Why do people do it...?

sulkisu

Trolling, I mean. I suppose I could have posted this in any part of the forum, because they all have them, but after reading yet another troll thread, I confess just don't get it.

I'm not talking about the bullying nasty trolls that appear on other sites. I mean the ones on here who either make up stories that can't possibly be true or who post several threads with completely contradictory information.

It can't be for attention because nobody knows who these people really are anyway, and gaining sympathy or creating anger and resentment from a fictional situation just seems.....stupid.

They put a lot of time and effort into making up an (often very detailed) tale of woe and B/S, and try as I might, I just don't see the point.

I really would be interested to know why? What do they get out of it?

balletshoes

ooh spill, who are you talking about ?
I think its boredom, and there certainly seems to be a lot more trolling over a weekend from what I've seen.

sulkisu

balletshoes wrote: »

ooh spill, who are you talking about ?
I think its boredom, and there certainly seems to be a lot more trolling over a weekend from what I've seen.

Oh Lord, there have been so many. There is some fool on the banking board who wants to sue his bank. In this thread his son is old enough to drive yet in his previous thread he (the OP) is just 21 years old. His son must be some kind of genius!

There was another, I can't recall which threads she was on, but in one her husband is a high earner, in the next he is disabled and she is his full-time carer, her parents are in a home then they are not in a home and she cares for them full-time, plus a load of other BS besides. I am sure others can recall some others - it's just ridiculous.

PenguinOfDeath

They're probably the same as the b*********rs you come across in real life, the ones I take everything they now say with a tbsp of salt due to past experience.

Some people clearly get a kick out of the attention (good or bad), online forums are just another medium for them

Tropez

They do actually do it for the attention.

As you point out, nobody knows who they are so it is a relatively safe environment for them to make up far fetched stories. Quite often, the people who do this are missing something in their day-to-day lives, feeling like their lives are meaningless and that they're just one of the many who don't stand out whatsoever. It isn't uncommon for them to be socially awkward or inept, have difficulty forming friendships and relationships and they may well live a completely unremarkable existence, perhaps even being stuck in a routine of get up, go to work, go home, sleep, repeat.

By making things up and posting them here, they become the centre of attention, albeit without any physical or emotional significance. They can live out their fantasy life/lives through this medium and people reply to them about them. Unfortunately, the people who do take the time to reply become unwitting pawns in their need for self-validation and their desire to be the centre of attention. Individuals of this type who post frequently are generally those with the biggest feelings of meaninglessness and those stuck with some sort of drudgery in their daily life. This is their escape.

In reality, this is nothing more than a distraction away from their real issues that could possibly be resolved with psychotherapy. It is mostly their feelings regarding themselves, which could have any number of triggers and root causes, which needs to be addressed but too many don't actually seek help, they settle for making things up and getting some attention, something which will eventually become wholly unfulfilled and leave them worse off than when they started - after all, when the gap between the fantasy life and the actual life becomes so vast then the actual life becomes even more meaningless.

And, of course, some people just do it for a wind-up. They take a rather perverse glee from getting comparative strangers to take time out of their day to address their made up concerns. These people tend to do this because of the illusion of power it creates in their mind, which is quite similar to the MO of the more aggressive trolls. Generally, these people also have rather dull, uneventful lives, and are quite often those who, rightly or wrongly, feel they have no power regarding their actual life, so choose to exercise their feelings and desire for some degree of power by attracting attention, positive or negative, on a message board. Some of them, of course, also have more deep-rooted and dangerous psychological issues which they really should be addressing with therapy, but almost certainly won't, because they don't recognise why they engage in such behaviour and therefore don't believe anything to be wrong.

Mrs_Imp

On the plus side, it does mean that if anyone else is in a similar situation they can read the advice given to the Walter Mitty posters.

Person_one

Slight discrepancies can be down to the fact that people change details to protect their identity.

I will change genders, ages, relationships, places etc. slightly so that I'm not recognisable to people who know me in real life.

Saturnalia

sulkisu wrote: »

Oh Lord, there have been so many. There is some fool on the banking board who wants to sue his bank. In this thread his son is old enough to drive yet in his previous thread he (the OP) is just 21 years old. His son must be some kind of genius!

Just read that thread and I'm howling. Banking arm, Teddy riding shotgun on the son's go-kart and OP banging on the bank windows shouting "it's my money!"

OP is a bit of a Barclays Banker!

Hermia

Person_one wrote: »

Slight discrepancies can be down to the fact that people change details to protect their identity.

I will change genders, ages, relationships, places etc. slightly so that I'm not recognisable to people who know me in real life.

I do the same so I wouldn't think someone is a liar if there were small discrepancies. But, the people who claim to be teenage students in one thread, middle-aged fathers in another, benefit claimants in another and rich business owners in another are mind-boggling! But, as others have said you get these people in real life too.

The ones that do my head in are the ones who are nasty all the time for the sake of it. A friend of mine used to run a forum for a band she loved and every day she'd get trolls going on there and posting endless posts about how rubbish the band were. She wasn't offended by this, but she could never understand why someone would spend hours doing that when they could go on a website about something they like.

marisco_2

I feel sorry for people who lead such sad humdrum lives that they feel a need to come onto a forum and make up dramas and problems, in an attempt to gain some attention. If they just used some common sense they could utilise their time in a much more productive way. Make the effort to reflect, look within themselves and try to take positive steps to address their issues. This would ultimately lead them to being far happier, more secure individuals.

Most threads that are started are about delicate situations and problems. People take time out of their day to offer help and guidance and give posters the benefit of the doubt. Personally I dont feel like some pawn in a stupid game when answering threads. Even when I have my doubts about how genuine a person is being. The way I see it is that others may come along who are in these positions and can benefit from all the great advice that is given by so many. So it is not wasted effort.

The only person who loses out in the great scheme of things is the one who comes on trying to trick and fool others. By carrying on in this way they dont change the quagmire they are really in and nothing improves for them.