Trolls and Their Behaviour?
It's come to attention reccently that people are being called "trolls" often. While this is the term we all use and know what it means does calling people a troll help the situation? Well not really, yes the behaviour of the person might come across as time wasting or fake news and this we tent to refer to as trolling behaviour hence the label troll but let's just take a moment to realise this is a person we are labeling.
So what if the information that person shared was actually true? Maybe they said something like " I'm going to the moon tomorrow but there are nasty ninjas on my roof and I don't want them in my house" I'm thinking you did something on the lines of probably laughed then and said that's never going to happen what is this person doing lol they need to grow up but no matter how you reacted this is on a general scale.
Trolls are people too they aren't smelly green creatures from under a bridge. From the "trolls" I've come across some of them have actually messaged me and given me a reason of their behaviour and actually then I go away and think actually did I handle that situation right, how does that person feel now? Keep in mind some people feel they need to be heard and that is their expression. Some people have some sort of personality disorder where they don't remember what they did due to their condition and perhaps they don't remember their behaviour. Maybe that person is passing time - we cannot know.
However my main point is people being bias. It's quite upsetting to see 
The so called "troll" might return to the room at a later point offering peace and calmness yet the group chat might turn that person away "You're not welcome you called me XYZ" This can actually be upsetting for some people as it makes them feel unwelcome and perhaps they were just venting or expressing themselves in a way maybe they didn't mean to.
"Trolls" ARE PEOPLE too! Remember this and please think before you speak. Questions to yourself such as "How will this message make this person feel?" or "Would I like to recieve/ view this message?" definitely get you thinking. "Put yourself in that person's shoes - how do you feel?" can get you thinking if that is going to be an effective response or not.
When replying to someone who has hurt or upset us it can be challenging and hard. Perhaps keep in mind "say something nice or don't say anything at all" you are always welcome to message a listener for support about something if it has upset you! 7 cups is a place for kindness and compassion #PositiveVibes not unkindness and spitefulness.
Dealing with trolling behaviour
Okay we all know this is sometimes challening but here are some tips on how to deal with this behaviour in chatrooms:
1) Take deep calm breaths if you are stressed and wound up that's not going to help the situation - you come first take care of yourself! 
2) Get a coffee, tea or hot chocolate 
3) Repeat step 2 ... about 100 times 
4) See if a mod is about and ask to borrow them - but always put them back afterwards 
we don't steal- lol come on I'm not that scary and I wash thanks I'm approachable mods just help co-ordinate the situation and make sure things are alright if there isn't a mod about you can then submit a form for an emergency on-call mod to see if someone is available
5) If a mod hasn't turned up yet perhaps you could try asking the person showing the person if they'd like to share something on their mind "Hey there X(insert their name)X, I was just wondering if anything was on your mind and bothering you that you'd like to share." - this can go either way but at least you are offering to give them support!
6) If that doesn't de-escalates the situation try some icebreakers - I find these help a lot with redirecting the conversation. Some good ones are:
♥ " has anyone got anything they would like to share with us today?"
♥ "Anyone got any plans for the upcoming days?"
♥ The classic "What's the weather like in your area?"
♥"What's everyone's favourite animals then?"
♥"What is everyone's favourite food? Anyone want a cookie I've got plenty to share with you all!" - just be careful with this one because some people do have eating disorders and this could be triggering
The main point of this post is to educate people a little and get you thinking about what you say to people. People who show trolling behaviour are people and could have something going on in their life causing this behaviour, try and be open minded and if you would rather not see what they say pssttt hint hint there is a mute button!!! Also try to be kind and welcoming to people who may have upset you in the past they could have had a reason for their behaviour so just try to be patient and compassionate and open to hearing them out. Another thing is that conflict is NEVER the way to deal with a situation please please please mute if you have nothing nice to say as it de-escalates the situation a lot quicker.
I hope this post got you thinking or gave you some ideas of exploring new ways of dealing with situations
All the best,
Bear
Trolling behavior has really been around since the beginning of average folks getting to go online, and even before, back in the days of dial-up BBS's we had to use modems and landlines to access. But I digress. I remember that very early, it became apparent that the best way to be targeted by trolling behavior was to give it attention, to complain about it, to report the person.
Trolling reminds me a lot of when I was young and was in group care for mental health challenges and I first learned about "Negative Attention Seeking" firsthand - someone was bullying me and gaslighting my own issues by triggering all my sensitive emotional buttons. NAS is when someone doesn't properly learn how to get positive attention, and they only attention that they can get is negative attention.
Some of you have heard the insult, "drama queen," that's one way it comes out. Other people seeking negative attention can be cruel to people on purpose. There's lots of ways it can show up, any habitual pattern of seeking out negative attention. It seems to me that that's what trolling really is - someone who hurts so bad and feels so isolated and alone and out of contact that the only way they can think of to get personal contact is to set off anger and hurt responses in others by stepping on others' feelings or trying to generate pity.
In the early days of the Internet in the 1990's, there was a saying a lot of people used to use: "Don't feed the troll." Meaning, don't give the person trolling the negative attention (rage, complaints, upset, hurt) that they are seeking. That seems to be the only strategy that has any longterm effectiveness to it. When I see it used, I also see a lot of escalation on the part of the person engaging in trolling behavior to try to get me/us to stop ignoring them. But as long as no one engages and gives in to joining in the trolling person's attempts to start arguments, eventually the person trolling will stop - because no one is feeding into their need for negative attention.
I hope this adds something to the discussion. Good topic!
