My sister was being cheated on and I posted as her. I needed ideas for certain problems for which she was asking advice. I knew if I posted as myself, I'd get a bunch of MYOBs. Posting as her (in more than a couple situations) I was able to give her solid advice on how to proceed.

I posted as my daughter with a career issue. I knew there was no way she'd come to my "mommy board" for help, so posting it myself, getting a bunch of great advice, then forwarding her the link to use or not to use was priceless.

I'll occasionally post as a DP on my own OPs just to clarify my position without being accused of "changing the story".

Frankly, while there are a multitude of helpful people here, there are more people who project, assume they know the intimate details and motivation, or are just plain a-holes. There are plenty of reasons for posting as someone else that don't make you a troll.

How do you know it's a troll and not multiple people from the same household? Or you know they are posting from the same device?

Anonymous wrote:Jeff

Is this the troll?

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/796852.page

Are you asking about the OP of that thread or a specific post on that page?

Jeff

Is this the troll?

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/796852.page

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Of course you then risk being called out as a troll.

Is that really trolling though? A real situation. Real question. Just described from an alternate point of view.

I change details about myself and my family all of the time - # of kids, genders, etc. Does that make me a troll?

I guess my point is that I think real trolls have the intention of stirring up trouble. Not just providing some misleading details.

If you knew the OP, you would know she was either the ex OR she was the single girl. No way she could bring both.

If they are small details changed to protect your privacy, then, no, that doesn't make you a troll.

But if you pretend that you have two boys and post about your "boy mom" experiences, or if you pretend you are your MIL to see what people will say about your DIL, then you are lying. And annoying. And
I would also say a troll because you are deliberately misrepresenting yourself to control the responses you get or to speak with supposed authority on something with which you have no actual experience.

I don't think of even those sorts of posts as being trolling per se - you might have a legitimate interest in trying to see how folks would see a situation in your life, described from other points of view.

I think of trolls are being people who are just posting to stir sh*t up. People who are bored, or whatever, and just make stuff up for the hell of it.

I've actually tried to avoid even looking at the relationship forum anymore because it seems too troll prone. I work at a computer and - like PP - am basically on DCUM all day every day (gd help me), but I just feel gross spending time reading or responding to most posts on relationships, given how many turn out to be from trolls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Of course you then risk being called out as a troll.

Is that really trolling though? A real situation. Real question. Just described from an alternate point of view.

I change details about myself and my family all of the time - # of kids, genders, etc. Does that make me a troll?

I guess my point is that I think real trolls have the intention of stirring up trouble. Not just providing some misleading details.

If you knew the OP, you would know she was either the ex OR she was the single girl. No way she could bring both.

If they are small details changed to protect your privacy, then, no, that doesn't make you a troll.

But if you pretend that you have two boys and post about your "boy mom" experiences, or if you pretend you are your MIL to see what people will say about your DIL, then you are lying. And annoying. And I would also say a troll because you are deliberately misrepresenting yourself to control the responses you get or to speak with supposed authority on something with which you have no actual experience.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Of course you then risk being called out as a troll.

Is that really trolling though? A real situation. Real question. Just described from an alternate point of view.

I change details about myself and my family all of the time - # of kids, genders, etc. Does that make me a troll?

I guess my point is that I think real trolls have the intention of stirring up trouble. Not just providing some misleading details.

If you knew the OP, you would know she was either the ex OR she was the single girl. No way she could bring both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love when Jeff outs trolls. Trolling is not ok.

+1

+2 I like to give advice, and it’s annoying to waste my time on troll threads.

+3. 84 threads?!! Who has that kind of time (and I say this as someone who is on DCUM pretty much all day, every day)

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Of course you then risk being called out as a troll.

Is that really trolling though? A real situation. Real question. Just described from an alternate point of view.

I change details about myself and my family all of the time - # of kids, genders, etc. Does that make me a troll?

I guess my point is that I think real trolls have the intention of stirring up trouble. Not just providing some misleading details.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love when Jeff outs trolls. Trolling is not ok.

+1

+2 I like to give advice, and it’s annoying to waste my time on troll threads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Of course you then risk being called out as a troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

No reason why we can’t though.

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

You can post your own perspective, then ask others what MIL or daughter or employer or husband might be thinking, and what their perspective might be. There is no need to pretend to be someone you're not; if you do that, you'd be bringing your own "stuff" into the perspective, so you wouldn't get an accurate picture in the responses.

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.

As you can see from the troll’s follow-up post, she doesn’t deny being a troll and, in fact, thinks that I shouldn’t care because it creates traffic for the website.

I didn’t open them all but some of those could be legit posts.

And sometimes I post from a different perspective to get opinions. Maybe OP is really the ex-wife and mother of the 15 yo. Or her sister is going through that situation.