US News

- · Guest

http://www.jfo.org.uk/info/new/troll.htm
Just Fight On! Against workplace bullying and abuse

Subscribe to Bully News Now, the most comprehensive bullying and
related news research service:

Are You New To Bullying?
Explaining Bullying/Work Abuse: Your First Questions Answered
Psychology of bullying Definitions

Reproduced with the kind permission of Steve Myers at Team Technology

Beware the Troll

Mind games What is a troll? The game of trolling
Troll Levels: Playtime trolls, Tactical trolls,
Strategic trolls, Domination trolls,
Dealing with trolls, Further resources

To "troll" means to allure, to fish, to entice or to bait. An internet
troll is someone who fishes for people's confidence and, once found,
exploits it. Whilst the vast majority of internet users are bona fide,
there are undoubtedly some trolls out there.

Q: How much damage can an internet troll achieve? Pick one or more of
the following answers:

None
Cause minor irritation to some people
Cause major upset to some people
Obtain a small amount of money
Obtain a large amount of money
Obtain millions of dollars

To help you answer this question, here are a couple of quotes from The
Times (Nov 4th 1998) when it reported on internet deception:

"According to the Securities Exchange Commission, ... 44
individuals and companies... received in total more than
$6.3million and nearly two million shares of cheap insider
stock..."

"SEC director of enforcement Richard H Walker... warned
investors about operators such as Matthew Bowin,
who...entirely over the internet... raised $190,000 from 150
investors and then pocketed the proceeds.... He was
convicted of 54 felony counts and sentenced to jail."

Internet deception ranges from childish games to major fraud, with
lots of variations in between. There are many different schemes used
and they are often ingenious. For example, in early 1998 an
"announcement" was made, by email distribution, of an advancement in
diabetic research: a new medicine was available which helped bring
blood sugar levels under better control. Readers were referred to a
web site where details of the research and the product were available.
The information was credibly presented. At the end of the article,
readers could obtain a trial bottle of the new medicine, for a
reasonable price, and an order form was presented.

Of course, there had been no such break through. The purpose of this
scam was to obtain credit card information, which was requested on the
order form. The scam relied on diabetics or their families being
unfamiliar with the risks of submitting credit card information over
the internet, and being willing to give anything a try to improve
their lifestyle or that of their diabetic relatives.

Internet deception relies on exploiting trust and building confidence,
and the rewards can be financial or psychological. There is one golden
rule that applies when dealing with people or organisations on the
internet:

Before you invest your trust in someone - either emotional
or financial trust - you should verify the bona fide nature
of the other party from multiple known, reliable and
independent sources. "Trust and verify".

There is information, on deception for financial gain,
available at the SEC's website:
http://www.sec.gov/consumer/cyberfr.htm

Further information on deception for psychological gain is
given in the rest of this web page.

Mind games

"Each of us brings our own reasons, backgrounds and motivations into
this scheme. What is important is that each individual brings into
this their own brand of inspired mischief. In some ways it is
completely innocent. In some ways it is completely destructive."

This quotation is taken from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) of a
mailing list dedicated to trolling.

I remember the first time I heard about "computer viruses",
back in the '80s. My immediate response was to laugh and
discount what I was being told. The notion that there could
be a 'virus' that infected computer discs, and that could
spread from machine to machine, was ridiculous. Or so I
thought. Eventually I, along with the rest of the world, had
to take the threat of viruses seriously, and produce serious
countermeasures, because the problem was so prevalent.
Trolling falls into the same category as viruses in those
early days - it may seem ridiculous, but it exists.

In fact, law-making bodies and respectable news agencies are beginning
to recognise the dangers and take appropriate action. In some states
in the USA a new offence has been created, called "Cyber-Stalking". At
the time of writing this article (early 1999), the first prosecutions
were being brought to the courts. And in the UK, on Jan 27 1999, the
BBC Breakfast News made the following report:

"A new kind of warfare is emerging - electronic warfare. A
website in Ireland was forced to close down because it came
under electronic attack"

The news article continued with a brief dramatic
reconstruction showing the Webmaster hurriedly unplugging
lots of cables from the back of an internet server. In a
brief interview, the Webmaster then said:

"We had no choice - there was nothing we could do. We just
had to unplug everything and then see what damage had been
done."

Although the threat of trolls is beginning to be taken more seriously,
anti-troll measures are still in their infancy. 'Caveat emptor' (or
let the buyer beware) therefore takes on a much greater meaning in the
primitive internet community where, despite the radical nature of the
technology, civilisation and community life has only matured to the
same stage of development as the dark ages - where each person has to
look after themselves, and cannot rely on 'society' to protect them.

What is a troll?

The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in
essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your
expense. There are two main types of trolls:

people who are psychologically disturbed, and seek to feel
good by making other list members feel bad. This is a sort
of "psycho troll", whose deception involves deceiving
themselves as well as others. In this respect, they are no
different to the sorts of people we meet in everyday life
who are disturbed - some of them are easy to spot, and
others aren't. Such people may even use their real names on
the internet, and they may not even realise that they are
"trolling" because it is all subconscious.

people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they
create personae that you think are real, but they know is
fictitious. The rest of this web page concentrates on the
second type of troll.

The Game of Trolling

Trolling is like playing chess - there is a point to the game, and
that point is to win. Unlike chess, though, there are various ways of
winning for the internet troll. These might include:

gaining credence for false and invidious ideas

driving bona fide list members, and/or particular groups,
out of the mailing list

dominating the list with messages/posts that they have
generated

gaining recognition or an award for their trolling from
fellow trollers

getting reprimanded by individuals, list managers or
internet authorities

gaining the confidence, trust and support of bona fide list
members

distracting list members from their own bona fide
discussions or objectives

gaining attention that they cannot get using their real
personalities

Sometimes trolls operate alone, and sometimes they operate in groups,
but for all of them trolling is a game. There are newsgroups and
mailing lists that are dedicated to trolls, for them to exchange
techniques and to plan concerted campaigns where they can invade
internet mailing lists. Trolls have no concern for the feelings of the
people with whom they deal. They are often manipulative, clever and
approach their trolling with the same degree of planning and research
as those seeking financial gain, or the same competitiveness as a
serious chess player. For those familiar with Transactional Analysis
(the psychological theory of real-life game playing) there are many
parallels with the activities of trolls: there are many games, with
different types of payoff and different tactics.

Trolling can be played at various levels...

Level one - "Playtime" - This is where the troller is simply out for
the gratification provided by a quick "win". An example of this might
be to join a list with a fictitious name, cause an argument, withdraw
and then boast to friends about what he/she had done. Such trolls are
relatively easy to spot because their attack or provocation is fairly
blatant, and the persona is fairly two-dimensional.

Level two - "Tactical" - This is where the troller takes the game more
seriously, creates a credible persona with which to provoke the list,
and uses recognised techniques or tactics to gain the confidence and
support of individuals on the list. Provocation is subtle and
invidious, so spotting this type of troll is not easy, because the
persona is credible, and off-list email exchanges have caused you to
believe that this person is genuine and trustworthy.

Level three - "Strategic" - This is a very serious form of game,
involving the production of an overall strategy that can take months
or years to develop. It can also involve a number of people acting
together in order to invade a list. Once a list is infested, it can
be nigh impossible to work out who is a troll and who is bona fide.

Level four - "Domination" - This is where the trollers' strategy
extends to the creation and running of apparently bona-fide mailing
lists. In such circumstances, their payoff may be the knowledge that
they are dominating the emotional lives of list members, and is
perhaps one of the ultimate forms of deceit that can be achieved.

It should be noted that trolling games are not restricted to the
internet. Their tactics can also include contacting people in real life
using snail-mail and/or telephone. The boundaries between real-life
con-men and internet trolls are not as clear as they used to be.

Playtime Trolls

Playtime trolls are relatively easy to spot, but they may not be
apparent to the naive user. There isn't a single set of
characteristics that applies to playtime trolls, but you can look for
some or all of the following signs:

a lack of buy-in to the list philosophy or values

generally low level of activity, with sudden spurts of
interaction - or perhaps a new persona that has strong
opinions on controversial subjects

a mixture of friendly posts with a confrontational style of
interaction the use of provocative language and sweeping
generalisations about certain topics or categories of people

a lack of in-depth understanding of the topic

a lack of personal information

a lack of a genuinely unique perspective on the topic

a lack of humour

restarting topics that have already been done

use of language that encourages the dialogue to enter topics
that are controversial and likely to upset some team members

the use of attention-seeking gimmick (e.g.: "I was once
exploited by an XYZ")

they follow up their own articles if the group doesn't
respond to their posts

inconsistencies in the style and nature of the post and any
proclaimed information (e.g.: claiming to be a child but
writing with an adult style; claiming to be adult, but
writing with a childish grammatical construction).

also note that trolls often seem to use free email services
(such as hotmail.com) or have email addresses ending in
.edu. However, trolls could be virtually anyone, and the
email address is no guide as to whether the persona is a
bona fide user or not.

To counteract playtime trolls, the best action is to ignore them.
If you are convinced they are trolls, then you can advise the list
manager. However, if other group members respond to the suspected
troll's posts, then you may have to consider some of the responses
outlined for tactical or strategic trolls.

Tactical Trolls

Tactical trolls take much more care and effort over the creation of
their personae. Such trolls are likely to be seen as long term list
members, and have the confidence and trust of the bona fide people on
the mailing list. They use many of the techniques listed for Playtime
Trolls, but in addition:

They engage in off list email dialogues to gain the
confidence and trust of influential individuals on the list.

They are friendly and humorous in the posts, to put you at
ease with their persona.

They have a well-thought-through story such that the persona
seems to be very real. They will give apparently personal
and intimate information, particularly in off list emails.

They win trust by giving trust. For example, they may hint
at something confidential on-list, but then only reveal the
full story to someone off-list. By bringing someone into
their confidence, they create a feeling of confidence
towards them by the individual's concerned.

In off list emails, they win allies and support for some of
their views. Their offlist emails are subtly manipulative.

They 'set up' bona fide members to argue with each other. Any view, no
matter how outrageous, can be made to sound rational when put in a
certain context. By setting different contexts for different people
offlist, they create a setting whereby they can raise a topic on-list,
in a seemingly innocent manner, and then watch the two list members
argue because they have interpreted the topic/message in very
different ways.

In off-list emails, they use techniques borrowed from NLP
and Speed-Seduction to make people have a great deal of
affection for them. This naturally suppresses any suspicion
there might be.

They use gimmicks that win sympathy and bring out the
'nurturing parent' in other list members, which also
suppresses any feelings of suspicion. E.g.: being blind,
handicapped, an orphan, rejected, bullied etc..

They build up a reasonable knowledge of the topic of the
list. This enables them to take part for some time as
apparently bona-fide list members.

They use language that is carefully constructed to be subtly
invidious. This language is designed to identify two or more
separate groups of people, and encourage list members to
identify the negative traits of those groups. This creates
argument and dissent between list members. Note that
subtlety is often their main objective, so this language is
difficult to spot.

They don't enter into the argument directly, but facilitate
an argument between list members, e.g.: by highlighting
points that one list member has made, perhaps in a way that
is more confrontational than the original intention.

They sometimes create a fictitious persona supported by a
web-site, photographs and apparently personal data.

They may suggest meeting up in real-life, but the meeting
doesn't take place.

Many of these behaviours are things that 'real' people would engage
in. It is very difficult to distinguish real people from trolls in an
internet environment. The only method that can be used to verify the
bona fide nature of list members is to investigate their personal
information. Trolls will invent personal information, but when you
investigate it you will keep coming to dead ends. For example, if
their employer is company "xyz", then you may be able to find a web
site at www.xyz.com, but there is no contact information. However,
with bona fide people, their personal information will lead to an
ever-increasing wealth of data, such as:

if a real person cites "xyz" as the employer, then the web
site will give a phone number;

the company's phone number will be answered by an operator
who will be able to tell you the person's extension number;

company xyz may list clients on their web site, whom you can
ring up and verify exist;

the person may be a member of professional associations;

you may have met some list members in real life, who will
have met other list members and can therefore vouch for them.

The key difference between a troll and a bona fide list member is that
when you investigate a troll, their personal data usually leads to
dead-ends; when you investigate a bona fide person, their personal
data leads to an ever-expanding set of evidence that they are for
real. There are some tricks that the tactical trolls may use to
deceive you:

Some trolls will exchange some fictitious data - e.g.: phone
numbers, addresses, family details - on the basis that you
are not going to actually ring them.

They may have dedicated personal phone lines that they may
use for the purpose of taking verification phone calls

They will want to hide other personal information, because
it can demonstrate that they are not for real.

Various excuses can be used for not releasing personal
information, including privacy.

There are some bona fide people who do not wish to be traced via the
internet - but this makes it difficult to distinguish trolls from real
people. If in doubt, assume that they are a troll, and don't simply
believe the sophisticated lies that trolls use to hide their identity.
Also, don't rely solely on your intuition - you need to establish hard
data to help find out whether your intuition is for real.

Strategic Trolls

Strategic trolls often operate in groups, rather than alone. They use
multiple personalities, each of which uses the techniques outlined in
the section on tactical trolls. However, they have an overall strategy
for drawing bona fide list members into argument, ultimately causing
them to leave, or for the trolls to dominate of the group. In
particular:

They have various phases to their strategy, where each phase aims to
achieve different things.

The first phase usually involves establishing multiple personalities
who become recognised as integral members of the group - "friendly
trolls". Don't be deceived by the title - they appear to be friendly
but they have very different hidden motives. Establishing friendly
trolls in a group is a process that can take many months or even years.

The second phase involves using new personalities to start divisive
threads, in the manner outlined under "Tactical Trolls". In the event
that no list members respond to these threads, other phase two trolls
will respond to them to keep the debate active.

If existing list members have not yet joined in the arguments, the
third phase involves "offensive trolls" attacking their own personae
from the first phase. As these trolls will have built up a lot of
goodwill in the group, other list members will jump to their defence,
and they are therefore drawn in to the argument.

In case other list members don't join in, "defensive trolls" may join
in and continue to give air time to the "offensive trolls". The
friendly trolls can also incite bona fide list members to join in
using offlist emails.

Another phase may involve the friendly trolls starting to retaliate
publicly, calling on the support of bona fide list members.

When things start to get out of hand, petrol will be poured on the
flames to try and stir things up as much as possible and cause the
maximum amount of strife and chaos.

The following is a further extract from the FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) of the mailing list that is dedicated to trolling. It will
help you to understand what type of person you are up against...

"Anyone can walk into alt.sex and post that pornography
should be banned. Anyone can walk into rec.sport.baseball
and say "baseball sucks". It takes unbelievable skill and
discipline to cause a PROLONGED flame war. That is what we
do. But it can only be done with talent, and numbers to
match that talent. We only bring into the fold people who
have the knack to use smarts to incite chaos, not stupidity
to incite being ignored when people see a post and know what
you're up to."

Domination Trolls

Recently, it has become apparent that there are probably trolls also
operating as list managers. I am unclear as to the specific
motivations for this type of activity, but it may be:

gratification from dominating the emotional lives of list members

gangland ware - where one group sets up a list and aims to
defend it from other trolling groups a genuine area of
interest on behalf of the troll

Nevertheless, the lesson behind this is that you need to get
verification data for list managers as well as other list members.

Dealing with trolls

When dealing with suspected trolls, there are various strategies that
you can employ. First of all, remember that just because you suspect
that someone is a troll, it doesn't mean that they are a troll; also,
just because you suspect someone is genuine, it doesn't mean that they
are genuine. In view of this, the best tactics are:

ignore postings that you suspect may be from trolls.

don't invest any of your self emotionally until you have
verified beyond all doubt that the person you are dealing
with is genuine

beware of off list emails that praise and flatter, or seem
to evoke sympathy. If you feel yourself beginning to like
someone, ask first: how much verifiable data do I have about
them?

if you do get involved in anyone, seek out verifiable data.
Trolls will provide some data that will lead to dead ends;
real people will provide some data that is open-ended and
leads to a myriad of sources which enable you to verify
their genuine status

if you must respond to a troll posting, don't get involved
in the argument; limit it to pointing out that the posting
may be considered as trollish, for the benefit of other list
members.

Write to the listmaster to highlight what is happening

Write to the postmaster of the troll's domain. Keep it
simple, polite and to the point (they are very busy!).
Include your evidence (e.g.: offensive emails) and the full
email header information, so that the troll can be properly
traced.

Listmasters can also make their lists restricted, and conduct a
security analysis of each list application before allowing them to
subscribe. This is probably easier to do in areas that have
professional associations or qualifications.

Further web pages
More information on trolls can be found at the following web pages:
http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html
http://www.melsa.net/internet/tut11.htm
http://www.la.dtu.dk/~hbm/alt.flame/napalm.html
http://www.intersurf.com/~aevinc/aev2trol.htm
http://www.lava.net/~dewilson/writing/flame.retardant.html
http://www.lava.net/~dewilson/asd/trolls.html
http://www.altairiv.demon.co.uk/troll/trollfaq.htm

Centre Against Workplace Bullying UK
40 Liverpool Road
Slough, SL1 4QZ
Telephone 01753 610536
Email info@jfo.org.uk
Just Fight On! 2004-2006