Twitter safety - How to tell the difference between a political obsessive and a sexually motivated troll

One of the advantages of my job is that I get to meet a lot of very interesting people. When people visit a studio, they spend a lot of time doing nothing, waiting around. There is ample time for interesting conversations.I had a fascinating chat with one yesterday. Their day job is as a clinical psychologist. We were discussing the stress which teenagers have to face in the modern world. I casually mentioned that when I was a teenager, I was more concerned with a smack in the teeth at the bus stop from a bunch of hoodlums, than a few people saying nasty things about me. They replied that social media has, in a very short period of time, developed a whole new range of psychological disorders. In the 1970's, a political obsessive would read the newspapers and write letters. They might turn up at speakers corner every week or at an MP or councillor surgery. Now they can sit in their bedroom, search for information that supports their viewpoint and shout at the world. Often this is in an echo chamber, or with a small circle of similarly motivated individuals, all of whom support the particular viewpoint. We had a short conversation about this. This sort of behaviour is generally harmless and motivated by a narrow view of complex situations. The individuals involved expend enormous amounts of energy for an audience of two or three people. In a free country, such individuals are generally viewed as British eccentrics and people don't get too bothered by their activities.

An altogether more sinister type of obsessive is the Troll. These people are different from obsessives. Wheras obsessives seek validation for their ideas, the troll will develop a narrow focus for their activity. I had assumed that this selection of a victim for trolling was a pretty random thing, but in light of our conversation yesterday, I've realised just how wrong I was. In virtually all cases, it is sexually motivated. I was sceptical when this was proposed, but as it was explained to me, it all became clear. What the internet has done is allow people to develop sexual obsessions with people they do not know. They will conjure up a mythical kinship in their heads, then convince themselves that the victim has an interest in them. Sometimes this will start with genuine attempts to make contact via email etc. Sometimes a platonic friendship will develop before the victim realises that the Troll is not quite what they seem. Usually things never reach this stage and all that happens is a barrage of nonsense starts.

What are the markers that differentiate a political obsessive from a sexually motivated troll?

These are generally quite easy to spot.

1. Personal comments.
An obsessive will comment that someone in uneducated or stupid when they don't agree. They will find it impossible to see the other side of the story. A sexually motivated troll will resort to personal comments. A victim will be characterised as old, fat, ugly, alcoholic, badly dressed, etc. There will be a concerted effort to get under the skin of the victim. Once a jibe gets a response, the troll will remorselessly push this. That is why, even if a jibe is unpleasant, it is best ignored. Bear in mind that as the Troll doesn't know the victim, they will usually frame the insults around their own inadequacies.

2. Name calling with a sexual overtone.
Political obsessives and sexual trolls both use nicknames to identify the objects of their ire. Political obsessives use ones that in some way reflect the political character of the object of ire. A great example is John Crace of The Guardian named Theresa May the "Maybot". This summed up her robotic performance at the dispatch box in Parliament. The sexual troll uses a different language. The more obvious ones refer to an imagined loose sexual morality, but often there is a subliminal tendancy of such Trolls to construct seemingly innocent nicknames that give the game away when you analyse them. Calling victims names such as the King, Queen, Empress, Dictator, Schoolmaam etc says a lot about how people really see their victim. As they are generally weak people, they quite like the idea of strong people dominating them. As many Trolls find it difficult to form and maintain proper adult relationships, they don't see such playground level jibes for what they are. Often they justify the use of the nicknames to themselves as part of a cunning strategy to ensure they won't get a libel action, without realising the names display just what sort of a character they are.

3. Obsessive posting of the same thing.
A political obsessive may well post many things a day, but there is a development in what they are saying. They will constantly be researching their pet subject and finding new angles to win arguments. A sexual obsessive has no such agenda. They are simply fixated on an individual and will  say the same thing in a different way for months, if not years on end. As they do not know the person they are trolling, they simply invent things and continually spout about them. A sure sign is dozens, if not hundreds of rather irrational posts, that only the Troll (and possibly the victim) will have a clue what it's all about.

4. Anger and hatred.
A political obsessive is rarely genuinely angry. They may well say "I'm furious with Boris/Corbyn for doing this" as an example. Generally this is a figure of speech. They expect the behaviour and it is not really a shock very often. A sexual obsessive feels spurned and they are driven by hatred and anger. Often this is hard to fathom for the victim. What they do not realise is that the Troll has been in a deep loving relationship in their own head with them. When they realise this has ended, they are every bit as hurt as a person in a real relationship is.

5. Harassment of associates of the victim.
A political obsessive has moving targets. If they are Socialist, this could have been Cameron, then May and now Boris and their cabinets. Whilst they may particularly dislike a particular player, once they have left the scene, they are largely forgotten until such time as they have a book to sell and pop up again. It is about the policies, not the person. The Troll only has one focus. They will however, periodically target associates. This is done to try and isolate the victim and make them feel vulnerable. It is very much "I know who you are and I know who your friends are". Sometimes the friends have no idea why they are being trolled. If you see this, it is worth letting them know, and advise they block the Troll. The sexually motivated Troll needs to control situations.  A political obsessive knows this is pointless.

6. Inconsistency.
A political obsessive is 100% consistent in their views. They don't change their mind or spout contradictory viewpoints. They know their subject and care about it. The sexually motivated Troll will say whatever they think is necessary to get a response. Often they will invent multiple accounts, to try and ensure that they are not picked up on their inconsistency. This is also useful for the intimidation of the victim, who they believe will see several people with seemingly different viewpoints attacking them. Usually the penny drops fairly quickly for the victim.

Sadly, there are almost countless numbers of such sexually motivated Trolls bashing away in their bedrooms. The vast majority seem to be men and the vast majority of victims are female. Whilst male/male & female/female trolling (and all of the other shades of sexuality) are not unknown, it is far rarer. What I hadn't realised is that it happens far more frequently to ordinary people, who have no public profile than it does to celebrities. It can be triggered by something as innocent as an attractive profile picture or a saucy post. My advice, should you find yourself on the end of all of this is to simply block the person causing you grief as soon as you are aware of the behaviour. The markers are listed above, if you see any of this sort of behaviour directed at you, it will save you a hell of a lot of grief.