What Is a Troll?

Updated on July 21, 2014
J.C. asks from Blacksburg, VA
5 answers

Hi, moms. Several times I have seen people on here refer to "trolls." What does that mean? And while I'm asking, is a DD "darling daughter," DH "darling husband," etc.? Thanks!!

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H.W.

answers from Portland on

Hi,

This is the answer to "what is an internet troll?" from the Urban Dictionary:

"A person whose sole purpose in life is to seek out people to argue with on the internet over extremely trivial issues. Such arguments can happen on blogs, Facebook, Myspace and a host of others.
The best thing you can do to fight an internet troll is to not answer..or report them. "

Trolls can be both new people who conjure up absurd, sensationalistic posts for attention/conflagration or they can be regulars who just argue for the sake of arguing.

9 moms found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

When school is out we usually get bombarded with questions from kids who got on mom's computer and made up questions. They are sometimes kids who think they have mean parents and they'll ask loaded questions. When they don't like the responses we give them they start private messaging us and yelling, calling names, using foul language, etc.....

Most of the times moms can spot these people in the first few sentences of their post.

I think that sometimes people come across odd. It can simply be the way a sentence is phrased. For instance in your post about adhd and not wanting to do meds the whole post came across as saying "My kid is too good for meds and we're not going to medicate this medical illness, I'm going to read a book and fix it".

I bet that's not what you meant by that at all is it?

The reason pediatricians and MD's aren't supposed to treat mental conditions is because they don't know squat about meds for mental issues. A psychiatrist is THE expert on those meds.

ADHD is a chemical imbalance in the brain. That's all there is to it. If a person can cut out foods and use behavior modification techiniques and see a difference in their kid then their kids do NOT have ADHD, they have adverse reactions to foods, probably the dyes and artificial stuff in them.

So, people think troll when it's obvious they aren't willing to see other's points of view and they only want one set answer so they feel validated in their choice.

Posting a question to other moms who have experience in a particular area then discarding their answers is somewhat like a troll would do.
I believe if we all read our questions, posts/comments out loud we'd catch those phrases that come across differently than we truly mean for them to sound.

4 moms found this helpful

C.V.

answers from Columbia on

A troll is someone who posts a question that you THINK is a normal question, but when you answer it, they jump everyone who disagrees with them, respond with illogical commentary, and refuse to consider logic or appear to have no ability to reason.

Here's an excellent example of a troll post: http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/10108407535460679681

1 mom found this helpful
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M.B.

answers from Milwaukee on

I didn't know what a troll was either and then I saw a recent post someone wrote about basically giving away their daughter or something, it was obviously something no one would ever do. It was absurd. Also there was a recent one from someone with a link that was obviously a virus. I saw the comments below but just want to say that I wrote a post about a month ago and got a lot of negative responses when all I was looking for was another point of view and/or support. There are some people out there that see a vulnerable person and feed off of being cruel to them just to get their jollies. So, a person who posts and gets a lot of responses isn't necessarily a troll because I was legitimately looking for feedback. But I call some people trolls who are mean just to be mean.
I guess theres a lot of definitions.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.D.

answers from Milwaukee on

Love B's answer to the whole thing :) especially the DH thing!!!!

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