I'm Curious: How Do You Deal with Trolls?

Anyone on the internet blogging or using social media deals with trolls. Facebook? It's filled with creatures from Grimm's Fairy Tales! 

Usually trolls are anonymous and cast their aspersion from underneath a rock or hiding behind a silly fake name. Often their comments are personal attacks along with name-calling and sometimes profanity. I have a few trolls and my way of dealing with them nowadays is to delete their comments as soon as I recognize the source. That usually takes reading about ten words then into the circular file they go.

Thinking about Trolls and Troll Farms

I have a few commenters here who are clearly trolls. One in particular makes me think of  Saul Alinsky whenever he (I think it's a man.) comments. He uses many of Alinsky's rules for radicals like trying to freeze the target and put him/her on the defensive.

Reading up on professional, paid trolling I wondered if there are paid trolls out there who go after the websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. of orthodox/traditional Catholics.  I have no illusions about the influence of my blog. I generally have 300-400 visitors a day. If something I write strikes a chord, I can get as many as 700-1,000 visitors, but that's rare.

Of Trump, Trolls, and Tedious Comments!

I must be getting old and crotchety. My patience for long-winded dissertations in the comment section has reached a low point. If you want to spend 500-1000 words illustrating your Trump derangement syndrome and trolling, start your own blog. And I'm not posting comments with a dozen links or buckets of rash judgment.

Of Internet Trolls and Censorship

I got another book-length comment from a troll yesterday which pushed me over the edge on suffering fools, an expression my dad sometimes used which I never liked. I take seriously the biblical admonition not to call your brother "raca." But, really, there are so many out there trolling the internet and enjoying the power of anonymous insults! 

Answering My Delusional Troll Who Appears to Live in THE MATRIX

Well, I guess I'm going to address a troll, but, since I promised I would never post another 

one of Mary the Troll's comments, I'm not putting it in the comment section. That would link to her blog. I'm not sending anyone there. Commenting on the Intimidation Politics post, Mary the Troll exposed herself as totally delusional and clearly demonstrated that she is a willing enabler of THE LEFT'S violence. Here's what she wrote:

The Wretched State of a Troll's Mind

Questions: Who would ever say anything nasty about the nice Mr Beekman and Mrs Beekman? Why would anyone think these two upstanding figures were evil?

Answers: A troll, of course! Because a troll's wretched soul-dead state of mind is morally bankrupt. 

Definition of an internet troll with thanks to Evangeline and her comment at Restore-DC-Catholicism:

I used to tell children, there is no such thing as zombies. I was wrong. The soul-dead ghouls who haunt comboxes to delight in tormenting others are examples of people who are so soulless as to do the devil's work. Never in times past were we afflicted with such living demons, who enjoyed throwing salt in wounds for no reason at all. When it gives people pleasure to hurt others they don't know because they can, clearly you are dealing with demonic forces and sick, emotionally bankrupt people. 

Demon infested internet zombie troll

Of Anonymous Trolls and the Billy Goat Gruff

I received a comment yesterday about the Oslo bombing left on an unrelated post. To explain, I blogged briefly about Oslo immediately after the event when Muslim extremists took credit for the atrocity. When more information came out about the true perpetrator and the Jihadists had retracted their claim, I removed the post intending to rework it and repost later. But before I had a chance to do that, an anonymous critic sent the following:

Well, it turns out that the Oslo terrorist is not a Muslim after all but one, somewhat like you, who is convinced of the dangers that Islam and its adherents present to western civilization. You never acknowledged your disinformation, simply pulled the article without a word; let your bearing of false witness disappear as if it had never happened—not unlike a Protestant who doesn’t believe in confession. I had thought that “Women of Truth” might correct their mistaken “facts” but then perhaps that preacher at Saint Matthew’s Cathedral was right when he referred to you as “Women of half-truths, distortions, and lies.” I thought it was a bit harsh at the time and told him so, but after reading your newsletter for several years and now your blog, I think he may have had a point. What shall I now think of all that you say about the Knights of Columbus and CRS and Catholic Charities when even the liberal old New York Times know it has a responsibility to acknowledge its errors.

I can almost see this brave, anonymous critic twisting his (generic pronoun) hands in glee over his "gotcha" while he gets in his snide remark equating me "somewhat" with a mass murderer while accusing me of "bearing false witness." (Isn't rash judgment a sin against the 8th Commandment as well?) Well, nobody likes to be called a liar so I responded to his comment:

The initial reports coming out of Oslo linked the terrorist bombing to the threats from the Muslim cleric who was being deported who threatened to kill government officials. CBS reported that a group called "Helpers of Global Jihad" had claimed responsibility. Later they updated the report to say the group had retracted the claim. I posted the item before the retraction. Here's a link to the updated report: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20082156-10391695.html

After more information came out I took the post down with the intention of redoing and clarifying it after more information came out about the man arrested. It's still in my edit file.

As for you describing a multi-murderer as "somewhat like me" I had to laugh at your accusation of my "bearing false witness" comment.
If you believe what you said about my telling lies and half truths, I'm surprised you bother with my blog. I sure wouldn't.

I think this individual is what internet jargon calls "a troll," a deliberately provocative internet user according to internetslang.com. But sometimes it's useful to call out trolls like the Big Billy Goat Gruff did. When threatened with being eaten by the pathetic creature hiding under the bridge, he replied, "Come right ahead I have two big spears to poke your eyeballs out your ears." Let me stress that this is figurative language, I have no intention of every committing a violent act against anyone -- even a silly troll.