Troll Cheatsheet

Do not engage. Expose.

Online trolls come in a variety of forms; from the sad, who just want to project their own anger and inferiority issues onto others, to the disruptors, who enjoy throwing proverbial spanners into the works just for the fun of it, and the paid professionals, who specialise in manipulation of perception using the 7D tactics of deny, deter, discredit, disrupt, delay, degrade and deceive.¹

— Feargus O’Connor Greenwood

If you write or comment on Substack you’ve probably dealt with trolls. If a troll comments on your Substack or on your comment, you have written something important that the troll must challenge, refute or drench in doubt before the truth starts prevailing in a wider population. The temptation is to engage, to attempt to refute their arguments, but that is strategy that you will never win.

Many of the people you are interacting with online are paid government agents that are purposely trying to feed you propaganda and misinformation. In reality, you aren’t going to be able to out manipulate a master manipulator. But then again, you don’t have to.²

This is an important point. By not engaging with the trolls you win. Here’s how.

Troll: Definition

I got this definition from an AI (AlterAI).

An online troll is someone who deliberately provokes, irritates, or manipulates others on the internet—through comments, posts, or messages—with the intent to disrupt conversations, evoke emotional reactions, or derail discussions for amusement, attention, or ideological purposes.

In short: a troll thrives on chaos and reaction, not dialogue or truth.

A Strategy to Combat Trolls: Exposure

Many trolls are fairly easy to spot (I’ll be doing another post on those not so easy to spot) and if you’re unsure sometimes just one short comment questioning what they’ve said will suffice in exposing them. But when you’re sure or fairly sure who you’re dealing with, it’s time to stop engaging and use a strategy I learned from Feargus O’Connor Greenwood the author of 180°. Here are Greenwood’s three steps to deal with trolls:

• Identify the technique.

• Communicate to everyone on the thread what the specific tactic is.

• Post a link to the full list of tactics so more people can familiarise themselves with them.³

Here’s how I’ve used this. I thank the troll for the comment, explain to readers we have a troll, explain the current technique, then post the different techniques they’ll try in the future right in my comment. I’ve only done this twice, but each time the troll never came back, well, once they did, to tell me they’re never coming back.

Responding is not the same as engaging. Think of responding as exposing. You want to expose the troll so he/she/it gives up and so others understand their techniques and goals. You can’t out debate a troll because they’re not debating. So don’t debate, don’t argue. Expose. Trolls hate being exposed.

Some Troll Examples

Recently, I posted a quote in my Substack Notes from another Substack. What it is doesn’t matter because trolling responses are often general enough to be used for almost anything. Here’s the response to the note:

Great… the other side has their own similar story that justifies their position and implies the other side are idiots. I cannot in good faith align with either side. They are both brazen LIARS and manipulators. Neither has the children of America’s interests in mind.

This could easily be used against anybody that takes a side. This is classic trolling: both sides are terrible. I responded to see what he would do. Again, my response doesn’t matter. He didn’t even refer to it. Here’s his comment:

As a former military man i wouldn’t follow the leaders of either side across a mud puddle let alone a mine field… NEVER.

What do we have here? It’s an appeal to authority. I’m a military man, I would never follow those people and you should listen to me because I’m, well, a “military man.” But in truth it doesn’t say anything. We don’t know if he’s a military man. We don’t know why he wouldn’t follow them except that they’re all just as bad as everyone else and we’re supposed to take his word for it because he’s an authority.

Here’s another example of another technique. I won’t go through the whole thing, I’ll just give you his last paragraph directed at me:

If you are white, not at least a millionaire, and do not understand this, you’re a fool, a tool, and a sucker. Think, please.”

A comment like this gives the game away, it’s the tell. Insult your audience, try to make them feel unintelligent, ignorant and uniformed. You can see this behavior with countless trolls particularly when called out. This troll just decided for the nuclear option in the beginning: I’m white, I’m not a millionaire, I do not understand or agree with all his arguments so I’m a fool, a tool and a sucker. And apparently I’m incapable of thinking. This is when it’s time to laugh and use the troll cheatsheet below.

Trolling Techniques List

As I wrote above many of the trolling techniques below come from the book 180º: Unlearn the Lies You’ve Been Taught to Believe by Feargus O’Connor Greenwood.⁴ I also included some others by Mark McGrath from The Whirl of ReOrientation (the last six in the list are his).⁵ I’ve also added some of my own.

If you have other trolling techniques you think should be exposed on this list, please leave them in the comments. I’m going to keep updating this page.

You can also link to this page instead of copying and pasting everything below. Good hunting!

Page Link: https://theinmate.substack.com/p/troll-cheatsheet/

COPY THE BELOW

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Thank you for your comment.

Folks this is a troll. Here’s the technique that this troll just used:

[EXPLAIN THE TECHNIQUE THE TROLL USED]

Below are the trollish techniques we can expect in the future:

DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Troll tries to get opponents to fight each other.

BOTH SIDES ARE TERRIBLE
The side the troll often takes is no side. They’ll say liberals and conservatives are no different. They’re all the same and if you think otherwise you’re an idiot and a fool who can’t see the truth.

NAME CALLING / INSULTS
Troll calls people names without presenting any facts.

SIDETRACK
Troll tries to turn the discussion to something else completely unrelated.

CONVOLUTED SENTENCES AND/OR PARAGRAPHS
These are meant to sound intelligent, but because they don’t quite make sense it can make the person reading it feel like they’re not understanding because the Troll is more intelligent than they are. The reason you don’t understand it, is because it doesn’t make sense.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
Troll tries to convince you it is useless to criticize or try to change things.

OPEN AND SHUT CASE
Troll appeals to science or some authority as if the issue has already been decided and you shouldn’t question it.

COMPLETE SOLUTION
Troll says it is up to you to prove everything beyond a shadow of doubt. I.e. the facts presented are not enough. Prove it with more!

EXTREMISM
Troll tries to get you to agree with something extreme or just posit something extreme to change the topic. Often this couched with things you agree with in an attempt to equate something good with something evil.

QUESTION MOTIVES AND/OR INTEGRITY
Troll accuses you of just wanting clicks or money or attention or whatever.

OFFENSE AS DEFENSE
Troll just acts completely indignant and offended.

STRAW MAN
Troll accuses you of something you don’t believe to change the topic.

INVOKES AUTHORITY
Troll claims they’re some kind of specialist or expert to shut the conversation down.

ACCUSES YOU OF DEFENDING A POSITION YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU’RE DEFENDING
LOL. This is a great one. It’s like the question, “How often do you beat your wife?” The troll is saying, “I know you don’t think you believe this, but you actually do!”

WAITS FOR POST TRAFFIC TO DIE DOWN THEN COMMENTS
Trolls will often wait for traffic to die down on a post so they can post while regular readership is off doing something constructive. Some trolls do not want deal with dozens of intelligent readers, but it’s also a way to get their propaganda out there via search engines.

OUTRAGE
The troll loses it (or pretends to). Troll starts using multiple exclamation and question marks while writing in all capitals (HOW COULD ANYONE BELIEVE THAT!!!??? HOW STUPID ARE YOU???!!!). Feigns complete dumbfoundedness that anyone could have such an unworthy opinion or belief. OMFG!!!

LAST WORD
Trolls really, really want to have the last word. In their minds it gives the appearance that their comment was so profound no one dared respond.

DOUBT
The troll attempts to get you to doubt your position, by disputing your facts or asserting there’s no real way to know.

NO ONE CAN REALLY KNOW
It’s all just to complicated, there’s really no point in trying to understand it all. So just give up and watch the show.

GUILTY BE ASSOCIATION
The troll will link you to a public figure with a bad reputation to discredit you, even though you have no connection with them.

POISON THE WELL
The troll will disparage you in the beginning in an attempt to discredit any of your responses.

FALSE DILEMMA
The troll only gives you two bad options to choose from, even though many other options may, or probably do exist.

FALSE EQUIVALENCE
Presenting two opinions or positions as morally the same, when they’re not.

MORAL CREDENTIALING
The troll tells you, you can’t question them because they’re experts in their field or have life experiences that can’t be challenged (similar to invoking authority)

RED HERRING
The troll introduces material that has nothing to do with content of the discussion in order to change the topic.

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THE END

I’m thinking of starting a new series called, “Troll Patrol,” where I post exchanges with trolls exposing techniques being used through real world examples. Troll techniques have a lot of overlap with propaganda and also Biderman’s Chart of Coercion. Trolls are often used by propagandists and governments to influence populations.

Stay tuned.

Notes

1. Greenword, Feargus O’Conner, 180°: Unlearn the Lies You’ve Been Taught to Believe, Ta-Dah! an imprint of Tinderbox, first published in Great Britain, 2021, p. 112.

2. Ibid. p. 113.

3. Ibid. p. 118.

4. Ibid. pp. 115-117. I’ve included Greenwood’s list plus some of my own. Greenwood goes into more depth explaining these and his book, though long, is well worth your time. Read my review of 180°

5. McGrath, Mark, “Narrative Weapons Are Being Used Against You; This 5-Part Framework Shows You How to Identify Them And Fight Back”, The Whirl of ReOrientation: Escape the Script. Win the War, May 7, 2026, Source This is an excellent article.