Sunday, July 1, 2007

What Wicked Women Need To Know - Trolls and Cyberstalkers


This has absolutely NADA to do with sex, but what an important article for women to read! Here's an excerpt from the article "Online Harassment: Five Tips to Defeat Blog Trolls and Cyberstalkers"


According to Derek Wood, vice president of clinical operations at PsychTracker Inc., a journaling site for people with mental illness, the harassment comes in two general forms: trolls and cyberstalkers. It's important for blog participants to understand the psychological makeup of both types so that if they encounter any type of online abuse, they'll have some idea of what they're facing and how to respond to it.

A troll is a person who posts with the intent to insult and provoke others, Wood explains. The goal is to disrupt the normal traffic of a discussion group beyond repair. "A group is considered to be cohesively destroyed when two-thirds to three-quarters of the messages are a result of [trolls'] comments," Wood explains. They often target new users, who are more likely to take offense, hence the term "troll" (as in "trolling" for newbies).

Many trolls are characterized by having an excess of free time and are probably lonely and seeking attention, Wood says. "They often see their own self-worth in relation to how much reaction they can provoke," he says. Woods categorizes trolls in the following ways:

1. Spamming troll: Posts to many newsgroups with the same verbatim post.

2. Kooks: A regular member of a forum who habitually drops comments that have no basis on the topic or even in reality.

3. Flamer: Does not contribute to the group except by making inflammatory comments.

4. Hit-and-runner: Stops in, make one or two posts and move on.

5. Psycho trolls: Has a psychological need to feel good by making others feel bad.



Cyberstalkers


Cyberstalkers can also assume many different forms, according to Wood, although they're basically characterized by a continuing pattern of communication that the recipient considers to be offensive. Other common traits of cyberstalkers are malice, premeditation, repetition, distress to the victim, an obsession on the part of the stalker, seeking of revenge, threats that make victims fear for their physical safety and disregarded warnings to stop.

As with trolls, there are several different types of cyberstalkers, according to Wood:

1. Intimate partner: The most common type of stalker, this is usually a man who has a history of controlling and emotional abuse during a relationship.

2. Delusional stalkers: This type of stalker builds an entire relationship with the victim in his or her mind, whether any prior contact has taken place or not. Such stalkers are likely to have a major mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or erotomania, which means they believe the victim is in love with them. The typical delusional stalker is unmarried, socially immature and a loner who is unable to sustain close relationships with others.

3. Vengeful stalker: This type of person is angry with the victim due to some real or imagined insult or injury. Some of these stalkers are psychopaths -- a person affected with an antisocial personality disorder -- who have no conscience or remorse. They may have paranoid delusions, often feeling that they themselves are victims and are striving to get even.


What to do


In many cases, victims feel they have very little ammunition -- whether legal, technological or tactical -- to stop the abuse. However, there are some things bloggers and other online contributors can do to try to avoid this kind of harassment or at least keep it from crossing into the physical world.

1. Know the trolls' tactics. According to Wood, the first rule for dealing with trolls is to avoid being deceived by them in the first place. Don't trust anything you receive or read without verifying the poster through known, reliable sources, he says. Also, ignore postings or private e-mails that are suspicious, such as those that praise, flatter or evoke a sympathetic response.

2. DFTT This is one of the more important acronyms in the blog world, meaning, "Don't feed the trolls." "Just like in-person bullies, trolls feed off your reaction," Tim says. "Under no circumstances should you acknowledge the behavior or repay it with anger or defensiveness. If you don't react, they'll get bored and go away."Even if ignoring the harasser doesn't get him to stop, at least you won't fan his flames, Wood says. "The more a person responds, the more they teach the stalker about themselves or divulge information they shouldn't," he says.

3. Maintain your privacy. Don't publish any personal information, such as your address or phone number. If you need to, use a Post Office box number. Wood suggests asking your state's motor vehicles and voter registry to put a block on your address and phone number. "Otherwise, any person may obtain them just for inquiring," he says.Some longtime bloggers, such as Bray and his wife Lauren Wood, a senior technical program manager at Sun, refrain from posting photos of their children on their blogs.

4. Block and ban. If you're experiencing abuse on a moderated blog, you can appeal to the administrator, who can try banning the troll. Be prepared to include a history of the troll's posts, including full headers.Some blog services offer technologies that enable you to block offensive participants. Using Wordpress, Silverstein can moderate the comments of anyone who hasn't contributed to the site before, which helps eliminate the hit-and-run type of trolls. "That allows me to weed out 90% of the abuse I get," he says.Another plug-in enables him to ban certain IP addresses. "That's especially good for the really crazy people, if they post one comment that goes beyond the pale," he says.

5. Keep a log. Be sure to keep a copy of anything you receive from the harasser, Lauren Wood suggests. If they contact you by phone rather than e-mail, take notes on what they say and how often they call, she says. "You'll need proof rather than, 'I think he was calling three times a day,'" she says. "You'll want a log that says, 'He called at 9:14 p.m.'."


© 2007 Computerworld Inc.

Full article at CIO.com

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Great article. Well worth reading in its entirety. It really puts things in perspective. I know we probably haven't seen the last of the trolls and cyberstalkers who seem obsessed with us, but at least we know we're not alone.

Thanks for posting it, Jaid!

Jo Carlisle said...

This is excellent information, Jaid! I figure at some point, sadly, most of us will deal with this in the future. It's best to be forearmed. Thank you very much for the post!

Jaid Black said...

Yeah, it does put things into perspective. When I read the full article it said that a common cyberstalker tactic is to create blogs aimed at trying to make people hate the victim they are stalking. Check! Another is when a cyberstalker can't seem to talk about anything but the victim. Check! Too weird.

Jaid Black said...

Jo, you're very welcome :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow, this was really informative. I love the label Trolls. So appropriate :)

Isn't it sad that there are people who have so little in their lives that they spend their energy in such negative pursuits? Just imagine what good could be done in the world if that energy was channeled in a positive direction.

I think someone needs to establish a Troll Rehab program, a 12-step recovery plan, and of course, Troll Patrol.

Thanks Jaid. I love the info I find here. You gals ROCK!

Ciana

Jaid Black said...

Ciana, I couldn't agree more. I don't have time for all that negative mess in my life which, with the exception of mebbe 1 or 2 friends whose blogs I can trust, is why I don't venture out there beyond my happy bubble *g*. Oh and love the TROLL PATROL lol