ITT we discuss words and even techniques that work well when trolling.
If you think trolling = behaving badly, check http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/t/troll.html or similar first.
My initial vote for a good trolling word goes to 'frankly'.
Talking in online abbreviations alot and using poor speling is also good IMHO!
I know of one person who likes to post in four-sentence blocks when he's trolling, where each sentences starts with the letters Y, H, B and T in that order. That's discipline!
Instead of responding to a well-phrased argument, focus on some inconsequential sub-point of said argument, make unreasonable assumptions about how it relates to the rest of the argument, then rebuke those assumptions to discredit the entire argument.
Agree with someone who has a positive reputation in the community, but do so in a way that largely misses the point and completely undermines the intent of their statements. If they step forward to clarify their position, continue to agree and misrepresent their statements until they talk themselves into a corner.
Use their hurried clarifications against them at some later date, in a different discussion.
use emoticons, use online acronyms, reply "tl;dr" to anything longer than four words, link to wikipedia instead of providing remotely credible reference, fail to read and as a bonus misquote others, quote personal experience -if possible heartbreaking stories about how your puppies died in siberia- incessantly, use nightstick/weasel phrases a real lot ("it cannot be argued that...", "only an utter fool could disagree that...", "it is a proven fact that...", "some say that...", "certain specialists point out that...").
Use nonsensical and preferably long kopipe, like the Yoshinoya rant
http://4-ch.net/dqn/kareha.pl/1105396502
http://4-ch.net/dqn/kareha.pl/1102173036
http://cerealandmilk.net/iichan/dis/kareha.pl/1105804369
Post under different usernames / accounts to give the impression as if your stance is taken and defended by many different persons.
Downplay valuable insights with flippant remarks like "welcome to last year", "that's not the point", "off topic", etc.
Apologise for not being a native English speaker, talk about how you're suffering about some tragic disease, or other stuff that gets people to sympathise with you. Do so whenever someone begins to disagree with you.
>link to wikipedia instead of providing remotely credible reference
This thread is already moving into troll territory, excellent.
Trolling has been going downhill. We start out with Kibo and now we have GNAA :(
http://www.kibo.com/kibopost/meta_trolling.html
http://www.kibo.com/kibopost/bacon_trolling.html
GNAA may lack a lot of style and maturity, but some of their stuff has been pretty good - like leaking info on new mac software, and tricking everyone into thinking it was fake just because of their reputation. The fact that the host the GNFOS movie is excellent too.
I think the thing with GNAA is, they have a lot of people, and some of them are genuinely funny, and some of them are timecop.
Reading the Complete Wroks of Kibo is obligatory for any prospective troller. Once you understand how the Wikipedia article on trolls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll) is wrong then you'll be suited for serious trolling.
A couple excellent trolling techniques which work well in Usenet or other fora where replies are included into posts are to reply to arguments in a point by point fashion but to delete or change certain important words in the quote (like "not"), and to reply to your own posts (and refute them) once they are quoted a few times.
Something interesting about 2ch style anonymous fora is that random trollish behavior (like "2GET" or "BOKU WA KAMIYAMANGETSU-CHAN") are so accepted as part of the discussion that it's harder to really troll people. Simple annoying trolls don't work here where they might on Slashdot or Gamefags or the like.
It's also hard to troll people when everybody is more or less Anonymous. Taking online personalities seriously is a major weakness that trolls will prey on.
Should this be counted as a successful troll?
I was working on reverse-engineering a movie out of a game, and managed to play the sound track: http://astrange.ithinksw.net/sa/lainslaugh.mp3
In celebration, I embedded it in a thread in 4chan /b/.
In a different thread in /b/ (Osaka's Mail Order Life):
also!! Paula-tan 04/10/05(Sun)02:51 No.1018734
I don't understand this, I wonder if it may be from the simulator, but twice in the past 5 minutes, I've heard a female giggling noise, it's kind of echo-y, and I'm not sure if it's from the game, or if there's something up with 4chan, or if it's my comp... it shouldnt be anything from the computer itself.. that'd be just too scary.. X_X it's creeping me out, anyways... It's probably a sound file that comes with Osaka wearing the Etna costume... X_X
I think background music on /b/ is responsible for several cases of schizophrenia breaking out.
>>20 is DQN
TANASINN > xibo > * > gnaa > sa goons > kibo
> *
You are aware, of course, that in a regular expression, * stands for zero or more repetition of the preceding character, which in your case would be an empty space. You are a hypocrite and failure of a nihilist for daring to mandate a formal hierarchy of relative greatness. You double the severity of your transgression by failing to place * on top. Faceless charlatan! You have no right to use the *'s name in vain!
>>24
too much words
>>26
Obviously a wapanese tard trying to pretend to bad Engrish.
> in a regular expression
there is no regular expression in >>22's post
> Faceless
> 24 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-04-17 21:54 ID:Heaven
> You have no right to use the *'s name in vain!
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>>28
YHBT, &c &c
Shut up trolls.
You could have just posted a lot with sage to get it out of the actively shown posts.
Now that you bumped the thread, it is a perfect victim for more troll tomfoolery!
Bleah. Sage pls.
Okay.
記念真紀子
(Posting in a legendary thread)
55555555555555555555555555555555555
ZOOMJ
>>37
Carrot!
no u
What I've never understood, in all the years i've been on the internet and frequented a plethora of forums, is why people troll. It's not as if it's fun or entertains anyone, all they're doing is getting in the way of meaningful discussion. Like when I used to post on the gamefaqs boards, no matter what we'd be talking about someone always got in the way, by spamming something about 'retarded internet arguments' or 'drama-alert' or something like that. It's trolls that make true person to person relationships over the internet impossible. And when me and my friends are posting pictures on one of the 4chan boards someone always has to post some mutilated cat or one of those harlequin baby things.
peace out
> It's not as if it's fun or entertains anyone
It entertains themselves. They say something so they get a reaction. The matter itself doesn't matter for them. So, with a minimum of effort, they produce great results. To feel themselves as the cause of a big effect is something they lack in real life, so they go on the internet and give rise to idiocy.
> they go on the internet and give rise to idiocy.
hooray.
You are once again talking about mere flamebaiting and jackassery as if it were real trolling. Real trolling is highly entertaining to spectators, when done properly. Real trolling is about making fun of people who take things too seriously, or have an over-inflated sense of ego. The sort of people who will jump out and correct you for making a mistake, even if it blatantly obvious to everyone else that you are just joking.
>>41
was just flamebaiting, failed too, how could people not protest using meaningful discussion and 4chan in the same paragraph without the words nonexistant somewhere inbetween
but anyway, real trolling should be really subtle so as to entertain the smallest number of people possible.
a given piece of trolling has 100entertaining, if four people are in on the joke each clearly gets 25entertaining each (or if one of the four only gets part of the joke and the others realize it his share diminishes and the entertaingings are evenly distributed amongst those who realized said winner was not in on the whole thing) however if 50 people get it the there are only 2 entertainings apiece (or some pretty long-winded math if only a few get it completely) and ultimately it is not as enjoyable. it should also be noted that humor ferments, kinda, as in, it gets better with time. so if you don't get it at first , then it hits you a few days later it will usually pack a greater punch as you can also laugh at yourself for being so thick (this, i am told, does not count for americans, sucks to be them).
it's time people realized humor is a commodity
dig
Maybe I'm not a purist, but I disagree. The more people who get it the merrier, so long as the selected victim(s) don't.
By the reasoning in >>45, the best trolling is the one only the troller understands, which is lame. Being a fuckwit is easy, being entertaining isn't.
記念真紀子
(Posting in a legendary politician)
And I'll have to disagree with your disagreement.
Of course it's horrible trolling if only the troll gets the joke; however, trolling a BBS when everyone falls for the bait while only 4 or 5 others are sitting on the sidelines laughing their asses off is much better than trolling a single person whom everyone else just looks at, laughs once, and leaves.
No no no no... The fun part of trolling is when the VICTIMS are few in number! Then more people can laugh at them. Think about the numerous fetishes that Lowtax sics his monkeys on... They go in and post dumb shit. That makes me laugh boy I tell ya.
I used to troll, but when I found good friends, a girlfriend and a job, the need to upset people over the internet kind of faded away.
Also, today's trolling is pure faggotry compared to what we used to do (and to whom; namely to people who truly deserved it, not 14 year old girls on LJ)
> what we used to do (and to whom; namely to people who truly deserved it, not 14 year old girls on LJ)
Well? Provide examples!
republicans
Waste your entire time on the internet instead of doing something constructive.
Waste your entire time on constructive proofs instead of applying REAL math.
I invented construction in civ before you even founded your first city.
Damn these boards are slow.
posting itt to satisfy alexander's lasciviousness
Having gone through that list, I regret that fuckthesouth does not have a hatemail section.
http://www.google.com/search?q=gorgonzola+shipon <- my favourite single-hit search
larry
Congrats... the 4-ch.net/net/ is now #2 on Google's results for "4-ch.net"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&sa=G&q=%224-ch.net%22
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A4-ch.net
lol, they hit the BANME script. "You shouldn't have followed this link. Your address is now banned ..."
I don't "get" this placing of google links...
>>65
(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
(↑ I find that message to be hilarious. Reeks of SA, and people usually get more instigated by it than figuring out the rules all of a sudden. In short: It just produces more drama.)
You're right, it's more for the administrators' cynical amusement than any useful purpose.
It's also for the cynical amusement of the people who hang around to watch The Mod Show. And thus you have a performer-audience thing going instead of an actual community. Just look at the 4chan Otakon panel - it was a chance to see your favourite band live, and had nothing to do with the actual users.
When Futaba has an event, it's all about the users showing off their works and talents. When 4chan has one, it's all about the mods.
But this is getting off topic. UNLESS I AM TROLLING!
OH SNAP
These days, trolling can be a piece of cake, because it seems like people are going out of their way to get hooked. They'll easily believe the most ridiculous, obvious of bait just so they can call the poster a clueless retard or some such thing.
I guess they really like looking superior.
>>70
Maybe they are trolls themselves - perhaps even the same persons!
Ooh, the dreaded reverse meta-troll!
i once trolled my self trolling my self in 4chans /b/
it left me feeling relieved but not fulfilled
a lot like masturbation really
>>71-72
This is how people arrogantly defend their "stupidity" (I don't know if it really is stupid to respond to trolls, there's nothing like them outside the Web).
> I don't know if it really is stupid to respond to trolls
Yes, it is. At least on 2ch (where they identify "thread ruiners" more than trolls) it's common sense to just ignore troublestarters. It's also pointed out in most FAQs/guides that you shouldn't reply to them because that's just fueling their flamefest.
> there's nothing like them outside the Web
Ever since I looked up some different troll techniques, I have been looking at the world of politics with new eyes!
kopipe
Guide to trolling
#1 Make sure you can change your IP, if you can't they only have to IP ban you once before you have to use proxies which are slow and gay.
#2 Give your self a name like "Hitler" or "realist nigger". When they say "omg you have Hitler as your name you are racist" you say "my name is tony Hitler and Hitler is my second name" there will then be a massive flame war between regular people on the forum over weather you should keep your name.
#3 Lie lie and lie. If the forum is about something like a video game, make stories about how the game is coming out in a few months or make fake screenshots so that people actually believe the lies. When they find out they are fake they will be really really raged and stuff because you got their hopes up. there will also be wars between the believes and the non believes in your shit.
#4 Make shit up about people on the forum. Claim that some members are racist, post ugly but believable pictures from hotornot and claim they are members and generally make people laugh and say "i always knew xxx was a loser"
#5 Suck up to admins/mods while stirring shit between regular members. admins and mods will find it harder to warn or ban you while regular members get raged. On a lot of forums people don't like the admins or mods so you get bonus raging points for acting like they are really cool.
#6 Act like a noob., talk shit, use leet speak, don't bother with grammar/punctuation etc act stupid when a mod or admin warn you.
#7 Always use caps, when people tell you not to, say you have a problem with your eyes and that its hard for you to type in normal letters.
#8 Contradict your self. in a few posts say how you hate X then start praising him.
#9 Pretend to be from some sort of ethnic group. My favorite is claiming to be a Slav or a Jew then starting topics like "discuss XXXX - SLAVIC MEMBERS ONLY". This causes shit. At every available opportunity claim how Russia/Israel/Bulgaria is amazing, Provoke racist comments from other members to start wars.
#10 Pretend to be something cool like a member of CDC. people will get pissed off and flame you saying that your lying and stuff. another great one is pretending to be famous internet people like Maddox and shit.
Final note: The true art of raging a forum is not spamming, this can be cleaned up pretty quickly. It is to set members against each other and cause rifts that will ultimately destroy the forum.
Extra: Gaining an admin password or finding a nice loophole to fuck around with is also amazing raging potential. Recently this forum I was raging let you upload your own emotion icons for the whole forum to use when you had enough posts. There was a limit on one every 300 posts or something, but I found that if you just bookmark the page url you can upload unlimited ones. I then uploaded tubgirl pics and linked them to words like "the" "to" "from" etc.
If you manage to get an admin password, delete all forums and make one forum called "discuss how raged you are"
PS: Amazingly enough, most of the tactics described in >>76 will only work or only work effectively on register-only type forums.
>>76
This is interesting. I can't say I'd actually want to destroy a forum, but... there sure are forums/admins/mods that would deserve it. Registration type forums that is.
This thread has been dormant for far too long.
I've gotten some nice reactions when working in the Futurama line "It's a widely-believed fact" into trolls. Give it a try sometime.
Okay...how about...It's a widely-believed fact that >>79 owns the Benihana restaurants, and has been slipping 'wotaku pills' into the food.
Trolling is a myth.
Just like the moon and American Indians. Ridiculous liberal myths purveyed by the treasonous Dhimmicrat party.
Just like HIMEOBS.
Just like Japan and black people.
It shakes the baby.
Heh. Look at that. He fucked off.
Kind of ironic that a thread about trolling is being modded though.
Its a widely believed fact that trolling is full of entertainment.
It's endlessly amusing when trolls succeed in turning a somewhat reasonable namefag forum into a miserable pile of hair-trigger moderators and those who worship their every action.
>>88
It's also funny that you told yourself to fuck off?
Actually nevermind, I misread that.
Trolling isn't entertaining or funny, it's stupid and childish.
Wow, I guess I'm not actually a troll, then. I don't know what I'd call myself now. Perhaps a picador?
lol I'm not troll I'm a lvl 78 Paladin Half Orc with Helmet of Disentergration and i'm a lvl 58 mage which could pwn ur lvl 58 ranger in a heartbeat noob!!! and i wanna fuck a pig so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lol, Paladin Orcs R 4 nUbz05z!!!!!
>>76
this trolling guide really sucks. the best kind of trolls are those that don't stand out. you should try to make yourself look clueless, but don't make it obvious. engage in a normal discussion with people but make some newbie mistake or get something wrong that EVERYBODY in that forum understands, or, better yet, use an argument that has already been debunked over and over again. best way is if you phrase it as some absolute statement too.
example:
in a forum with people who love loli, it's far too obvious to act like some bible-thumping christian that hates indecent imagery. instead, act as a moderate person who is "trying to understand" what makes people like it. you'd use arguments such as "i understand that this shouldn't be made illegal, as it isn't really hurting anybody, but you have to admit that looking at these pictures will eventually cause you to become attracted to real children also and that COULD have dangerous consequences". this is a great way to troll, as you'll get tons of morons respond with the same old arguments and they'll waste their time with it because they believe they're dealing with a person who is genuinely trying to discuss with them.
>>98
I don't know if that's really called "trolling".
More like being the devil's advocate.
No, that is much closer to the original meaning of the term "trolling" than its current use. What >>98 misses, though, is that trolling is not something done for yourself. It should be obvioust that you are trolling to your audience, whoever they are. Otherwise, it's just mental masturbation. Trolling is putting on a show, where you act like an idiot, yet your victim never realizes you are playing an act, but the onlookers see it clearly, and laugh at the victim for being too dumb to see through the act.