[mf1438]

I'm feeling a little emotionally bruised today. I posted something on reddit looking for an honest opinion and the post was met with harsh criticism and removed.

Here's what the moderator said.

"Removing this post because trolling. Go google this **** if you want answers."

I looked up the definition of a troll and this is what I found.

"make a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them."

This does not sound like me and when I asked for specifics, this is what came back.

"Considering your SO30 post history is rife with people outright asking you if you’re a troll, you’re either clearly a troll or extremely clueless. Either way, your posts will get removed if they don’t meet the sniff test."

Due to childhood trauma, I don't take rejection well. I am extremely clueless and I don't have a good sense as to what some consider offensive and when I take a risk by revealing my own naivete, I end up with a bruised ego.

So if anybody has any coping mechanisms, I'm all ears.

[ShadowGX]

Well, if your post history is truly that questionable you might want to try to figure out exactly what you're saying or how you're saying it that it's coming off that way so you can change it. (If you want help with that, I can probably help you figure it out if you want to PM me examples.) I've been a forum moderator before, one such time was for a heavily troll infested forum, and sometimes people can say some things that seem like troll-like but aren't intended to be, but if enough people report that they are upset with the comment it gets removed.

[mf1438]

Originally Posted by ShadowGX

Well, if your post history is truly that questionable you might want to try to figure out exactly what you're saying or how you're saying it that it's coming off that way so you can change it. (If you want help with that, I can probably help you figure it out if you want to PM me examples.) I've been a forum moderator before, one such time was for a heavily troll infested forum, and sometimes people can say some things that seem like troll-like but aren't intended to be, but if enough people report that they are upset with the comment it gets removed.

I sent some examples on PM, thanks for the offer.

Since you have experience with this, can you explain "troll infested" and "troll-like". I'm from an older generation and I'm unclear on what behavior is considered "troll-like". I understand how some people use the internet to send nasty comments like cyberbullying, and that's not me, but there must be some other "troll-like" behaviors too.

Can you share some examples?

Again, thanks for your willingness to help.

[ShadowGX]

"Troll infested" just means it's a place where there's a lot of people who post nothing but crap to get people riled up, many of these people are repeat offenders and come back with new accounts because they're that sad. "Troll-like" means something like what you PMed to me in the first example, where it could be taken as an attempt to get people riled up. Some trolls try to be more clever with their attempts to cause chaos and will bring up controversial topics while acting like they just want a discussion in an attempt to anger people and start problems.

A troll is just someone who tries to start fires, basically.

A metaphor perhaps will help? Imagine someone starts an actual fire - they enjoy the panic and destruction it might cause, so they do it with intent. Firefighters go put it out. While they're putting it out, the same fire starter and/or a new one starts another fire. Firefighters go put that one out too, but the fire starter is already working on yet another fire. That's essentially a troll vs moderator relationship.

[mf1438]

Thanks. This has been very helpful.

[MickeyCheeky]

I'm sorry this happened to you. I agree, you might have looked like a "troll" to other people without realising it.

I think what you wrote is important to remember to always keep in mind other people's feelings before doing anything.