Flame Warriors ~ View topic

Clueless Newb Joined: 07 May 2011 Posts: 18

I thought of this yesterday but I haven't tried it yet.

I often troll atheist forums. I've realised that most of the dialogue consists of debating. They don't really chit chat much, and when they do it's always fairly brief.

So you have two main types of conversation : Debate / discussion (anything that involves disagreement or trying to be intellectual) and occasional brief, superficial chit chat. There are no friendships as such, as everyone maintains a certain degree of distance because they all know that they could suddenly find themselves squabbling about something.

So I'm thinking, what if I go in and be the chattiest person on the forum. I'll come in as an atheist (that way I don't need to debate with them or get flamed), I'll cause no controversy, no major or significant disagreements, and no trolling (or so they'll think). I can spend a while in the beginning establishing myself as one of them, but then I'll do this :

I choose a handful of the most arrogant posters, and become their friend. I'll choose a thread where they've posted, and, while always keeping it on topic (so no one can accuse me of going off topic), I'll be really chatty with them. Not just for a few posts, but forever, on that thread. I'll make sure that every post that I address to them makes them want to post back to me. And I'll take my cue off them, ie if they take 10 mins to reply to me, I'll reply to them in just under that time, and if their post is say 8 lines, I'll make my response 11 lines. In other words, I'll always post just slightly quicker thqan them and make my posts slightly longer than theirs. If they ask me 1 question, I'll ask them 2. So that way I'm always keeping them engaged in conversation that doesn't add much to the topic (but without going off topic) and which becomes more about them and me (without geting too personal) than the topic. And I'll do it in a really friendly and "sincere" way. The aim is to make them wonder why this person is so interested in chatting with them so much.

At the same time, I choose a handful of the less arrogant posters (and the moderators and admin), and do the same but only for a few posts. The aim is to come off as a cool, friendly person, without overdoing it.

I'm hoping that at some point, those who are drawn into long casual chit chats with me will start to get annoyed. But they can't accuse me of being off topic, or too personal, or rude, or anything. They'll need an outlet, but what will it be? The frustration will build up until they either stop engaging, in which case I'll target them again on another thread, or they'll start to try and sniff me out, in which case I'll jump through their hoops and tell them whatever they want to hear. Then I'll just carry on.

At some point, either someone will finally crack and make a big accusation, which will sound ridiculous to those who I haven't targetted (they'll see me as a nice guy), which will cause a row, which I'll sit back and enjoy, or they'll continue to suffer forever. But most likely it will result in the two sides (those I targetted heavily and those I didn't) arguing.

Is this a good idea? Has anyone ever tried it?

No I haven't tried it, but ... I see a few problems.

Being friendly, is exactly that, even just trying to be friendly, will only "enticed" those who have the time or make the effort to respond in kind. If at some point they decide they don't have the time, it's too easy to ... just not respond as much, unlike a situation where the person is "captive" like on a phone or in person.

As to being very active by being chatty, many would simply conclude it was a result of newly discovered enthusiasm to talk with other like minded people.
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Clueless Newb Joined: 29 Aug 2010 Posts: 14

I don't think this will annoy people. You're not creating conflict. You're just being friendly, lighthearted and, in this case, unique. The idea seems to cling to the board not usually having lighthearted chats. However, you could maybe extend this 'endless, inane chatting' to PMing the targets you want to annoy.

Thoughts?
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Possible Troller Joined: 17 Mar 2012 Posts: 102

This idea looks like it wouldn't be worth the time. Trying to win over 10 members in the pomposity range would be very difficult to accomplish. Good luck anyways.
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