Whether on Internet forums, social media, or anywhere else on the Internet, these six types of (intentional or unintentional) trolls galore. Thankfully, they are easier to spot nowadays because of how long their tactics have been in use. These are some of the most brilliant ways to barge into a debate, as I'm sure we have all seen before:
1) The Concern/"Unbiased" Troll: Usually joins in a debate to offer a "fair" or "balanced" perspective by pretending to be neutral when in reality they merely seek to use neutrality as a springboard to advance their own agenda.
Example: "I know this other poster is advocating genocide, but can we please take a moment to understand his perspective and be respectful toward it? No need to dismiss another's opinion!"
2) The Sophisticated Troll: Tries to make a rather evident and crystal-clear fact seem more complicated or obscure than it actually is in order to give legitimacy to false, misleading, or inaccurate arguments—usually attempting to make their argument sound sophisticated in the process.
This type of troll's posts may or may not consist of an incoherent word salad.
Example: "You claim that the scientific consensus is that the Earth is not flat, but you shouldn't be so black and white in your thinking. There's more to the data than this. If you read the article backwards and say ten Hail Marys, I'm sure you will arrive at a different conclusion."
3) The Cut-to-the-Chase Troll: Skips any nuances an argument may have and instead rushes straight to the part that supports their preconceived notions, often brushing aside the nuances that don't serve their perspective.
Contrary to a Sophisticated Troll, this kind of troll oversimplifies an actually complicated issue—and may or may not also engage in Sophisticated Trolling in other instances where it serves their interests.
Example: "There's no need to read any of these 150 scientific papers about the subject when I can just guess, based on the two YouTube videos I've watched, that you and everyone who disagrees with me are simply wrong about this."
4) The Edgelord/Politically Incorrect Troll: Tries to seem edgy, "politically incorrect," or "honest" by being intentionally offensive and immune to factual reasoning. Usually seems to think that being "politically incorrect" is a synonym for being smart or brave.
In reality, this type of troll usually just thumps their chest and seeks attention using middle-school-level rhetoric.
Example: "Arabs suck. Black people suck. White people are idiots. And I'm actually an alien from space who thinks you earthlings are all offended so easily. Cowards!!1"
5) The Self-Proclaimed Woke/Politically Correct Troll: Thinks that since they know a few things about all of two social justice issues, they are the next incarnation of Martin Luther King. Typically relies on recycling and overusing a few buzzwords to serve their own status and shut down criticism they don't like without actually offering a reasoned argument.
Example: "If you don't think that this is an example of culturally appropriating, racist, xenophobic, supremacist, nationalist coulrophobia, you should check your privilege. And I say so as a self-proclaimed privileged authority on the two issues we're talking about."
6) The Tone Police/Linguistic Expert Troll: Ignores the factual and logical aspects of a discussion or debate in favor of picking out which words they find inappropriate, too offensive, too inoffensive, or otherwise unacceptable. May or may not have issues with paragraphing, punctuation, grammar, and spelling themselves, but they don't care as long as it's them and nobody else.
Example: "Troll: That was such a rude thing to say. Your wrong to use this word instead of synonyms X, Y, and Z.
Normal person: you're*
Troll: Stop focusing on my spelling and read my argument instead. So stupid omg!"
1) The Concern/"Unbiased" Troll: Usually joins in a debate to offer a "fair" or "balanced" perspective by pretending to be neutral when in reality they merely seek to use neutrality as a springboard to advance their own agenda.
Example: "I know this other poster is advocating genocide, but can we please take a moment to understand his perspective and be respectful toward it? No need to dismiss another's opinion!"
2) The Sophisticated Troll: Tries to make a rather evident and crystal-clear fact seem more complicated or obscure than it actually is in order to give legitimacy to false, misleading, or inaccurate arguments—usually attempting to make their argument sound sophisticated in the process.
This type of troll's posts may or may not consist of an incoherent word salad.
Example: "You claim that the scientific consensus is that the Earth is not flat, but you shouldn't be so black and white in your thinking. There's more to the data than this. If you read the article backwards and say ten Hail Marys, I'm sure you will arrive at a different conclusion."
3) The Cut-to-the-Chase Troll: Skips any nuances an argument may have and instead rushes straight to the part that supports their preconceived notions, often brushing aside the nuances that don't serve their perspective.
Contrary to a Sophisticated Troll, this kind of troll oversimplifies an actually complicated issue—and may or may not also engage in Sophisticated Trolling in other instances where it serves their interests.
Example: "There's no need to read any of these 150 scientific papers about the subject when I can just guess, based on the two YouTube videos I've watched, that you and everyone who disagrees with me are simply wrong about this."
4) The Edgelord/Politically Incorrect Troll: Tries to seem edgy, "politically incorrect," or "honest" by being intentionally offensive and immune to factual reasoning. Usually seems to think that being "politically incorrect" is a synonym for being smart or brave.
In reality, this type of troll usually just thumps their chest and seeks attention using middle-school-level rhetoric.
Example: "Arabs suck. Black people suck. White people are idiots. And I'm actually an alien from space who thinks you earthlings are all offended so easily. Cowards!!1"
5) The Self-Proclaimed Woke/Politically Correct Troll: Thinks that since they know a few things about all of two social justice issues, they are the next incarnation of Martin Luther King. Typically relies on recycling and overusing a few buzzwords to serve their own status and shut down criticism they don't like without actually offering a reasoned argument.
Example: "If you don't think that this is an example of culturally appropriating, racist, xenophobic, supremacist, nationalist coulrophobia, you should check your privilege. And I say so as a self-proclaimed privileged authority on the two issues we're talking about."
6) The Tone Police/Linguistic Expert Troll: Ignores the factual and logical aspects of a discussion or debate in favor of picking out which words they find inappropriate, too offensive, too inoffensive, or otherwise unacceptable. May or may not have issues with paragraphing, punctuation, grammar, and spelling themselves, but they don't care as long as it's them and nobody else.
Example: "Troll: That was such a rude thing to say. Your wrong to use this word instead of synonyms X, Y, and Z.
Normal person: you're*
Troll: Stop focusing on my spelling and read my argument instead. So stupid omg!"
