EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Why do you level headed upstanding individuals even bother to read much less respond to the likes of Kevy, Woodyhead, Peter S? You should know you don't need to read that trash and just get uptight when you do. I suggest you just ignore them sort of like dog poop on the sidewalk or the people poop in SF and LA.

Auntie Lulu

I must say . . . you are the voice of sanity! I think your suggestion is probably exactly what is needed in the here and now.

CarryOn

Totally agree ... ignore them and maybe they'll go away ..

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Kevyn has a nimble mind and at times brings up poignant points... He also can be quite engaging at times...

Woodguru puts lots of effort into his posts and rarely stops to add hominem... He can also relax at times and join in side discussions...

PeterS has an excellent mind and is not afraid to voice his opinions... Nor is he below engaging in a civil discussion...

The OPP would be less without any of them...

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Atta boy, Canuckus, rationalize irrational behavior, justify devious minds, appease h**eful people. You can play the Kumbayah bulls**t all you want, but if it rings your bells to engage these trolls, then go for it.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Internet trolls are cyber bullies, they get their jollies pissing people off. You don't have to be a psychologist to see what makes them tick.

Psychology Today: Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists
Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.

In this month's issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a study was published that confirms what we all suspected: Internet trolls are horrible people.

Let's start by getting our definitions straight: An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.

What kind of person would do this? Some Canadian researchers decided to find out.

They conducted two online studies with over 1,200 people, giving personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their Internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the "Dark Tetrad" of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.

They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite Internet activity. To get an idea of how much more prevalent these traits were among Internet trolls, one can refer to tables from the paper showing low Dark Tetrad scores for everyone in the study . . . except the trolls. Their scores for all four traits soar on the chart. The relationship between trolling and the Dark Tetrad is so significant that the authors write in their paper:

"... the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." [emphasis added]

Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article): "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun. . . and the Internet is their playground!"

The next time you encounter a troll online, remember:

These trolls are some truly difficult people.
It is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.

References

Notes

1. “Machiavellianism is characterized by the manipulation and exploitation of others; cold affect, callousness, and a lack of sincerity or ethical concern. Psychopathy is a hostile and aversive personality trait that includes affective, emotional, interpersonal, and behavioral characteristics such as egocentricity; irresponsibility; shallow emotions; deficits in empathy, guilt, remorse, or morality; social deviance; manipulation of others; and high impulsivity. Narcissism is characterized by an exaggerated sense of grandiosity, superiority, entitlement, and self-worth, as well as despising of others and an excessive need for admiration. Everyday sadism is the tendency to enjoy other people's suffering and pain.” (Masui, 2019)

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

We all have our faults...

Plenty of h**e on both sides...

One would hope the goal would be too rise above it...

I enjoy engaging with Peter and Kevyn... Woodguru less so....

The term troll is thrown around far too often...

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Thisdoes not describe any of the three...

JW

As I see it, there are three groups of people here, and everywhere else, I presume. They are the us, the them and the others.

Nothing the us say will sway the them and likewise, nothing the them say will sway the us.

If the goal of posting is camaraderie, then neither of the groups postings matter other than the one you are in, post away and ignore the rest. If the goal of posting is to provoke thoughtfulness then all of the groups postings have potential and it would be a shame to lose any of them. If the goal of posting is to change opinions then the only group that matters is the others because they are the only ones likely to absorb anything that might change their opinions, in which case we dare not ignore what anyone posts. We may be able to change minds and so might they.