Troll Scoring

[Greg]

Note: I posted this note here on M and M Needful Things. (Warning: MNT is an adult site.) Then I thought we might have fun with it here on Sun Sims, too.

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Inspired by the latest troll to venture in here, I have an idea for something the Sims community really needs! A scoring system for trolling!

I'm thinking it should be set up like the Olympics, where 10 would be a perfect score (and hence, essentially unattainable in an art form). Judges can award up to 10 points, with tenths of a point allowed.

The final score of a troll event cannot be known until it is over, though judges can declare an interim score at any time. A troll event is officially over when no one has responded to the troll for more than three days or if the troll gives up.

With these scoring criteria, it is possible to get a negative score for a troll event, but it is also possible (though unlikely) to earn a perfect 10.


Troll Event Scoring Criteria

Originality: Up to 1 point. Zero points for hackneyed old trolls (such as the delete-my-account troll). Points off for really obvious name-calling or other troll bait. To achieve the full score for this criterion, the opening troll post must be truly fresh and original.

Gambit: Up to 1 point. Contestant gets credit for starting out from an apparently losing position and still managing to keep the attention-seeking behavior going. This is truly stylish trolling. On the other hand, subtract up to 2 points if the troll opens with a gambit and fails to keep the troll event going for more than 1 day.

Irrationality: Up to 2 points. The perfect troll is 100% irrational. It's the frustration with the insanity that keeps people responding as they try to beat some sense into the troll's head. Extra credit can be awarded for responses that express the futility of agruing with a troll but the respondent continues to respond anyway.

Longevity: Maximum of 2 points. (After all, the whole point of trolling is to get attention so the longer it goes on, the higher the score.) The troll earns 0.1 points per day that someone responds. Scoring stops if more than 3 consecutive days go by with no response.

Attention: Maximum of 3 points. (Again, getting lots of attention is the whole point.) The troll earns 0.1 points for each response during the troll event's active period and an additonal 0.1 points for each individual person who responds directly to the troll event. Subtract 0.2 points for each person who recognizes the troll event for what it is and walks away. Posts that contain only scores for the troll event do not affect the score unless the troll responds. If the troll responds to an interim score, subtract up to the full 4 points because the troll has acknowledged the troll event for what what it is and hence given up. The troll can earn attention points for responses to same troll event on multiple boards, but only if the respondents from the opening board are baited in to other boards.

Bravery: Let's award up to 1 point for bravery. That is, going it alone and hence getting all the attention. The troll loses 0.1 points for each additional troll recruited to support the troll event because that means they have to share the attention. Subtract 0.2 points for each obvious sock puppet created. The troll can lose up to 2.0 points total due to lack of courage; trolling is not a sport for wimps.

Tenacity: Zero positive points in this category since we already award major points for Longevity and Attention. Troll loses up to 5 points in this criterion for giving in, giving up, or walking away as long as there are people willing to respond to the troll event. If the troll is banned or deleted, subtract the full 5 points because that's an indication of tragically sloppy troll work.


Well, that will do for a first draft. I'm sure there are some other criteria we should consider, but I think this will do for a start.

[Greg]

And then there was more!

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Yup! The process of just thinking about scoring would help folks realize what's really going on. Besides, it sounds like fun! We just might learn to appreciate a truly well-crafted troll event.

For those who would like to hold up signs, I made a collection of little scoring placards that look like this:



There's even a minus sign, just in case:



Now, to use them on any board that uses BBCode, you just stack up some IMG tags, like this:

[img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/troll6.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/score7.jpg[/img]

You can copy that text string and paste it into your message.

See the numbers after the words "troll" and "score"? Just replace the numbers a single-digit number of your choice, 0-9.

With a minus sign it looks like this:

[img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/minus.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/troll6.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/score7.jpg[/img]

(There's also a plus sign. I'll bet you can figure out the URL for it if you want to use it.)

[Greg]

And still more!

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This must be a good idea because I keep thinking of more ways to have fun with it!

If you would like to link your score back to this thread, you can do that by adding a URL tag to your BBCode, like this:

[url=http://www.mandmneedfulthings.ca/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=4749][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/minus.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/troll6.jpg[/img][img]http://www.sunsims.com/images/trolls/score7.jpg[/img][/url]

That way, anyone who clicks on the score will be taken to this thread (probably in a new tab or window) to see what it's all about.


I also thought that folks might like to adapt the scoring placards to their own sites' livery, so I uploaded a zip file with the original Photoshop file. The trick is to turn layers on and off, then "copy merged" and paste the result into a new file to make the individual image files. You'll end up with 22 little image files. The image size in 64x96.

There's a simple 50% gray background (chosen intentionally so that it would not conflict with any site's colors), a black frame on top, layers for the words TROLL and SCORE, and a bunch of numbers. You could probably get a lot of mileage out of just using your art for the background and maybe applying a color overlay to the frame. Note that I used quite a few layer effects.

Download the Photoshop file
You need Photoshop CE or later to do anything with this file.
The little 37KB zip file will expand to about 0.8 MB on your machine.

This is grinware; use it if it makes you happy. You are welcome to use this file to make your own signs, with or without credit to Sun Sims. A link back to this thread at http://www.mandmneedfulthings.ca/For...pic.php?t=4749 would be appreciated.

Enjoy!


Of course, you can link to this thread on Sun Sims instead, if you've a mind to.

[Greg]

Incidentally, this scoring system probably won't be of much value on Sun Sims because my stated policy is to just blow away trolls when they show up.

OK, well, in truth, we haven't had any trolls around here yet, but if we did, I'd just blow 'em away.

[Miros1]

We did have one spammer...

[Greg]

Yeah, but a spammer doesn't count as a troll. Spammers don't stick around to be abused.

[shorty943]

Silly me, I thought this was about past romantic dalliances.

[Greg]

Date a lot of trolls, do you?

[shorty943]

No, not lately.

I seem to scare them off these days, good thing too. Bothersome mostly, trolls.

[Greg]

Yeah, especially when they turn to stone any time they are exposed in the light.

[shorty943]

Oh my, no, I've never had an experience quite that dramatic.

Although, there was this one time, oh never mind.
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