Trolling and other 'bad' behavior.

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I used to be in the habit of making inflammatory posts or very controversial topics on the forums I frequented, in the jhopes that it woudl stir things up and get a reaction. In retrospect, I did this mostly when I was feeling depressed or bleak. I think...if this makes sense...I sometimes feel as though I *want* to get a strong reaction, just to prove that I can create it, that I'm real, that I'm not merely living in my own imagination.

I've noticed a few other autistic people do the same thing, engage in provocative behavior and then delight in the negative reactions they receive. At first it doesn't make sense, b/c we supposedly don't want attention. (People always say, well, that is attention seeking behavior....). I am thinking it may be more about asserting/affirming one's existence. Anyone else care to comment?

I like to troll on forums full of stupid people like rockers or racists. I like to stir up their piss and then just disappear.

I post at other message board, two in particular (they are both weather related, with off topic forums, too). The members are pretty easy going with me and I get along fine and they don't always understand what I am saying the first time, but it could be worse.

On the other, they are "more rough," (in fact these two boards have had a rift that started and grew in the last year or so). This particular board's posts have been predominately in the off topic/non weather forum because a larger weather board removed their Off Topic forum back in mid-May. The issues that have come up, and that I have brought up have gotten some of them annoyed at me to varying degrees.

I am a very friendly and easy going.. so when responses come through saying that I shouldn't have said something a certain way and/or that I am coming across foolishly, some friction results. There are some that are more considerate, which makes things even out.

Those that have been at these boards for the last 1 to 2 years know I have Asperger's. I'm not sure what they would think (especially the second board I mentioned) if I never brought it up.

The overall tone of members on a message board can be difficult to understand without knowing when someone is being serious or being humorous. This has even become an issue on boards I correspond with people on.

Last edited by Tom_FL_MA on 03 Nov 2004, 5:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

Yes, I have a hard time with that, as well. Fortunately, the boards that I post at are rather light-hearted. When there is a misunderstanding, I usually just explain that I have a hard time recognizing sarcasm.

I have been through several "forum rifts" as well, but neither instance directly involved me. I tend to be objective and stay out of the fray when things get messy, unless I have a strong opinion on some subject.

On one of the other message boards, they are all aware that I think I may be autistic. That's the board I posted the AQ test at, as I am comfortable with most of the people there, and have built up enough trust to share that part of myself with them. I have formed several good friendships there, and possibly met another undiagnosed aspie, as well : ).



That is interesting. I think part of what is considered "attention-seeking behavior" is seeking to affirm one's own identity and existence. After all, why else would teenagers rebel? They don't do it just to get attention, I think, it's a way for them to shape their identity independently of their parents.

I don't really do this, I also never went through the "rebel against the parents" stage. I tend to use my intellect to get attention, instead. On message boards I like to post information for others, because it makes me feel smart and it also makes me feel useful. I think this may be another form of "affirming one's existence," just as every interaction with others is.

which rockers would you be talking about Tali? Define 'rockers' please. I live for rock music and as far as I know (tested IQ 125) I am not stupid. Most of the stupid people I know tend to listen to manufactured chart pop like Busted etc.

also highly dubious equating 'rockers' and racists in terms of stupidity...

see this thread for my (and others) views

dunc

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... 9&start=15

duncvis got in first, but i have to add my agreement - it think it is extremely dangerous to equate someone with a preference for music not one's own with vicious fascists - racists and rockers are on entirely different spectra, the latter being a personal preference, the former, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

V

I'm a rock-man too and people do consider me rather bright...


I don't like to get in arguements, because i feel very easily attacked and take everything very personal.

I sometimes troll just for fun, especially when I'm really bored. If I see a post that's too serious for such an unimportant (in my opinion) topic, I might satirize the post. I often like to take on personas when I troll.

One time I trolled one of my brother's friend's message boards, and he didn't know it was me until I admitted it on the board a few months later. I trolled as a half-literate philosopher-poet rapper from the ghetto who managed to learn "proper" English in less than a week by reading Henry Fowler's The King's English. I was not a disruptive troll, merely an entertaining diversion for an otherwise dead board.

I've done some pretty amusing trolls in my time.

I've always wanted to go on the message board like the YM (girly magazine) or something board/chat room and just mess with them. You know, ask them questions about stuff most NT tennage girls won't be intrested in. Like stuff about cars, video games and or movies they probebly never hears of.


Alas I don't have the guts to do it, at least on my own.

What really bugged me was when nobody responded!! After all, that was the whole point, to prove that I exoisted by evoking a response from the other poeple.

I would love to visit an Anti-British site and start making posts about how much of an Anglophile I am.

I don't know, I just can't bring myself to be bothered going trolling or such, it's just a little too immature for me to do and I don't find it as rewarding as picking on trolls that come onto boards or chats that I am a member of.

Welll, I'm not speaking only about trolling here...but about any behavior that is engaged in mostly with the purpose of....well, think of it like radar or pinging...you do something not so much for it's own sake, but to ascertain your position or that you are there. That is why it is so disconcerting when they don't respond!! ! At least, it's that way for me.

Anyway, I know someone else who spends most of her social interaction making comments or questions (sometimes the same ones over and over, or the same ones she asked yesterday) that she *knows* people don't want to hear, or that they'll react vigorously to. They typically get on her case for it...but I wonder whether it is just another form of what I mentioned above.

I think any behavior that is engaged in mostly with the purpose of radar pinging is classified as trolling. I think its just another form of what you mentioned above; only in this case you are talking about someone IRL.

can't think of who you could possibly mean, mish!! !

i read the log the next day - you go, girl! have several points!

v

*dies laughing* Ok, yeah, he had it coming on, thanks to PMS.