that is rewarded with propagation taken to extremes, then there's "bad", Aaron Hernandez with giant functional chunks of his brain rotted away at 24 with violent sadism and zero impulse control. But that discussion shouldn't be mushed up with the three different things you reference without clearly delineating these things, and also allowing for telomere damage as a real thing, and a genuinely Lamarckian mechanic in a sense, sadly, as a transgenerational damage thing.
I'm not mushing anything up. You're reading it that way. I talk about all the things you mention in several other articles and profiles. You do seem to be on the right track about Ron DeSantis though.
Speaking of ultra-controlling personalities, isn't it incredible that James L Montgomerie is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has been a political player for over a dozen years now, yet has managed to totally keep his face from the public domain? Some narcissists are on another level. That is true power in 2023, the power to make all media erase your face.