Another round of applause for the girlies-or whoever

DISCLAIMER--LET THERE BE NO Confusion--The previous post was left by "nukedlou" and NOT NuclearLou.

There is NO connection between the two screen names or opinions. "Nukedlou" does not represent any opinion or position of NuclearLou. The screen name has been used to cause purposeful confusion throughout this site.

-- Edited by NuclearLou at 22:00, 2005-12-08

Recently I was asked to write an article on trolls for a group of board moderators on another website. I was very surprised that several of the people had little to no knowledge about trolls. It was suggested that I should make this information public in the hopes of helping others identify this threat.

I would first like to note that in my experiences on the Web, and as a site host, I have learned that a majority of the people who surf the Internet, post on message boards and chat rooms, and generally befriend each other, are real, legitimate, true, and honest people. Because of the dangers out there, some people may be more reluctant to share information and therefore can appear suspicious, but they are certainly not deceitful or out to intentionally hurt others.

There is a small group that are dishonest and deliberately target and attack others. The anonymous nature of internet life has allowed them to take advantage and downright hurt people. I am a true believer that the main defense against these individuals is education. I will also note that I don't claim to be an authority on this subject. As a site owner, I have done extensive research on this issue and therefore have had a lot of "hands on" experience dealing with trolls, giving me a significant amount of real life reference. I hope our readers will find this information helpful.

I Confusion: One of the main ways to do this is to post anonymously. The troll will say something, not revealing who they are, and will cause suspicion and fear among a group. People will begin to wonder if one of their trusted members could be the anonymous poster, and it can seed great doubt. Many times these people are lurkers (individuals who visit a board and never post, thus not making their presence known), and thus they are invisible until they attack, making it difficult to safeguard against them. Another way trolls accomplish confusion is to post using a name similar to an existing member of a group. For example: Christine is a respected member, but suddenly a Christne appears (notice one letter off). When the troll posts, people may not immediately realize it is not the trusted member and derogatory comments can be erroneously attributed to the real person.

The "new" Larry.

JH, you do need one....sorry. That last rant was a little psychotic! Do you have tourettes or something? I've heard of people getting pissed off and yelling things like that but to write them WOW!

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms.Robertson's son.

19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the! situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.

Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard . The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms.Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.

Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.