Heads up, y'all on the blockchain.
This is not @kevinwong writing in, but someone who wishes to remain a secret. Seriously. Alright, so I've a conspiracy theory to present to all of you humanoids, bots, meta-trolls, reptilians, and everything in between. Awesome, disruptive technologies has always been the subject of many eyes - especially from the ones with vested interests. In a world of scarcity and competitiveness, saboteurs have always been instrumental in derailing systems for gaining a competitive edge. Yes, even the word cuts so deeply. Trolls are the perfect virtual soldiers that gets the job done.
But, here's the problem.
It's difficult to distinguish real trolls. But to make it easy, here's what trolls mean, at least in the age of virtual identities, self-discovery, and increasing probability of causing great offence to any one of the 7 billion people all around the world, no matter the subject. Here's what it means:-
a person who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post
Yes, the definition is just that simple. Which is why I have accepted a long time ago that I may appear to be trollish to just about any stranger. Those whom I've met in-person may trust that I have no mal-intent, and I can go quite experimental with art. Here's the dig - I just don't think anybody should mind such things when it's just in form of information. In the same spirit, those one the receiving end being perceived as trolls should also not mind and make a big fuss out of others reacting within reasonable claims.
Also, add the fact that people are not perfect and may fall into deep states of trollishness without even knowing it themselves. Not that it matters to me, even if the platform has been deeply infiltrated by mal-intent trolls. The person experiencing their own reality should be the ones trying to learn about the world, and here I am, presenting some truth about the trolls. Pragmatism and what's good for business would dictate that communities on the blockchain get rid of all perceivable trolls. But of course, there's just no way to do this as it is such a complex matter.
It's better to just accept that everybody's a troll, and be desensitised by the notion that real trolls are just manifestations of everybody's inherent, temporal, and ultimately-perceived trollishness.
This way, real trolls wouldn't have any power. If you see feuds online and if it reads like incessant bashing of one another in textform - just laugh and move along. Don't feed the real / fake trolls. Whatever, it's most likely that you're wrong about trolls. Someone with actual mental illness or in distress may even seem like trolls. Or.. is there an intelligent way for a community of any size to work-around and overpower both meta-perceived and paid-professional trolls? But is there really a need to do so?
What about self-made / self-discovered professional trolls paying themselves by trolling the network? First of all, I would troll a little here and say this - what a way to get paid lol. That just shows the impressiveness of Steemit's celebration of diversity. But again, some may not even know how it can be perceived or how it may debilitate a network. Does it even matter, anyway? Maybe the day Steemit finds an upward trajectory again is when it has enough value in itself to offset this side-effect of taking things too seriously in blockchain communities. Flushing out trolls is a futile practice.
From one trollslayer (or troll?) to another, just forget about it and don't be so judgemental in every way. Treat all trolls like they're not trolls. It will drive them crazy, and that's the best way to troll (or slay) the trolls. Here's another interesting observation: trolls are born out of free-speech, and self-important critical message. Perception of trolls are also heightened by this thing that I will call a FUD-complex. It's just impossible for blockchain communities to be able to accommodate to everybody's wants and needs. Hence, a declining price will stir all sorts of emotions about one another and create a cycle of FUD but not in an intentional way of disinformation, but out of community habits of reinforcing / rewarding / conditioning behaviours.
There's nothing inherently wrong with FUD-complexes happening on blockchain communities. Sure, depending on personalities, outside investors and speculators would think of something like Steemit as garbage. But personally, I think the network just needs to learn and build more valuable stuff on the blockchain to offset this side-effect of perceived trollishness (and getting triggered), something doubly amplified when money is involved and things don't go as expected.
So here are some perhaps-pragmatic-constructive-inclusive solutions for slaying the troll-complex
Treat any real / fake trolls like people.
Try to build, not divide. Again, people will perceive things differently. Sometimes we just want to make a point about being straight-forward, and sometimes just being socially awkward. Stay in the game, keep building.
Employ louder, reputable, and trust-able fake trolls with an unshakeable allegiance to the network. Even if they don't know about it themselves. Hint: definitely not me. Please use the real professional fake trolls to overpower the possibility of mercenary / decoy / real / mal-intent trolls. Take control of the platform's narrative!
Reward stuff that will make Steemit better. Also a difficult matter because people just make poor decisions expressing themselves with edgy communication, ending up being perceived as trolls. Acceptance comes in all degrees, and I would prefer to see through superficial words and understand the heart / substance of the message. It may be as purposeless and time-wasting as professional trolls would make it out to be. That's okay, let's waste some time together. Sometimes I'll even give an upvote, sometimes a flag (only twice for me so far, but ended up opting to unflag just so the rest of the community will be able to see and weigh-in on these seemingly trollish accounts themselves)
Test accounts by adjusting reward levels, and study their contribution, activities, and stakes. But again, money and human beings are involved here so it's all a crapshoot. Downpowering also doesn't mean much. It could mean latent support. It could also mean fair compensation for all the time and effort spent around here. Some spend more. Some exponentially less. Some don't even care. Some are taking a piss, or just pissed about things.
What about whales themselves? Well.. their voting and decisions patterns may also seem quite trollish. Which is why it's best to delegate power to the right trolls so that the trollishness isn't so gigantic.
Simple modus operandi 1: flood the network with a mix of casual-lazy-fun work, and hard / heart work. Avoid heavily supporting any narrative about being divisive about the work of others to gain competitive edge for oneself. But again, people who care too much about the platform may even be misunderstood as trolls. Just a simple matter of pragmatic suggestions getting mixed up with frustrated, unmet expectations.
Simple modus operandi 2: reward those who are desensitised and don't seem to give a crap about trolls and drama llamas. Problem: generally these people are quiet about it and don't even talk about it. Asymmetry of troll's advantage here - they're just usually louder than most, it's most definitely a form of work that shows. Which is why I think guilds are still important although there's a definite need for continued evolution.
Simple modus operandi 3: be a positive kind of troll. Of course, it wouldn't be healthy to keep mooning for STEEM. It's better to FUD and give people a taste of reality, right? The system / network could inherently be flawed and lose people a lot of money out of mere influence and persuasion. But again, seeing that anyone should be responsible for their own thoughts and actions.. by all means it may be a better gameplan to reward positive trolls, especially those that do not forsake blunt, critical points. Yes, it will be largely understood that negative trolling should not be rewarded heftily. But it should also not be a basis for hefty punishment. Oh crap, what does positive and negative trolling even mean? Am I trolling positively here?
Simple modus operandi 4: spot inconsistencies and make informed decisions just for yourself.
Will the real professional trolls trying to destroy this platform please stand up? Please re-steem this so we can find out.
Signed,
Trollslayer