Some Thoughts On Trolls And How They Get By With Their Dark Deeds - Robert Lindley's Blog

Some Thoughts On Trolls And How They Get By With Their Dark Deeds

As a poet I believe communicating with the purpose of enriching the reader is paramount.
And that one should put heart and soul into their poetry to give the best they have.
Poetry should not be made into a battle field, nor should it be made into a playground
for some to antagonize and by clever bait and switch tactics attack to harm others.
Such actiion is the mark of a troll and most decent people condemn such behavior.

There is no denying that some trols are intelligent, and immensely clever in how they
operate. And who knows how many reasons exist as to why they delight in destroyong the
peace and harmony of others- of unsuspecting innocent victims.
Having myself sufferdc such recently and well over a dozen times in the past, I decided
to stop ignoring such dastardly attacks and stop deleting and forgetting.
Sometimes in life one must face a problem head on. Expose to the light of day what 
trolls do not want to become common knowledge.

Yes my friends -take a stand despite the ususl costs doing such entails.
My father taught me honor and courage are more important than fame, wealth
and any false image one may have.
Every internet site seems to have a few.. I know of several victims of internet trolls
both here and at two other sites I frequent. Information and exposing such creatures is
key and certainly the best defense at cleaning up any site. That takes proactive action
and even a bit of courage-- as trolls are not docile creatures- and many are hideously
clever in their deceitful ways. 

Below I've compiled a list of links that are immensely informative on this subject.
Even if you say- "trolls have never attacked me"- consider this- it is always a possibility
that some future day they will. Yet even if never they do- are we not responsible for the
defense of their helpless victims, are we not duty bound to help out friends that are so
attacked? Are we as poets not even more so inclined to aid others in need and have true
empathy for any that are viciously targeted? I encourage one and all to ponder such.
God bless..
Robert J. Lindley , 2-20-2020
A brief excerpt from a very informative article--link given 

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/the-emotional-intelligence-of-internet-trolls-stud.html

Here's Why Internet Trolls Are So Good at Upsetting You, According to Science
New research shows trolls have psychopath, sadist, and cognitive empathy traits.
By Minda ZetlinCo-author, The Geek Gap@MindaZetlin

GETTY IMAGES
Unless you stay away from all social media, you've encountered internet trolls. They're the ones who drove Robin Williams' grief-stricken daughter off of Twitter, who caused one female journalist to call the police in the middle of the night for fear that death threats might be carried out, and who turned Pepe the frog into an official hate symbol, over the objections of the cartoonist who created him.

But have you ever wondered why trolls are so effective? How do they know just the thing to say to upset you, no matter how hard you try to stay above the fray?

Now there's an answer. In a new study by Natalie Sest and Evita March of Federation University in Australia, researchers gave 415 internet users questionnaires that tested for various personality traits and for propensity to trolling behavior, looking for the specific traits that would make someone likely to become a troll. In the process they got some clues as to why people become trolls, and why trolls are so very, very good at making their victims feel very, very bad.

They began with a simple observation you probably have made yourself: Although both genders become trolls, men are likelier to do so than women. Beyond that, things get more interesting:

1. Trolls exhibit psychopath traits......

^^^^^^^    more at link given 

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Additional very informative links given below..... 

The 10 links below are great informative articles on Trolls.

1. https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/wp-content/uploads/sites/964/2019/07/Pew-and-Elon-University-Trolls-Fake-News-Report-Future-of-Internet-3.29.17.pdf

2. https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/trolling-bullying-and-flame-wars

3. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2017/07/10/the-trance-of-dysfunction-why-trolls-have-come-to-dominate-discourse/

4. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/guys-its-time-for-some-troll-theory/521046/

5. https://ida.mtholyoke.edu/xmlui/handle/10166/1058

6. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/41373/1/paper0224.pdf

7. https://awesomejelly.com/warning-signs-that-you-are-dealing-with-someone-evil-t2/?layout=t2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=A-t2-aj-89cc-SomeoneEvil-d&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5sec75jh5wIVhJOzCh22_wcpEAMYASAAEgJPmfD_BwE

8. https://www.kalw.org/post/philosophy-talk-trolling-bullying-and-flame-wars-humility-and-online-discourse#stream/0

9. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/trolls-understand-what-hurts-people-but-they-simply-dont-care/8701424

10. https://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/