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Mammamel
07-01-2007, 09:18 PM
Over the last few weeks some stuff has occurred that set my wee brain humming.
The site had an attack of trolls. Trolls are internet junkies with way too much time on their hands. They like to harass folks. They don’t bother me much; I just delete them when I find them. Sometimes I even think they are funny.

However in watching how others react to them, I was saddened. PH is a specific kind of place, and as such we will be a target for a lot of different groups, for a lot of different reasons. This has always been so, since we were built. PH is not for the faint of heart.

PH is a Bible literal site, where we accept that our God is perfect, all powerful, all knowing and all seeing. He is here beside us as we walk through our days. Or, is He?

No I do not doubt that God is what He claims to be. I personally trust Him that He is here with me no matter the circumstance. However I do wonder about some folks who claim He is all that, but then act like He isn’t. I mean they spout off “God is in control” but then when they get in a fix, or think they are, they panic and run.
Like in the case of the trolls, there are steps you can take to protect yourself against their idiocy. You can not use the IE browser. (http://www.firefox.com) Regularly run spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html ) and Adaware (http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_plus.php) and an anti virus program. ([URL]http://free-avg.org/ (http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_plus.php)). [/SIZE][/FONT]

Please note, all the listed programs are recommended by our techs, and are all free.
Now what do you do once you have done all this? Well for one do not download stuff off the internet unless you know for a fact it’s clean. Do not open email unless you know the sender, and NEVER use the outlook preview pane!

Other than that what can you do? Nothing. This is where I get discouraged. What does one do when they have taken all the available precautions? We have 2 choices; trust God to take care of things, HIS way, the other choice we have is to worry and be come afraid.
Now satan is behind the trolls. Also satan is the father of fear. So do we follow God, or do we follow satan? Do we live in trust or fear?
The bottom line is, once you have done your part, do you trust God to do His? Even if His way may not be what you want? Or do you live with worry and fear, "oh what if they get my email"? If your email gets a lot of spam, ask yourself how many of those freebie offers you sign up for. Did you use it as the back up to a yahoo or hotmail account? Yeah you get something, but it’s not free, your email is now on a list that will be sold from company to company. That adds up to a lot of spam. To protect your email, use a free one like yahoo or hotmail.
For Pete’s sake though, quit worrying and trust God the way you claim to. Remember, IF your PC crashes, unless you opened the doorway, the trolls, who by the way are everywhere online, just not as obviously wishing to be seen as these were, did NOT hurt your pc.

Ketann
07-01-2007, 09:27 PM
Amen Mel!

That is why I use my Yahoo email for 99.99% of everything I do. Any junk goes in bulk mail and all I do is push delete. :)

grace
07-01-2007, 09:29 PM
Ketann makes an excellent point. Most free email servers have junk mail or bulk mail settings. You can set them very high and get rid of all kinds of spam that way.

And... I second the AMEN, Mel!

Grace

Doris
07-02-2007, 01:58 AM
My e-mail programm has a spam-filter. It marks everything that could be spam with *SPAM* in the subject line, and then I have set my Microsoft outlook so that it automatically puts everything that has *spam* in the subject line in the spam-folder. Works perfect. :)

maritimemama
07-02-2007, 07:18 AM
I agreee Mel, i refuse to live my life in fear of things like Trolls, there are more important things out there to compete for my time. When i hear what a troll says or does, i sually roll my eyes and wish they would grow up. sure they are set out to wreck havoc but they also feed off of fear and confusion, don't give them ammo and they may leave you alone. i have taken alot of the precautions, I still use IE but I trust it, spam is not a problem for me. Maybe it affects more people who shop online (i have never shopped online). i don't know. I love PH uniqueness but it isn't for the Faint of heart!

suzen
07-02-2007, 07:57 AM
What is the difference between someone who just has strong views and a troll? This troll thing is something I never heard of. I understand Mel's definition, my question is more how do can you know if it is one and no the other?

Doris
07-02-2007, 08:03 AM
What is the difference between someone who just has strong views and a troll? This troll thing is something I never heard of. I understand Mel's definition, my question is more how do can you know if it is one and no the other?

suzen, a troll is not interested in your opinion, he is not even interested in his own words. He just wants to start an argument, get people to fight and sow discourt. If the spirit of the message changes, and it starts flaring up and the troll is feeding this, then you ignore them. They feed on attention.

grace
07-02-2007, 08:08 AM
Suzen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

This may help you to understand the concept. And, trust me, we've had posters here who were clearly trolls. What's the difference between a troll and a person with strongly held beliefs is clearly indicated here.

Grace

suzen
07-02-2007, 08:15 AM
Suzen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

This may help you to understand the concept. And, trust me, we've had posters here who were clearly trolls. What's the difference between a troll and a person with strongly held beliefs is clearly indicated here.

Grace

Thanks, for clarifying. Sounds like people with too much time on their hands. I sort of relate them to bullies, who bully others as they dont feel good about themselves.

GrammyGoo
07-02-2007, 09:25 AM
Thanks for the link that explains this Grace. I had no idea what an "Internet Troll" was. Really truly pitiful. While I have read other forums. PH is the only forum, that I post in or enjoy reading now.

I am ignorant to much of the forum "lingo". I didn't even know what (((((((( )))))))) meant until a couple of weeks ago. So Ph has pretety much been my initiation into an "online community" .

Thanks again for the explanation ladies.

Blessings, GG

teagsmom
07-02-2007, 09:35 AM
Thanks, Mel! Just what Patrick said as well!

LadyJane
07-02-2007, 10:03 AM
Ugh trolls, with them the best thing that we can do is all ignore them, that is don't respond to their posts, all they want is attention. Don't give it to them!

gerrie
07-02-2007, 02:34 PM
AMEN----------I am always wondering why people make such a big deal out of this sort of stuff, I love my delete key, I use it alot. I also never, ever keep any information on the computer that it would bother me to have some one see. Blessings all, ------Gerrie

prv31wife
07-04-2007, 10:39 AM
I'm wondering if there may be trolls in a couple of my Yahoogroups. I do know one Christian Yahoogroup I was in, this lady who was just the complete opposite of what a Christian is all about. Things like supporting Planned Parenthood and other ungodly things. It was really rather upsetting to all the ladies on the group.

DeeKlaver
07-06-2007, 09:20 PM
I had to ask Ginger what a troll was.. lol.. I had no idea.. I have all the thingy's you wrote about.. Dh does all my computer stuff.. Praise God.. He likes that stuff.. I just like my small couple of groupos..

Mammamel
07-07-2007, 07:46 PM
Actually trolls can be anywhere online.
They especially like trying to cause upset and chaos.
All I can do, all any webmaster can do is warn you they are out there, you have to protect yourself.
I have given you all the info I can, so you can make informed decisions and protect yourselves, once you do that, trolls will go away, its no fun if they can't wreak havoc and spread fear.
Like roaches, they flee the light, in this case light is knowledge.