Anyone who has spent any time on twitter, and many other forms of social media, will know that trolls have become common place. How often you see them depends largely on how much and on what topics you interact and probably how much of a public profile you have as well. I have found some topics of conversations invite more trolls than others, but atheism is one of the big ones, as is feminism & Islam.
For those who haven’t come across trolls, and yes, many haven’t had the dubious pleasure, trolls spend their time on social media aiming to get a rise out of people purely for the ‘enjoyment’. Their entire aim is to make you mad or sad and in many cases, any reaction at all will do.
Many people don’t block trolls because they feel that trolls then think they have won. I totally get that perspective. For me however, there are just so many of those time wasting fools that, it is just easier to block. I don’t always block right away, because I want to be sure they are a troll, and it isn’t always obvious. Joe Cienkowski is a classic example of that.. Some of them sound so crazy or just plain stupid that it is hard to imagine that anyone could possibly be that stupid but Joe is a classic example of the fact that they can indeed be that stupid. Sadly!
I really don’t care if the troll is so stupid that he or she thinks they have won. In my view, they are foolish time wasters. I have a family, I want my time on social media and away from my family to involve real conversations with real people. If I am wasting time with a troll, I get less of those real conversations. Blocking the troll is the easiest and most expedient way of removing their voice from my timeline. Some say they mute because that way they aren’t on your timeline, and the troll doesn’t know they have been blocked, but it is pretty easy to work out that if someone stops responding, you have been muted. Plus, when you mute someone, they still appear in conversations you click on amongst the posts you actually want to see, and that is just plain annoying.
Trolls don’t deserve a voice. They want attention because for whatever reason, they are incapable of normal interactions with people, so they use trolling as a way to obtain gratification and attention any way they can get it. How annoying people could ever be gratifying I will never know. How they can ignore that they might just push the wrong persons buttons at the wrong time, to devastating consequences I will never know. Sadly they have way more attention and power on social media than they ever deserve. If more of us blocked them, it would mean trolling would be less satisfying to them. As difficult as it may be for some, ignoring attention seekers in my view is the best way to remove their power.
Several people I know troll, trolls. I get why they feel the need for payback, but to me it seems a pointless exercise. I admit I have tried doing so on occasion but it just makes me feel pathetic for stooping to their level. I don’t get joy out of getting a rise out of people and many of these trolls do so because they they feel inadequate in other areas of life. I don’t find it satisfying to prey on that inadequacy. I would rather rise above and let them know by way of ignoring that belittling others isn’t a way to feel better about yourself. It doesn’t work. If someone is making you angry on social media, for me is far better to block and step away.
Feeling better about yourself happens by doing things that truly satisfy you, things that help others, and interacting with people face to face at a real level and that is how I choose to live my life. Social media for me is very much a hobby, and I won’t give trolls the power to dictate how I spend my time, they don’t deserve my time.
You know what I find ironic?That you claim to be against trolls so much that you block and claim that you want to make the world a better place yet you call yourself heretic and seem to be biased against the things that you’re against. Double standards much?
Why am I less allowed to have an opinion on things than others Mr/Ms Anon? I do want to make the world a better place and have my own thoughts on how to do that. How does that mean I have a double standard? Trolls set out to aggravate other people as a means of personal self gratification. They get joy out of making others upset. Why should I give those people a voice or my time. It is not productive behaviour and I see no need to entertain it.
My father was a Baptist pastor. I was in Christian work until my mid 40’s. I struggled with the illogicality & lack of evidence until I finally overcame my fears & became an atheist. I kept on for a while at my job because I knew life would be harder when I moved on, and it has been. I had a roommate who tried to reconvert me for a year, & at that point in frustration I became active on Twitter, promoting atheism & debating Christians. However, I’m a skeptic about everything, & I find the evidence for evolution unconvincing. I do not believe evolution is the only alternative to religions, & Christians often don’t know ho to respond when I don’t argue for evolution. How we came to be I don’t know, but I know it was not by a deity, so I call myself an atheist. One day I was debating a Christian & you entered the conversation & challenged my lack of belief in evolution. I used a Christian source because it quoted several secular people I agree with, & I don’t have time to research everything for myself. You called me a troll & blocked me. I am still promoting atheism & debating Christians, but it was discouraging that I wasn’t allowed to have a different opinion than you, even though I agree with you that there is no evidence of deities. My goal on Twitter is to have conversations & challenge others that I think might listen to a different opinion, not to troll.
I am sorry to hear you have had to deal with deconverting but when you quote sources against evolution that come from religious sources it is not convincing that you are an atheist. Evolution is not supposed to be a replacement for religion. It is the scientific explanation for how we evolved over millions of years.
Trolls tend to flip flop on views and say one thing and then say something that contradicts. I have a vague recollection of our conversation and you doing the same. Evolution is usually one of the things that convinces theists that their religion doesn’t make sense. I called you a troll because your claims and behavior where completely contradictory.
If you are not a theist, you have no reason to resist what science and far more qualified people than us tell us is fact. There is plenty of evidence out there to confirm those facts. There is so much evidence for evolution that any other conclusion is entirely unlikely. That you cling to theist sources known for quote mining and outright lies tells me that you are not a skeptic, and more than likely also not an atheist. Being a skeptic means you have to assess claims skeptically which you have not done with those christian sources.
I have two articles I have written which give examples of quote mining on Christian websites. They intentionally quote mine scientific quotes and sources to take the meaning out of context and support their theistic views. That is not how science works. Just a Theory, and Response to ‘Why I rejected Evolution’ show examples of such quote mining and how they twist meanings to suit the theistic views. May I suggest you read those articles to show what I mean and you may learn more about Evolution in the process.
By responding to you here, I am giving you benefit of the doubt. If you are truly a skeptic and an atheist you would make more of an effort to understand evolution instead of rejecting it based on theistic beliefs. From memory you had a poor understanding of how it works, and clung to the theistic strawman version of it which was another reason for me to consider you a troll. If you aren’t a troll, prove it by attempting to properly understand the scientific theory of evolution instead of rejecting it based on the theistic strawman views of it.
Thank you for offering this perspective. Being a former online troll myself, and then someone who ended up dealing with his own karma of online trolls, I have come to a similar conclusion. The best thing to do is block, block, block. People treat you how you teach them to treat you, and people, unfortunately, do not learn without consequences.
It’s a privilege to have so much access to other people, and like all privileges, such access can be revoked and forfeit. If access to my world is freely given, it must be treasured responsibly. If it’s abused or taken for granted, then it will be withdrawn. End of Story.
Absolutely agree. I refuse to waste my time on it. When I recognise someone is trolling, I block them every time. If they can’t show me respect, they don’t deserve mine.