Flame Warriors ~ View topic - Ankle-Biter

Clueless Newb Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

I'm new, so may be identifying the already known. There are several but I can't give a name to all of them yet. The ones I know are mostly female and sometimes will come together into a Cyber-sisters.

Ankle-biter is a kind of weak Evil Clown. She bears resemblance to the little kid or dog that comes late to a fracas, hangs around on the edge barking at the weakened victim so that the bullying side knows she is one of theirs, and gets out before anything can get back at her.

That is, she comes in late with meaningless insults or just to back others up but never actually says anything distinct enough to answer or show an actual opinion beyond her general willingness to be seen as on the winning side. They probably despise her but find her useful.

Yeah I think there's one similar called ? Pup another like it was ? crow. I'd have to go and have a look, but I'm about to head to bed.

Nice description though.
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Clueless Newb Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

I've got a few more to come because I've actually been battling with some of these for a couple of years turning up on one forum after another - but always forums with the same group of people, they don't dare track across to more established ones. The current tactic is to come in as 'guests'. The ideal is to provoke a response that they can complain to the system about and get the board closed down.

Clueless Newb Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 21

Sounds a whole lot like Tiny Yapper to me.

http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/tinyyapper.htm

He's not listed on the drop-down menu on the main site for some reason.

Clueless Newb Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

Similar tactics but you'll only see an Ankle-biter after a batch of others have started something and her comments may be offensive but usually too juvenile to actually add anything to their attack. She is more of a lightweight and will never make first move or get into anything until she's certain that the heavyweights are drawing too much fire to waste time on her.

Actually it sounds more like Me Too.
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Clueless Newb Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

It's possible that there are so many variants. I notice that most of mine are essentially passive-aggressive operating on boards with fairly strong moderation. They provoke something they can then be offended at, typically by saying something similar to something genuine or by implying a straw man ("But I never suggested bestiality" - as if you ever did) and then running to Nanny to claim 'abuse' and 'misbehaviour' when called out as lying or at best misleading. More vigorous boards (or ones less susceptible to closure for 'bad language' than Pro-boards where a lot of this has taken place) would tell them to sling their hook in no uncertain terms.

One I was thinking of adding, but may well exist already is Calm Down. When this one feels it is losing an argument it starts to dismiss the other side as 'rant' and 'emotional', so unworthy of attention. Detailed rebuttal of its points will become Too longwinded to waste time on while it will find some ambiguity in a quick rebuttal or take irony perfectly literally and run with for days before deploring how "This poster has taken yt another thread over".

The Oppressor aka the Mongrel.

Carrion Crow

I also seem to remember (very vaguely) another thread which someone suggested eventual participation was just for show.

Tiny Yappers are in the fray of things, mostly of their doing. This isn't anything like a Tiny Yapper, though they make a lot of yipping noise after it's mostly over.

Yes sadly, there's a couple that's not on the dropdown menu.

I think it fits in somewhere between a Me-Too and Carrion Crow.

The Calm Down suggestion, sounds interesting.
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The important thing is knowing who owns the fence

Clueless Newb Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

Yes, this is near enough Carrion Crow wanting to get itself noticed by the Dominant Clique so it comes in making ineffectual noises before the thing is completely over but after any need to contribute to the specific causus belli of the moment. That way it can use the same general-purpose remarks without needing to follow the fight. It's shown it backs the winning side before they have actually won but when it's obvious they will