i'm new here

“what's up.”

“what's up”

“yeah, sure you are!!! We almost believe you.”

“man - are you the backpacker?”

“he is a troll”

“man - where are you from? oops, seems too many questions from me. sorry. just curious :o)”

“WHAT IS IT, MAN?

-- Ren Höek”

“Its Stinky Whizzle Teats ,Dont trust him!! Do not trust him !!”

“a troll?”

“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.”

“
I don't think you're happy enough. That's right! I'll teach you
To be happy! I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
”

“man, if you have read what snafu posted, you must realize that we need to have your full name and social security number before we can continue any dialog!”

“The little critters of nature, they don't know that they're ugly.”

“why don't you all blow me.”

“that's tarp rat's line”

“at least try to be creative.”

“I just read somewhere how this woman in Montana appointed herself part of some online, self-proclaimed spy network. There are seven of them. I forget the website.

Anyway, she would go into Middle Eastern type chats, have a full "profile" that put her in some area (of the U.S., I think), have full details on the mosque in that area (what time meetings were... who the pastor-equivalent is. Sorry, it's early and I can't think of the proper terms. LOL!)

She managed to get some U.S. soldier stateside busted when he kept chatting with her about being on the "wrong side" of the whole war.

LOL... citizen spies! (or trolls, if ya wish)”

“Be sure to post that URL if you remember it so we can spy on the spys.... LOL”

“If I can find it, I'll start a new thread on it, so all can share (as opposed to being on troll thread that only you and I and two others are looking at. LOL) Will call it "citizen spies."”

“Citizen Trolls! LOL”

“this is the most hostile group of backpackers i have ever seen.”

“aw man, You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Hop over to the magazine site and quietly suggest that Ronald Reagan wasn't a Saint... and watch what happens, LOL”

“Who watches the Watchers?”

“Forget the hostile ones. Most of them over use the word troll anyway. If any of them had been on the internet prior to AOL they'd know that a troll is someone who fishes for trouble on a forum. They cause trouble by baiting people into their topic. So yes, most of them can just blow you.”

“Hooo.

Ah.”

“man, what a load. Crawl back into your Michael Moore costume.”

“All American Infidels Must Die! Long live Hussein!”

“Am I going to be investigated now?

In the early 90's my then SO wa studying at the U of Copenhagen. I sent hear a letter with this message on the envelope:

"This is not a letter bomb sent to an American Infidel."

She received it 2 months later, open. Wonder how much that cost American taxpayers?

Someday my humor might change but I'm not going to hold my breath.”

“snafu stop eating the paint chips loser”

“I did find the story and posted a thread, if ya wanna read about the "citizen trolls" spying for us, lol.

Citizen spies”

“Forget the hostile ones. Most of them over use the word troll anyway. If any of them had been on the internet prior to AOL they'd know that a troll is someone who fishes for trouble on a forum....
SpecOps
01:42:37 PM
06/27/04

Which is exactly what happens around here most of the time. Stick around FNG, you'll see.”

“"Which is exactly what happens around here most of the time. Stick around FNG, you'll see."
StickmanWalking
10:47:53 PM
06/27/04

Point proven twice in one thread. By the way, if there were no more new hikers, it'd die with all you mean canewalkers on here.

How about inviting and welcoming new comers, and if they prove to be non-hikers and trouble makers treat them as such. Prejudice is a dangerous thing and many of the people on TT seem to suffer from it.

Man, if you are serious about hiking you'll figure out quickly who the ones are who go backpacking and those who are the ones who sit and hit refresh waiting for someone else to scare off.”

“You've obviously not paid much attention to what goes on around here.”

“Fortunately, this crowd is more friendly on the trail than they are on this board.

Sometimes, I have to wonder how even I survived the hazing.”

“Sorry -- what goes on in this forum is the wimpiest hazing I've ever seen, LOL”

“Poor newgirl almost had a nervous breakdown before it was over.

Fortunately aero did that stellar job of reporting the truth.

Who will ever forget her first photo?”

“I'm just thinking about someone who was sent off to a boarding school and physically threatened for the entire school year.

This is sticks&stones with an 'off' switch.”

“The difference is that these folks are coming here for the same reasons we did, only they're getting bashed in the head with stones. I didn't receive a hazing when I came here. Why should others?

Hey man, welcome aboard. Stick around. We have some paranoids here, but everyone is mostly harmless. Check out the board and you'll see that there was a trip in your backyard this past weekend.”

“I was never "hazed" either.
The troll thing is stupid, always has been.

Post if you want.”

“Oh boy! I hope this mushrooms and turns into a Spy vs. Spy type thing! Time to dust off my Acme catalog!

Dear Newbies,

Any non-hetero, non-white, non-conservative, non-male, atheist people are more than welcome here. If you fall in the other categories please log out and do not return.

J”

“WTF? Only lesbians are allowed?




Well, I guess I am ok then.”

“chili, does that mean you're a lesbian in men's clothing? I guess that's a more delicate way to say you're a lezzi with a dick.”

“The old 'trapped in a man's body' thing again, eh Chili?”

“I am afraid that anything I say to further this converstation will find a way to haunt me.”

“Come on chilli, we all know you have a t shirt hidden in a box in the garage that says, "I'm not gay but my boyfriend is!". LOL!”

“Is your wife lurking?”

“Man, don't be surprised that people don't react warmly to you when you have so little to say, just "I am here, welcome me." Real catchy name too. So where do you live, where do you backpack, what kind of trips do you do, what great trips do you ahve planned? Without some personal detail, you'll be suspected of being a regular out to tease and taunt the other regulars with a fake identity.”