After yet another senseless shooting – this one murdering five people in a newspaper office – one of my Facebook 
friends offered a fairly straightforward, soft-core post about how sad it was that these people were killed.
Scrolling through the responses to his post, his friends chimed in with similar heartfelt expressions of grief and compassion.
Until one that really stood out. That comment was something like, “Why do we have to turn a tragedy into a political statement?”
Umm…what? There was nothing in the original post about politics, gun control, fake news or anything of the other trip-wire words that often move a simple comment into the realm of inflammatory politics.
I wasn’t the only one scratching her head. The person who posted the original comment came back to deny there was any overt political content.
A few comments later, déjà vu all over again. Different Facebook account, almost identical comment.
That’s when I knew my friend was being blasted by trolls.
How to spot an internet troll
- Go to their timeline and chances are nearly 100% that this individual has festooned his page with patriotic images: Majestic eagles superimposed on American flags. Members of our armed forces on the front line, looking noble as they clutch their weapons in the fight for freedom. Sometimes cute little kids and puppy dogs with soulful eyes. But no clear mugshots of themselves (they don’t have the nerve to do that) and they have very few friends.
- They aren’t very bright. They cherry-pick keywords and then respond to those words with highly inflammatory rhetoric that may not have anything to do with the original comment, as was the case with the newspaper shooting post.
- These people – if they are people at all, and not bots – are agents provocateurs. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I’m beginning to wonder. Because if they were real people instead of bots, their remarks would more closely align with the content of the original post. (Either that or refer to No. 2.)
- They have two objectives: To show the world that they are not insignificant losers and to sow discord, elicit an emotional response and drag the discussion away from facts and into polarizing name-calling.
- When they are called out, they lunge into attack mode. Weapons in their arsenal: Shaming, blaming, taunting, name-calling, ridiculing, humiliation, manipulation, lies and whatever other ugly stuff they can sling.
How to deal with internet trolls
The best way to deal with these people?
- Don’t feed their egos.
- Don’t give them the satisfaction of engaging, because the attention (even negative attention) is exactly what they crave; it makes them feel important.
- Don’t defend yourself or explain or try to reason with them because they are immune to reason.
- Delete their posts.
- Unfriend them or block them.
- Report them to the social media platform you use.
Don’t feed the trolls.
Your post is interesting timing, Jackie, as my recent article on the HuffPost, ‘attracted’ the most divisive comments I had ever experienced. Most people had profile photos and seemed to have built up credibility as ‘leaders’ in the comment department, but boy were the comments ever caustic. I did my best to reply to each one in a calm and civil tone. Sounds like I might have been wise to not respond at all.
I do see the internet trolls on many pages I visit, be that environmental causes, animal rights or other cause-oriented pages, and sometimes the comments are brutal. Too often people are doing their best to refute them and change the person’s perspective, but as you say, don’t waste your time and keep the conversation going in a civil and productive direction. Thanks for the tips on how to check out if someone is an internet troll and then how to avoid stirring up any conflict.
Thank you, Beverly. Yes, caustic comments are easy to make when they are offered behind the anonymity of a computer screen. You can usually tell by people’s comments if they have a legitimate difference of opinion, as opposed to those who pick fights just to see the blood.
I was just recently made aware of trolls. Such a crazy world we live in isn’t it? Yes I feel the best way to deal with trolls ( and even Facebook friends that post inciting comments) is to ignore them and not fuel the flames
With you on that, Alene. Thanks for your comments.
What exactly is an internet troll? The profiles you described are the similar to the friend requests I get. I report them to FB as fake. Ugh! So much to keep track of today with an online business. Thanks for keeping us on the cutting edge!
Great question, Candess. A troll is someone who deliberately posts comments to foment discord and start arguments. They are often off-topic and designed to deliberately anger people. My own opinion is that these are people who have no lives to speak off and certainly no courage. They would NEVER have the nerve to say these things to people’s faces. Here’s an excellent article you might want to check out: 10 types of internet trolls
What a timely post, Jackie. It’s unfortunate that this even has to be a ‘thing.’ Great advice on how to deal with trolls. The thing I always wonder is how do they find these posts and videos to troll in the first place? It’s so strange.
How they find them is probably through search algorithms. I know I can (and have) set up Google Alerts for specific keywords and I’m sure these trolls — especially the organized ones — are more sophisticated than I can even understand. Thanks for your comments.
You are so right about them choosing just one word and run with it. They don’t care about context, who you really are, nothing like that. The trolls just want to take over the conversation into a whole new destructive direction. I block them, delete their comments and move on.
Great advice, Webly. Thanks.
I have only had very limited experience with internet trolls (via someone else’s profile), probably because I only use my social media accounts for business. To me it has always been a no-brainer to ignore them.
In this case, Rachel, “limited experience” is a good thing. Most of the trolls I see are on other people’s profiles, mostly because I try very hard to stay away from hot-button issues on my personal profiles. The only exception: Banning assault-type rifles and high-capacity magazines. I did get blow-back on that, but not from trolls — from my own friends (and in some cases, family members). Which was OK. We need to have the tolerance to have discussions.