Welcome to the first of a three part blog series about being a troll. Not too long back I found myself dwelling on a bridge of my own making, firing off insults rather than riddles and generally making myself and others as miserable as I could stand. It took a lot of self reflection but I was eventually able to figure out how I had gotten to the place I was in and instead of using my bridge to block people's happiness I opened it up and I've gotten a lot better since. I'm not perfect, I'll never claim to be and I still, on occasion have slip ups. I think we all do, if I'm honest but the difference between being someone who just lost their temper and a troll is quite large. So let's start there.
How do I know if I've become an internet or gaming troll?
If you're always asking yourself: "How come every where I go I get mad?" that might be a good indicator. If you're asking yourself: "How come no one laughs at my jokes but me?" That's a big time clue right there. Last but most important, if you wake up each day and search "for a certain type" to "shut down" or otherwise: "put in their place" then congratulations. You have become a troll.
The three types of trolls.
Angry trolls:
If talking to people makes you mad then there's a pretty good chance they're mad at you as well. Angry trolls are probably the softest kind of trolls but also the most insidious. It's easy to dismiss your anger as being a result of dealing with trolls. We all deal with trolls at one point or another but the biggest clue here is you seem to be running into them all the time. But are you really? Is the internet that full of trolls that you can't avoid them no matter where you go? If you honestly think this you might have to take a look in the mirror.
Being an angry troll sneaks up on people. You get pissed off at a certain comment and start responding to the person. Then another person. Then another. Before you know it your entire day is spent spewing anger and vitriol about pretty much any topic that's on your mind. What's starts off as a simple act of self defense or rising to the defense of another becomes a mission to defend the world. A mission you can't possibly complete.
Laughing trolls:
Everyone loves a good joke and many of us enjoy making people happy by telling jokes. I'm known for being quite snarky among my friends but the catch here is you take your act on the internet highway and all you get is yelled at. If your most often used phrase is: "U mad bro?" you have squarely walked into troll territory.
Laughing trolls start off innocently enough but the frustration from people not getting their act piles on until they stop caring if anyone gets their jokes or not. As long as they're laughing then it's job done. But the thing is, like I posted about a couple of blogs back you can't control how people react to your behavior. If you're always confused about why people "can't take a joke" don't make it your mission to teach them how comedy is done. That's a mission doomed to failure.
Hateful trolls:
By far the worst kind of troll out there, hateful trolls exist to make you feel bad about yourself. It could be race, religion, sexual orientation, your life style choice, the games you play, your place of employment, virtually anything. It may not be personal but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. The bottom line with hateful trolls is they hate something and you remind them of that something. When you live your life based on hate then your entire life's mission is to destroy the object that represents your hatred.
In case you haven't already noticed the bottom line when it comes to being a troll is that you've dedicated a mission to something. The second half of that is instead of fostering understanding or joy you sew the seeds of anger. Step one to figuring out if you've become a troll or not is to take a look back at the interactions you have on nearly a daily basis. If they are overwhelming negative you might have set up camp on a bridge of your own making. In installment two, we'll talk about how to turn the bridge into something you can use to create positive interactions rather than blocking all the potential joy from your life.