Well, as a starting troll you don't want to get into the business of using alternate accounts to help you along in trolling, but once you've been trolling for a while you should be able to behave differently enough with your accounts to make them distinguishable from your others. First, let me explain what using alternate accounts is done for in trolling, and what it accomplishes. Now granted, as a troll you can get the help of other trolls, as well as others around you to help you accomplish your goal of trolling aboard to submission. However, if you have multiple alternate accounts, and you can  type differently enough with the account to avoid the account being tagged as an alt, then you can troll much more effecitvely. If a board feels they are swamped by trolls, they will have a lot less heart. As a matter of fact, some of the best trolls have used alternates and been very effective with it. The LWO comes to mind, which had a number of alts, some under well known troll Latino and others under troll green talons. By pretending to be a number of users trolling the board at once, Latino killed the diablo 2 social board. Now that you see the benefits of trolling using alts, let me show you how to do it effectively.

 

1. Close post times: Nothing screams alt like when a user post something with 1 account(henceforth account A), and then seconds/mere minutes later post in agreement with account A using account B. The close post times coupled with the agreement indicate that the user is using two alternates. Soloution? Post at broader points apart, to avoid looking conspicuous. Its not hard. Just make a few post with one account, then go and live your life and come back and post with the other account later.

 

2.) Login times: Watch your login times. If you log in with account A at 7:34, don't post any messages with account B in that topic if its last login time is 7:35. You give yourself away. Make sure that your login times between accounts are apart from one another. This is accomplished by only logging in with an account when you are about to post. This method coupled with the first rule listed above should handle both problems.

 

3. Don't type the same: Don't use the same gimmick across accounts. If you are "preforming dances" at the end every post with account a (my old gimmick) then don't do the same with account b. On top of that, if you aren't using a gimmick, then do simple things to very the way that your post look. For instance, with account a you could have impeccable grammer while with account b you could always use lower case letters. Better still, with account c, never use periods, and with account d start every paragraph with a *. Always speak with slang or say "peace" at the end of a post with account a? Don't do that with the other accounts then. Throw in false  info about yourself, like saying that you have a kid sister with accont b, but with account a saying that you are an only child. Things that will make people see you as a different individual. There are simple things you can do in your posting styles that differ your personality, and make sure to take care to do these to accomplish this.

 

4. Make sure you're logged in with the right account before posting! I can't stress this enough. Even some of the best trolls blow there cover by accidentally posting as "account b" while logged into "account a". If you don't blatantly do it, you can still fix it later, but really, this is a mistake that you shouldn't make, and won't make if you keep your login and post times apart.

 

5. Don't post things that could constitute as a flood or an invasion. By posting certain things, you could be breaking a rule in a message boards terms of service by starting a board war. This is bad. It will get all of your accounts banned AND blow your cover. Take special care to make sure that it doesn't seem you are trying to take over a board when posting. Even though you're trying to kill it, they don't have to have proof of that to show the mods, even if they know.

 

By following these simple do's and dont's you should be good at using alts. As always, practice makes perfect, and you'll get better at this with time. As always, you know my e mail address if you need any help or have any questions. Now, on to another intermediate trolling tactic. Getting the mods on your side.

 

 

So, you want to make sure that the mods are in your favor and not the users on the boards right? Well, there are a couple of things you need to do. First, before you get a rep as a troll, you need to convince the mods you are a persecuted user. Once the mods know you are a troll, you can't get them on your side. However, if you convince them that the other users are the bad guys, then you're gold. However, you need to have the basics of trolling down in order to manipulate this guy/girl (Yes, its is possible for moderators to be girls. Don't ask me why but it just is). If you haven't read trolling 101 yet go there first and then come back. Now, on to what to do. The first thing you need to do is strike first.

 

1.) Striking first: (Will be updated soon. Really, check back about 4/18/04.) Get to the mods before they do. The mod is more inclined to believe the party that comeplains about the other first, and plus imagine the vets suprise when they complain to the mods only to get the cold shoulder! ^_^