'Troll hunting'?

It is water under the bridge now, whatever.

I can't remember it either, GA, so if it was someone trying to wind us up, they didn't succeed with me. If it wasn't, then they got some sensible answers, so it wasn't a complete loss for them.

When in Norway I often look for trolls, but haven't yet been lucky enough to spot one.

When on GN I often seem to be a beat behind others and I have no idea what the interesting, but now absent, thread was about. And what is worse is that I have no memory to speak of any more so I'm left wondering if I actually read it, but don't remember reading it.

I don't think posters ask to be protected from adult subjects or bad language. They do sometimes ask Gn to look into replies that are deliberately and gratuitously insulting personal attacks, but that is not the same thing.

Moving on is the best move if you are not convinced by a post, but seeing others being taken in by a wind-up merchant can be a temptation to blow the gaff on them. Sometimes, too, a wind-up can be a running joke (like the onesies and plimsolls) which is a legitimate target for poking fun at , as much as recognising that the poster is poking fun at genuine inane comments.

Is this not a lot of fuss about nothing. If you do not believe a poster so what , just move on, if somebody is rude or offensive ignore it.We are not children that need to be protected from bad language or adult subjects.

I find the reporting to GNHQ very childish, apart from spam.

Well it’s a bit too much for my brain too Rosina I never thought the original poster was a troll if that’s what is meant I just agreed with another poster that it could have bern a wind up as it was quite a story
if I ve broken any protocol of GN delete my post by all means but don’t give me a title I don’t deserve I am not a troll, doll, fox or any other kind of hunter
Thanks Anniebach

But if you’re a genuine poster, as I believe this was, opening up on here about something deeply personal (and I’m not talking pumps and onesies!), and you have others speculating that you aren’t genuine, or that you’re making things up, it will hurt. That’s why it’s up to GNHQ to look into it if there’s any doubt, and we’re asked not to speculate and make comments that could be upsetting.

I am with you Rosina.I questioned the OP but I certainly was not accusing another poster of being a troll.

It's all too much for me

Sorry Elegran, I think this is getting a bit convoluted and I am not expressing myself too well. An earlier poster on here said that she was not best pleased at being called a troll hunter for questioning the validity of a post. I now realise that I had left the word 'hunter' off my last post. Also I think anyone who starts a rather over excitable thread on here that people start to wonder about is not a 'Troll' as I now understand it to be. This is all too much for my tiny brain and I am off to make myself a cup of tea.

That is cruel Elegran

BlueBell, you a troll hunter ? Rubbish

I don't understand either why anyone would want to stir up other posters, but some people do get their kicks from conning others and making them look foolish for taking them seriously. Candid camera, for example. That had very high viewing figures, but it often just seemed cruel to me.

Rosina I don't think GN was saying that questioning a post makes the doubter a troll, but that the doubter is accusing another poster of being a troll.

I thought that too, Greenfinch. I too thought the OP was rather ...what can I say? Hard to believe? I don't see how questioning it makes you a troll, rather GN seem to be saying that whoever posts these over excitable made up stories is a troll. That seems a bit strong given the understanding of the word that most of us seem to have. There was a story in the press a week or so ago about a post on (I think) Mumsmet about a bride who demanded money and refused to allow anyone who didn't cough up around 1,500 dollars to come to her 'once in a lifetime experience wedding' . That post was generally thought to be a wind up. I don't understand trolls and I don't understand why you would want to stir up posters on a genuine site with fictional situations . Perhaps both scenarios are about power.

Well I think all I said was ....surely this is a wind up because no body would really say blah blah blah and for that I m called a troll hunter I m really astonished It took Gransnet about 36 hours and numerous reports about a post showing Russian ( I think they were Russian) scantily clad women for brides and about two hours to call some of us troll hunting because we question a rather far fetched story

Great analogy Elegran! Obviously I'm a bunch of feathers!

We do get the occasional spiteful post that is designed to set posters against one another, but we more often get ones like Eglantine describes, which are spoofs done for a laugh. The thing is, this is a site where anyone at all can join and post, and not everyone is deadly serious. They can develop into a laugh for all concerned, if posters see the wind-up and reply in kind.

There is a spectrum that goes from "Oh, you must be pulling our legs with that one!" to full-on accusations of being a nasty mischief-making troll. Reporting it to GNHQ is the recommended response, but sometimes that is taking a sledgehammer to a bunch of feathers.

Quick! Tell us now Maggie

Remember the agony aunts, the Evelyn Home and Anna Raeburn type journalists who were in every magazine? I remember when I was in secondary school, some of the girls had a good giggle sending fake letters and getting back solemn advice on their "problems". I imagine the journalists saw through them, but had a standard reply that went off to genuine and fake writers alike.

Oh dear. If we told you, this’d be even more of a thread about a thread than it already is, and they’re definitely against the rules, so it would probably be deleted. Then people would wonder what this thread was on about..... It could go on forever.

What did I miss? I want to know now

I have no idea what this thread was..... and too late now!

Good point Eglantine. Earlier this year there was a post on how to deal with ear wax. Some bright spark suggested shoving a cotton bud into ones lugs! Well if I learned one thing from 3 years as a nursing student, it's that you don't shove a cotton bud into any orifice.
As for the Ugg boots and plimsolls brigade, these posts are not from malicious trolls, just bored teens.
I am sure that after reading the first paragraph of these that the majority of G.netters have them sussed and respond in a light hearted and often hilarious way.

I thought that was an interesting thread, so I’m quite annoyed that it’s been deleted. The OP and her circumstances were certainly unusual, but I never doubted that she was genuine. I know troll hunting is against the rules, but surely those few posts could have been addressed, rather than everyone else’s input being deleted as well?