Many of us have heard of Trolls in fairytales, but when they show up on your social media sites, they become a real nightmare. They are also known as modern-day Cyber-bullies. There is only one way to get rid of them. Starve them. Don’t feed the Trolls.
What is a social media Troll and how do you know if you have attracted one?
In fairytales like Three Billy Goats Gruff, a Troll living beneath a bridge used extortion, threats, and bullying to try to eat all three of the goats. But it was positive wisdom, not negative threats that prevailed. This was a Norwegian fairytale first published between 1841 and 1844, and in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore a troll is described as a class of beings that
“dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.”
The Nors also called Trolls auðsug jǫtuns, which translated means “giant-wealth-suckers.”
Mythical Trolls were known to try to suck the success right out of their victims. This behavior continues today with modern-day social media and internet Trolls. In mythology Trolls also displayed a habit of “bergtagning” (kidnapping’; literally) and overrunning a farm or estate. Your internet success is the today’s equivalent to a farm or estate and that success is a Troll’s dinner.
Now we know where modern day trolls got their name and how they are still living up to it.
In Scandinavian folklore, Trolls become defined as a particular type of being. There was the Skogtroll who was a forest dweller, and the bjergtrolde which were mountain-trolls. All Trolls are solitary creatures who live in dark, dank places and do not like the sun or daylight because according to Folklore, Trolls turn to stone upon contact with sunlight.
Here is a list of the 5 most prevalent modern-day Trolls and signs that they are on your site.
Bully Troll- calls people names and will pick on everyone and anyone, to get a negative emotional response from them. Sign- name-calling and profanity.
Debate Troll– loves a good argument, turns facts into fiction and they believe they are always right, and everyone else is wrong. Sign– they leave long threads or arguments with other commenters in community comment sections.
Professor Troll– uses a commenter’s sentence structure, spelling, grammar mistakes and “rules and regulations” as an excuse to insult them. Sign- belittling commenting with the correction behind an asterisk symbol.
Victim Troll- turns any content, but especially humorous ones, into an argument by playing the victim. Sign- online crying-gags and people “walking or commenting on egg shells” around them.
Kidnap/Hijack (“bergtagning”) Troll– posts something completely off-topic to hijack the conversation and kidnap the commenters to some other irrelevant thing that was posted by the Troll. Sign- a sudden shift in an active, established discussion thread.
Where do modern-day online Trolls live and forage for food?
Today Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ is the dank mountain cave of many a Troll, and they want to overrun the social media estate you have built or you online-farm displaying the fruits of your labor and suck the success right out of it. There are also Trolls in office buildings and work places. Those Trolls are more easily recognizable because they are two-faced.
Trolls no long try to take over farms and estates. They kidnap and hijack pages and forums.
Rather than having forest or mountain Trolls we now have social media and internet Trolls. If you are on social media long enough, you will probably get a Troll or two. Most modern day Trolls stalk social media pages, and internet radio shows because they love the limelight the shows offer them with a ready-made audience. Other Trolls prefer to live in online-forums. And, the more social media sites you have, the higher your chances are of attracting multiple types of Trolls.
How do you know if you encountered a Troll? How do you recognize them from inquisitive followers?
Trolls are tricky. Anonymous online Trolls are people who, per the Urban Dictionary, “purposely and deliberately start an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his peers.” Their main purpose is usually self-amusement that is hiding behind self-rightness. A secondary purpose may be to suck the success out of the forum and then take it over. To do this, they shift the positivity and growth in the group to negativity and destruction. You may see or feel it as it is happening when page followers begin to drop, and the page’s numbers decline or participation drops off, and the page seems “empty.” You may be left wondering, “Why this is happening and what can I do to make a change?”
Now that you know how to spot a Troll what can you do to get rid of a Troll? Here are 6 suggestions.
- Keep your site positive while you deal with your Troll. Remember, Trolls are attracted to the light but cannot live in the light. The positive light will turn them to stone.
- Monitor your live internet and radio shows before you bring someone into the audience.
- Don’t be tricked. Find and learn how to use your BLOCK button. Trolls are tricky and will try to turn the tables on you making you think they were “just helping you.” If you do not feel helped it is because you were not helped.
- Do not engage. The argument is their food. Like most bullies, they are masters at word manipulation and thrive from arguments.
- Do be the light that turns them to stone. Ignore them, and you starve them. Engage them, and you feed them.
- If suggestions 1-5 do not work- use banning/blocking or report them to authorities, or close off comment sections entirely from a blog post, video page or topic thread.
In all the mythological stories the Trolls were defeated by brains. They were outsmarted by average people and in one case, a tiny but clever goat. Be smart. Don’t feed the Trolls!
About the Author: Kathleen (Kat) O’Keefe-Kanavos is a three-time Breast Cancer Survivor, as seen on Dr. Oz, DOCTORS, NBC, and CBS, whose Divine Dreams diagnose her illness, and was a Dream Research Participant for Duke University’s Dr. Larry Burk‘s Breast Cancer Dream Research Program. They co-wrote, Dreams That Can Save Your Life. She is a Syndicated Columnist, TV Producer/Host and award-winning Author/Lecturer who promotes patient advocacy and connecting with Divine Spiritual-guidance through Dreams for success in health, wealth, and relationships. “Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big your God is.” Learn more @ www.KathleenOKeefeKanavos.com
Photo credit: Broesis-art-2307407_1280-Pixabay-CCO-Public-Domain-FREE-for-commercial-use-No-attribution-required.jpg
Article Research:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll
Three Billy Goats Gruff https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0122e.html
The Trolls In Our Midst: What Fairytales Can Tell Us About .., https://electricliterature.com/the-trolls-in-our-midst-what-fairytales-can-tell-
10 Types of Internet Trolls You’ll Meet Online https://www.lifewire.com/types-of-internet-trolls-3485894
