How to Troll a Troll
There are two conflicting definitions of the phrase internet troll , as well as two conflicting origin stories. A more precise definition comes from the fishing technique trolling (dragging a fish hook behind a boat) and is synonymous with trickster . This type of troll deliberately nudges others, often annoying them by pretending to be taking a ridiculous position or stance. Ideally, they do no harm other than what the target does to itself. Trolling with a trickster is a skill I’ll teach you.
And he says to them: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19
The looser definition of troll, which is becoming more popular because people are afraid to say “bully,” refers to people who are just shitty on the net – like the ugly bridge trolls. Their “trolling” takes the form of harassment, threats, insults, or simply annoying behavior. Some of these trolls think they are deceivers; others don’t even realize how annoying or offensive they are. In any case, hooligan trolls are the best targets for trick trolls.
When someone upsets or insults you online, it may be tempting to respond with their own dome. Sometimes this is an appropriate response! But sometimes you just let that person ruin your day and encourage them to ruin it even more. Instead, you can run in circles around them, to the delight of yourself and others. When done right, trolling with a trickster is a great way to ease the pain of trolling with bullies. This will help you go from being a victim to a powerful prankster that you shouldn’t mess with.
Make a friendly face
Trolling with a trickster is like a comedy acting game. The beauty of a troll lies in the chasm between character and actor. If your goal is to frustrate your goal, you must present yourself as helpful and cooperative. This sometimes defeats the troll, which can make everyone happy. But often the troll just digs deeper, exposing himself
Artificial helpfulness is also an act of self-care; you create a buffer between yourself and the hatred you want to send in response to your troll, but you don’t really accept their behavior on their terms. Most importantly, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Play for the audience
There is a spectrum, not a dark line, between trolling with a trickster and trolling with a bully. One way to make sure you’re on the right side is to remember what the third party thinks. In fact, if you can, troll in public where you are more attentive to your behavior. Third party reactions will help you determine if your trolling is ethical and when it’s time to stop.
If your trolling is causing massive annoyance or bigotry, going public can help others. Coder and satirist Jen Schiffer, in her impeccablepractice material on trolling and satire, cites examples of female technologists who were deeply satisfied with overconfident men falling for her jokes. Playing in front of an audience, Schiffer exposed the sexism of these men, who could not understand the concept of an intelligent and funny woman playing a joke. Some of these men have managed to realize their sexism and hopefully improve themselves.
Always give them a way out
If you troll a troll, he usually makes the first move. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can go nuclear. Sometimes you need – the Nazis need to beat! But if someone is just acting like a jerk, you will probably feel better if you focus on them instead of reacting to their energy and vitriol levels. This process should take less from you than from them. (This doesn’t mean you can’t put in the effort; if you have a big troll in Photoshop but work energizes you, go for it.)
Give your troll a way out – somehow they might stop interacting. This is another way to avoid becoming a bad guy. There is usually no use in chasing your pursuer when he has already given up the fight, and that’s not good.
A Lifehacker reader recently emailed me demanding that I give up “my whole fucking career as a writer” because he didn’t like my choice of photography in the article. “You will find that your career is not the only thing you can lose,” he wrote under his full name, calling me “another smug white boy trying to send a signal of virtue” before blaming me for Trump’s presidency.
Although I knew that a fair discussion would be fruitless, I was interested to hear more, so I answered with the appropriate length: one character, lowercase.
He replied with his usual duration. I answered mine. After three iterations, he realized he didn’t really need to answer and took out his own.
Never let them see you bleed
Troll trolling is essentially a game about who doesn’t give a damn. If you really care more, you should consider a different approach. If you work very hard to demonstrate that you care, you may really care more. You don’t want to look like the guy from the classic rage comic:
You don’t have to have the final say. Sometimes you don’t want it yourself. Wish I sent the last letter with the letter “k”? Of course, and in admitting it, I lost that fight retroactively. A troll-troll fight is not a boxing match; this is a hot potato game. The last survivor is losing.
The term sprezzatura may or may not be used here, but it’s Italian and I want to use it, so let’s say it fits. Sprezzatura is the studied carelessness that the deceiving troll strives for. To be successful at a spreader is to convince everyone that all this is really a joke for you, and for your potential bully it is deadly serious.
But sprezzatura can only be shown, not told. The more you try to prove that you don’t care, the less convincing you will be . As literal professional trolls Felix Biederman and Virgil Texas write: “One way to establish authority when you’re angry is to say all this time that you were just pretending to be terrible, perhaps as a social experiment or for your own entertainment. “
This concern for indifference can seem tiresome to you. If yes, then be free! Block and report your trolls! But if you like it, trolling can be a rewarding and soothing hobby, just like making model airplanes: creating little simulations of real conflict in your basement until you get rid of the smoke.