Has anyone here (and not necessarily on this particular website) ever been "trolled" before?

I cannot speak for other sites but on Fluther you would contact the community manager Augustlan. She is well-equipped to help and is an expert at this sort of thing.

And just to let you know. Fluther is not a troll-friendly site. We do not tolerate harassment.

And that’s one thing that has attracted me to this site, after my experiences on the other site. @noelleptc : the best way I can explain what a troll is is someone who emotionally abuses someone else online by one of a number of methods. In my case, the person gained my trust and got me to share information about an ongoing situation in my life, then messed with my mind by pretending that she was related to the person I was referring to. She offered no proof of that, but had me convinced at least temporarily that I had screwed up big time…someone feel free to chime in if you can explain it better.

What @Dog said. Trolls are smashed to bits here, the banhammer comes down hard. Let Augustlan know of any problems and she’ll take up her sword and look after you.

I would not say that trolls are smashed to bits here. Anybody who’s ever seen a question about abortion asked by a new user could probably attest that trolling still exists, even if it is mildly subdued.

Thanks, @JilltheTooth, and everyone else keeping us safe from the trolls everyday. Rest assured it was not this website…

The definition of a troll is someone on the Internet (usually hiding behind anonymity) that states blatently rude, hurtful or often ignorant/“stupid” remarks in the attempt to hurt feelings and/or elicit a strong emotional response. So a troll is a no-faced loser who says things only to get a response. If you get trapped and actually respond to the troll in any way, that is called “feeding” the troll…don’t feed the troll. And contrary to popular belief, one cannot troll a troll. It makes sense to fight fire with fire in this case, but usually a troll is (unbelievably) sometimes an intelligent person who knows when they are being trolled, thus they take this as an indicator that what they did worked and they are now under your skin, thus you have fed the troll. The best way to fight a troll is to “starve” the troll. Don’t talk to the troll. Don’t feed it. If you want to, sometimes it’s fun to agree with a troll, usually they won’t expect it and their responses will be less thought out.

Rumor has it Trolls are killed by sunlight or fire. Expose them for what they are.
You do that by making sure to use the word Troll and their name in close proximity so the Google bots will associate the two. Do it often.

Sorry I don’t know how to do the link thing sorry for my fail

Face of trolls-http://warriorwriters.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/troll.jpg

A well fed troll-http://forum.i3d.net/attachments/ban-requests-ban-protests/943195740d1261421073-unban-request-kale-aap-successful-troll-successful.jpg

Haha, I’ll be honest – I have trolled people before but not as harshly as the way you were @yankeetooter. That sounds awful. :(

I always think you go too far if you start trying to break trust and perceptions and beliefs of a person. My level of trolling us usually something silly like, “LULZ justin beiber is getting fatter” or something to watch his fans go crazy at me. It’s quite fun when you keep it light.

But I’d recommend you stay away from 4chan.

I was trolled (indirectly) by this website pretty hard.

Other than that, it’s usually me that does the trolling, so no.

@Pankakejoe

“Sorry I don’t know how to do the link thing sorry for my fail”

All you have to do is post the URL to the image to create the link.

Here’s an example using one of the URL’s that you posted: http://warriorwriters.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/troll.jpg Just make sure that there’s a space next to the first and last characters of the URL.

The worst thing is, this just happened again on the website I referred to before. I am somewhat freaked out because this troll made a comment that implied they knew the name of the person I was talking about. I’m pretty sure there’s no way they could no this person’s name, and I’ve certainly never shared the person’s name, but when they made the comment it really alarmed me…

@yankeetooter

They could have just made a guess. They seem to be extremely focused on you. Do they mess with anyone else?

As a mod here I have seen a lot of things. On more than one occasion enough details have been let out in a question that someone related to a situation or the subject of conversation has recognized the asker and begins harassing them.

On a more ominous note we have also found trolls who know people in real life. They notice a computer history or a site left on. They log in from the same IP as the victim or on an IP from the same general area. Sometimes it is a sibling or an ex.

I would contact the community manager at what ever site it is and Let them know your concerns. You may wish to change user names to shake them.

Apparently they have a history of doing this before. After the first incident, another poster on the forum chimed in and warned me about their past behavior. I guess they may have recognized me, except that I don’t know of anyone that would have known about some of the situations I described except for myself and the guy I liked (they happened when no-one else was around). No-one else has access to the computer I use (I live alone), so I don’t know who would have been able to do this. I have contacted the moderators of the site, but as far as I can tell, nothing has been done…Thanks for your help.

Oh good! It is a repeat pattern which means you are the current play-toy. I would just ignore them since chances are they are baiting you for a reaction.

Trolls are such creepers.

Yes, but the question still remains of why they have uncannily specifically mentioned the name of the guy I like in their post. How could they have known? Sorry to continue on about this, but it really has me concerned about what this could mean…

Maybe you let slip the name and just to mess with you they said they knew them?

No, I never once mentioned the guy’s name-I am 100% certain of this, because I did not want to put his name out there for his privacy’s sake.

Well damn…you have quite the situation on your hands. Does the site have good moderators? Or would the mods not do anything about it?(one thing I learned is that if a conversation seems sketchy or goes bad, take screen captures as proof for later).

I couldn’t say if they have great moderators or not, not having been on the site for all that long. They don’t seem to be doing anything about my situation, however. I will try the screen capture thing…thanks!

I’m now somehow playing word games with the troll again-I must be crazy!

If you feed a troll it stays.

Yeah, I know…