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Can self-confessed trolls really be trusted to give honest answers on personality surveys?

by ecdavis 13y ago

cristianpascu 13y ago
"Such is the nature of evil, in time, all foul things come forth" :)
balls187 13y ago
Survey science involves setting up controls to suss out people filing falsely.
- malandrew 13y ago
  Yeah, but how many people conducting surveys are actually practicing this level of scientific rigor? Unless a study specifically points out what they did to ensure the validity of their results, I assumed none of these additional checks were performed.
- pistle 13y ago
  Getting effective sampling in case-control studies when it comes to the structure they seem to have put together is complex, with pitfalls. With the numbers they have and descriptions provided, we have little reason to believe this study was structured this way, let alone in a useful manner. Knocking down the paywall would help, but most pop-study coverage usually is great for research funding, but not often an indicator of great research. I did a case-control study showing this at some point and it got published to an open journal somewhere.
lutusp 13y ago
> Can self-confessed trolls really be trusted to give honest answers on personality surveys? If they're narcissists, then yes, because a narcissist is perfect, and each of his traits is a gift to humanity, so he wouldn't hesitate to describe how he sees himself, in gory detail. This obviously argues with the meaning of "honest answer", unless we accept that an honest answer is anything a person believes to be true. More depth on this topic: http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  If they're narcissists, then yes, because a narcissist is perfect, and each of his traits is a gift to humanity Yes, but some trolling is a genuine gift to humanity. I've seen (and executed) some truly celestial-- even operatic-- trolls. By the way, I can't stand online bullies. Those assholes ruined trolling IMO. Trolling was awesome when what happened online, stayed online and no one ever tried to fuck with another's "IRL" existence. The problem is that, while the skilled trolls tended to stay white/gray hat-- shit, some have said that I'm an extremely-white-hat troll-- the unskilled trolls had nothing other than evil to distinguish themselves. Eventually it became repulsive.
  - misterjangles 13y ago
    I'm not really into trolling but I will admit it's funny too see somebody who takes themselves way too seriously getting strung along. Particularly if I find their opinions disagreeable. I don't really find it that interesting when people just try to troll and cause havoc for absolutely no reason at all other than their own amusement. There should be an appropriate target who has been flapping their gums and needs to be brought down a peg.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      My most epic troll remains stringing two strident Christians along for a few days by letting them believe they had converted me. I lost them when I explained God's will for me was writing a new book in the Bible. Didn't even get a response after that one. :( I may have short-circuited their doctrine. Pretty sure I managed to do the whole thing without explicitly lying, either.
  - gaius 13y ago
    Nowadays people see something they don't like on Twitter and call the police, it's insane. Of course it's on the cops themselves too for wasting their time and taxpayer's money on it. The correct response is as it always have been, drop 'em in a killfile and move on with your life. Actually using the word "killfile" probably puts you on a terrorist watchlist.

Can self-confessed trolls really be trusted to give honest answers on personality surveys?

by ecdavis 13y ago

Can self-confessed trolls really be trusted to give honest answers on personality surveys?

cristianpascu 13y ago

"Such is the nature of evil, in time, all foul things come forth" :)

balls187 13y ago

Survey science involves setting up controls to suss out people filing falsely.

malandrew 13y ago
Yeah, but how many people conducting surveys are actually practicing this level of scientific rigor? Unless a study specifically points out what they did to ensure the validity of their results, I assumed none of these additional checks were performed.
pistle 13y ago
Getting effective sampling in case-control studies when it comes to the structure they seem to have put together is complex, with pitfalls. With the numbers they have and descriptions provided, we have little reason to believe this study was structured this way, let alone in a useful manner. Knocking down the paywall would help, but most pop-study coverage usually is great for research funding, but not often an indicator of great research. I did a case-control study showing this at some point and it got published to an open journal somewhere.

lutusp 13y ago

> Can self-confessed trolls really be trusted to give honest answers on personality surveys? If they're narcissists, then yes, because a narcissist is perfect, and each of his traits is a gift to humanity, so he wouldn't hesitate to describe how he sees himself, in gory detail. This obviously argues with the meaning of "honest answer", unless we accept that an honest answer is anything a person believes to be true. More depth on this topic: http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus

michaelochurch 13y ago
If they're narcissists, then yes, because a narcissist is perfect, and each of his traits is a gift to humanity Yes, but some trolling is a genuine gift to humanity. I've seen (and executed) some truly celestial-- even operatic-- trolls. By the way, I can't stand online bullies. Those assholes ruined trolling IMO. Trolling was awesome when what happened online, stayed online and no one ever tried to fuck with another's "IRL" existence. The problem is that, while the skilled trolls tended to stay white/gray hat-- shit, some have said that I'm an extremely-white-hat troll-- the unskilled trolls had nothing other than evil to distinguish themselves. Eventually it became repulsive.
- misterjangles 13y ago
  I'm not really into trolling but I will admit it's funny too see somebody who takes themselves way too seriously getting strung along. Particularly if I find their opinions disagreeable. I don't really find it that interesting when people just try to troll and cause havoc for absolutely no reason at all other than their own amusement. There should be an appropriate target who has been flapping their gums and needs to be brought down a peg.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    My most epic troll remains stringing two strident Christians along for a few days by letting them believe they had converted me. I lost them when I explained God's will for me was writing a new book in the Bible. Didn't even get a response after that one. :( I may have short-circuited their doctrine. Pretty sure I managed to do the whole thing without explicitly lying, either.
- gaius 13y ago
  Nowadays people see something they don't like on Twitter and call the police, it's insane. Of course it's on the cops themselves too for wasting their time and taxpayer's money on it. The correct response is as it always have been, drop 'em in a killfile and move on with your life. Actually using the word "killfile" probably puts you on a terrorist watchlist.