One of the downsides of being a "celebrity" Tweeter is the preponderance of people who seem to hang about in dingy bedrooms in their dirty underwear "trolling".
A troll is somebody who sends abusive tweets, often to celebrities- some are simply negative comments on a career, others are far more abusive and personal. Accepted practice is "do not feed the trolls". The general feeling is that these low-lives need the attention and that by replying or interacting with them you are giving them what they want. I beg to differ.
I often take on the trolls as, in my view they are keyboard warriors, cyber-bullies who need to be confronted. I have even established a "troll of the day" ritual on my Twitter page. I choose the most hateful specimen and re-tweet his/her abuse for all to see. The first line of defence is invariably grammar. In three years on Twitter I have yet to find a troll who can use your/you're correctly. I therefore get loads of "your fat"/"your not funny"/"your a c**t and I hope you dy off cancer." I always take the time to correct the troll and ask him politely to Tweet back when he/she has learned to speak English. This tends to really annoy them, which is curious as you would imagine that education would not be high on their agendas?
The second line of riposte is simply to have a look through their previous Tweets. Often this will quickly disclose a gold mine of information. I once found a tweet that a troll had sent to his mother checking what time he should come round for Sunday lunch? I sent a copy of his abuse to the mother and his account was deleted about four hours later- most satisfying.
My favourite troll slay was quite recent. A "gentleman" tweeted to inform me that I was an "unfuny fat c*nt who will hopefuly die in a paynful car accident". (sic) This was pretty standard trolling but what caught my attention was that firstly his location was on- so I could see on a map that he was from Cirencester, a town just seven miles away from me. Not only that but he gave the name of his company and his position in said organisation on his Twitter bio. This was an open goal.
I re-tweeted his kind thoughts and inquired as to if any of my followers knew of the company? It turned out that loads of them did and I soon built up quite a detailed knowledge of my new troll. I was tempted to actually drive over and pay him a visit. I decided not to in the end and simply Tweeted my view that if I'd received an abusive letter from somebody at that company, with the company letterhead on it, I could quite reasonably go to the police with it. Twenty minutes later I got a tweet from the managing director who apologised and announced that "disciplinary action has been taken".
When my kids ask me- "Daddy, what did you do in the Troll Wars?" I shall not be found wanting...
facebook.com/officialdomjoly @domjoly
Follow Dom Joly on Twitter: www.twitter.com/domjoly
I seen u at JFK last June an resisted da urge 2 come up an tell u how litle I fawt of u.
fawt id save it 4 a coment on a article 1 day. Your a compleet...
...only joking. I actually really like you and have enjoyed all your programmes. I would have come and said hello when I saw you in New York but I was tired and the only joke that came to mind was a skit of - 'Hello...No i'm in an airport with Dom Jolly...No it's rubbish' which i'm sure would not have amused you.
If I had gotten my girlfriend to record me doing that skit while sat on a table next to you causing you to go mental then I reckon I could have had a few hits on YouTube however the first-class lounge's free drinks had affected my thought processes.
Oh well, I'll remember if I ever see you again!
How's your foot now anyway? Do the screws set off airport security scanners?
The trouble is with twitter is that it's morphed. When it was in its infancy, it was a genuinely nice place to have a personal interaction with public figures. Now though, well, it's turned into a celeb infested self promotion site. I don't infer you in that, but some celebs have fully abused the basic notion of what twitter used to be. There are some that have released books of their tweets! This has a bitter taste to it.
Also, the interaction between certain celeb couples and groups can be really funny and well worth a read. But, as ever, the flip side are those that just appear to act as an exclusive clique.
I think the block and unfollow buttons need to be made better use of with the new hybrid of tweeters.
and i'm not trolling, but....
the reason we don't 'feed the trolls' is perfectly illustrated in your article. b/c now you just look like someone with waaaay too much time on his hands. and are now the equivalent of the elementary school kid who always tattletales to the teachers...and if you recall, noone likes/wants to play with *that* kid...
Can’t help feeling that you’re missing a trick here Dom. Why not put forward a TV program idea based on pitting one Troll against another? Viewers could then vote and the victor move up through the ranks of such rankers to the next encounter. The ultimate vanquisher finally being crowned young King Troll. I suspect that lots of useful reposts and reposts could result, from a quest for that Wholey Growl.
13. lastly for someone who is obsessed by money and to get a few cheap laughs by being so crass – I have no respect. For a man who is a z list celebrity, whos opinions mean nothing. His swearing at people shows lack of education for someone who supposedly went to Oxford. If I was an ex-don, I would be at the least disgusted and at the most hopping mad. If you support this man then you are no better then he. The problem with the UK is that there is too much bullying. People like Dom Joly are the bullies. I bully the bullies. I can back up what I say and I don’t have to hide behind a twitter account. My profile pics are my youngest kids, my name is my real name. Mr Joly is not even his real name its on this link and a biog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Joly. In closing I will never post anything derogatory to Mr Joly again but as a former supporter I am scratching around to find something to respect him for. And that is what I find saddest of all. DARREN RICHARDSON
7.
8. He writes about cyber bullying yet he is the biggest exponent of it. Follow him on twitter or at least have a sneaky peek at his profile, you will see him being derogatory to people of either less “followers”like that REALLY matters) people of lesser prestige, intellect or income. Do you readers of his blog subscribe to that view?
9. A troll sends abusive tweets to ordinary people as well as celebrities. But peoples sternest critics are NOT trolls. I am happy to be a part of his new program where he meets facebook friends if he is akin to them in some way. Myself used to be a supporter and have in my opinion WASTED my money on trigger happy cds and DVDs and his look at me spoof biography.
10. Mr Joly used to be fat and now he is not so I’m waiting for him to do a Sharon Osborne or Missy Elliot and criticise the very weight he WAS associated with. But with celebrity comes weird, obsessive or lewd behaviour. The fun loving criminals said in big night out “cocaine makes you thinner” so has he been using cocaine to lose weight and give him the confidence to call some of his critics or supporters c**ts? And is it right for a celebrity to “deliberately” alienate the very people who put zeros in his enlarged bank account.
You just know these people would never say boo to a goose in real life. In my opinion, it all boils down to them craving attention. I'd guess they're also jealous that someone is doing better in life than they are.
I operate a strict 'Do not feed the trolls' policy. It's amazing how quick they get back under their bridges when they're ignored.