Trolls Aren't Born, They're Made.

What is a troll? A Troll, according to wikipedia, is a super natural being in Old Norse sources that were described as living in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, and were rarely helpful to human beings.  So it isn't hard to understand why the internet came up with slang for internet trolling.  An internet troll (also according to wikipedia) is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.  So the question remains, are you a troll?


Of course you're not a troll.  You're probably a good person just trying to interact with the people that you converse with daily, and sometimes you feel passionately about certain topics and want your voice to be heard.  Something personal happened to you and you want something to be done about it.  But does that desire and continued action sometimes translate into you going from passionate advocate to annoying troll? Yes. Do people realize this and automatically discount your credibility?  Abso - friggin - lutely.  Your cause may be dead in the water because of how you handle it.

The "Am I a Troll?" Checklist - (If you say yes to any of these, you're probably a troll or have been one at one point):
  • You repeatedly post on the same networks with only the same few people responding.
  • You emotionally respond, and don't provide any real evidence or examples.
  • You don't ask questions about the who/what/where/when/why, just assume things.
  • The group that's supporting you isn't growing.
  • You're only complaining on public social networks/forums/blogs, and haven't contacted the actual organization yourself.
  • You've stopped getting responses from the admins of the pages you're using, or from the organization itself.
  • The organization has responded and attempted to meet your demands and feels that it did so adequately, yet you continue to post.
  • You tear down any efforts that were made (no matter how big or small) and refuse to acknowledge any steps that were made to calm you down.
  • You've noticed people who were once posting happily have left the community and you may be the reason.
  • You've resorted to being mean and nasty on seemingly unrelated posts.
  • Others have told you that progress has been made, but you refuse to hear it.
  • You think you have inside jokes with some of the other trol..er posters.
  • You've formed bonds with the other negative people and keep the circle of negativity going because now you find this fun.
  • You've met up with those people in person and brainstormed how to "take down" the organization or those in charge.
  • You've forgotten what your goals were when you started advocating for change or don't see that you may have actually already won by creating an open forum/dialogue.
  • The organizers have actually come through and made change, and yet you're still unhappy and don't know why.
  • When someone calls you or talks to you in person regarding your claims, you're as sweet as pie.
  • What you're fighting for is a free product that you don't pay for and have the most opinions. 
  • You notice that you spend all of your free time on social networks complaining, and announce to the group that you've realized this.
  • Your real life starts to suffer (job offers don't come, recognitions don't happen, you aren't picked for awards or special teams or contests or opportunities).  
How to Avoid Being a Troll:
  1. Don't post on social networks immediately.  Work the proper channels first behind the scenes by contacting the community manager (or whoever is behind the account).  Direct Message on twitter, message on Facebook, send an email to contacts in the organization expressing your concern.  Wait for a response.  If one doesn't happen within an acceptable amount of time (a couple of days), then you can go to the online public forum.
  2. Assess the situation.  Don't get emotional, provide facts. Perhaps you're the only one affected by something.  Or perhaps you're one of 10-15 people in a community of 500, 1000, or 10,000.  A small group might be able to enact change or settle something quietly without the need to disrupt a happy online community.  Don't involve others if there's really no need.
  3. Accept the Outcome.  Sometimes things happen and there really is nothing you can do about it.  You're a member of the community, but businesses make decisions based off of information you're never going to fully know as you're not an employee. You tried your best, but don't let that negativity consume you for the rest of your life.
  4. Wait it out, and then present your case.  If the company is doing something awful, give it time to demonstrate that what it's actually doing was worse in the long run.  Gather evidence,  discuss with others offline, put together something (a petition, a case study, examples from other organizations, numbers, charts, graphs, incidents, etc.) and deliver it to the powers that be in the organization.  Outline a better plan.  (Hey, maybe they'll hire you as a contractor if it's actually compelling). 
  5. Leave the community.  Most of the time, you're not forced into something.  If it's a product, stop buying it.  If it's a service, find a competitor.  If it's this important to you, only you can stop the behavior. 
Do Organizations Create Trolls? 

Yes. By not listening to a community, or by enacting changes that the community wasn't made aware of that were coming, companies increase the risk of creating internet trolls.  Trolls aren't born, they're made.

Companies, or Community Managers, can avoid creating trolls by understanding what they're going through.
  • Is a product being discontinued? Perhaps give them a space to mourn the loss of their beloved item/show/process/etc.  Create a memorial for something that the company thought wasn't financially worth it, but was beloved by a small group of your most dedicated community members.  
  • Another option is to announce that changes to X are coming soon, and that when it happens, the company will be accepting community member feedback in the first few weeks so everyone gets it right.  
  • Perhaps someone dropped the ball in creating daily activities online and your members are bored and wanting "how it used to be."  Assess what's going on, and ask a few of your power users if they notice anything different.  
There are quite a few ways to help transition communities into something new without all the negativity that they're likely to create, but the company (community manager?) has to be the one to think ahead of the game.