The Pilots of America Unofficial Hall of Fame, Troll Edition

SkyChaser

SkyChaser

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SkyChaser
The thread in pilot training sent me down a rabbit hole discovering "troll gold" from years past, and I've had a very entertaining morning with some truly ludicrous threads. Despite the amount of absolute hilarity and stupidity involved in some of them, there was such a surprising amount of good and helpful advice mixed in that I've actually managed to learn a few things this morning. Between that and the posts in the aforementioned thread, it got me to thinking that it would be great fun to assemble the troll threads into one spot, and potentially discover new ones I haven't seen before. It would be both comedic gold and a good primer on the forms that hazardous attitudes take, as that seems to be the common attribute between all troll or troll-like posts. Maybe I should have titled this, "Hazardous Attitudes 101", because it's pretty much the same thing...

Anyway, I will start with an old and a new one:

The "Peter Who Failed His Checkride (But It Was the DPE's Fault!!!!)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Private checkride went horribly wrong!

Well, I didn't even get to the practical portion! The DPE failed me on the oral. :eek: I had a bad initial interaction with him, and just knew it was going to go south (which it did). I recorded the oral and that also riled him up. Probably a bad move! But in retrospect, I have proof he was...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com

The "I Am a Master Mindreader (And It's the CFI's Fault I Flew So Poorly)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Just had a TOL Eval. Went pretty badly.

I don't want to name locations or names or where I'm at. But most might figure it out. It's a place where the instructors don't give a sheet about students, they're only selfish and all they care about is themselves and building hours. At this point I've spent 20 hours in the pattern an am...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com

Please nominate your favorites! If you have a link, please post it up. If you don't, no worries. Just describe the troll as best you can and maybe someone else will be able to find the thread you're recalling.

Edit to Add:

The "April Fools or April's Fool?" Saga (starring EdFred):
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Well, that's gonna be life changing, right?

Let's hop in the wayback machine, back to 1998 before I went to golf school in Arizona. That summer yours truly was engaged. Yes, you read that right. It was short lived as we were young and her parents (especially her mother) - even though they knew I had the ring ahead of time - made her...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "I Drive Better Drunk (Is There a SODA For This?)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Unsure of path to take.

I’m not sure whether this should have went in Lessons Learned or here, but I’m deciding to put it here because I it is medical in nature, and it’s actually quite on odd situation. I’m going to apologize in advance for the length of the post, but like I stated it is an odd situation, and I’m not...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Historical Fraud (or The Wright Brothers Were Fakers)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

ALERT!: new book, "Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight"

Still believe the Wrights flew first? Want to know what the evidence is for Gustave Whitehead's 1901 powered flights? The most comprehensive book ever written on this topic has just been published. "Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight" can be seen on www.gustavewhiteheadbook.com and Amazon...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Accepting Applications for a Skyhawk-Priced TBM (Physics Need Not Apply)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Why is the Lancair IV-P so dangerous?

Recently there was a Lancair IV-P accident near where i live. After this i have researched this aircraft and read about how its a dangerous aircraft. What makes it so much more dangerous than say a bonanza or cirrus when comparing to speed. Ive read that pilots do not want to intentionally stall...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Birdie Num Num (Shortest Troll Thread Ever)" 'Saga':
www.pilotsofamerica.com

test

birdie num num
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Professional Sim Pilot Argues About Proper Training Regimes in Real Planes" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

PPL solo X-country... am I allowed to plan my own route?

Just curious... when I get to that point, I want to do a real cross country. I'm talking multi-state type flying. Do I get to choose where I want to go, or does my CFI/aircraft rental company dictate where I get to fly?
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Great Coastal Caper (or Suggestions on How to Be a Lying, Cheating Scumbag?)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

DO I need help?

I live in southern Florida and been pretty happy with my current situation. But I have a little friend I go see once in awhile up by NYC. I fly up there frequently and I do my best not to go IFR as others know how to track my flights. I normally won't even get FF as sometimes you show up...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Incoming: New Update for Foreflight? (or Your ADS-B Will Kill You)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

ADS-B Out and Passive Radar Homing Missile

According to this research, an ADS-B out antenna is a significant source of radio emission. Does an installation of ADS-B out equipment significantly increase the threat of the aircraft being locked on by a modern fire-control radar? It really concerns me. 9/4 Edit: One of greatest threat...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "Straight From the Horse's Mouth (Or Possibly the Other End)" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Spraying water into a hot engine

All, I'd appreciate a little help/advice. I'm in a situation where I'm being accused of causing damage to a hot engine from water being sprayed into it. Any white papers or studies would be thankfully accepted.
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
The "I Am Viper; Hear Me Roar" Saga:
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Reno midair

Races on hold. T-6 race accident. Rumor is one hit other in tail and one went into houses.
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
 
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What’s funny to me is my DPE passed me on my instrument Check ride when I didn’t think I should have been as my performance was so poor. I still think he made a mistake.
 
The very first thread I encountered in PoA in 2018 (before I was a member) actually happened to be a troll thread. Or what I'd consider to be a troll thread (schizophrenic, borderline incoherent, can't decide what they want to talk about but certain that they want to keep talking). The link is here: https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/why-is-the-lancair-iv-p-so-dangerous.75320/page-4

Dude comes in and necro's the thread (pg3 or 4) and doesn't know his ass from his elbow. He admits he's a brand new pilot who doesn't trust his own abilities or opinions, whilst claiming he's test flown every Lancair under the sun (LX7, propjet, Super ES, ...) and done stall training in each of them (yeah f right). Needs to go 280+ kts and get into a turboprop ASAP. Knows he's flown tons of planes just can't name which ones they are. Knows he hates the piper he's flown but doesn't know which one it is is. Doesn't know the difference between a Saratoga and a Malibu but knows he's flown them. Knows he hates piston aircraft. but asks people about SR22s and C210s. Knows he hates unpressurized aircraft and will buy first class commercial tickets to avoid being on one. Thinks maybe a C210 would fit his requirements. Knows the FAA is the reason why we're not all flying automated Jetson's style aircraft. It took a while until someone was like "this thread has just gone full retard" (searching that phrase is actually how I found the thread!).
 
Morgan3820 said:
What’s funny to me is my DPE passed me on my instrument Check ride when I didn’t think I should have been as my performance was so poor. I still think he made a mistake.
Click to expand...
You too eh? Seriously, I probably shouldn’t have passed, but it was years ago, and I fly IFR often so…?
 
I feel confused about trolls and I would be grateful for some clarity.

I often go to considerable effort to help people who turn out to be trolls.

I gain insight trying to help trolls so it may be time well spent.

What is the goal of a troll?

What is counted as a win for a troll?

What is counted as a loss for a troll?
 
SkyChaser said:
The thread in pilot training sent me down a rabbit hole discovering "troll gold" from years past, and I've had a very entertaining morning with some truly ludicrous threads. Despite the amount of absolute hilarity and stupidity involved in some of them, there was such a surprising amount of good and helpful advice mixed in that I've actually managed to learn a few things this morning. Between that and the posts in the aforementioned thread, it got me to thinking that it would be great fun to assemble the troll threads into one spot, and potentially discover new ones I haven't seen before. It would be both comedic gold and a good primer on the forms that hazardous attitudes take, as that seems to be the common attribute between all troll or troll-like posts. Maybe I should have titled this, "Hazardous Attitudes 101", because it's pretty much the same thing...

Anyway, I will start with an old and a new one:

The "Peter Who Failed His Checkride (But It Was the DPE's Fault!!!!)" Saga:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/private-checkride-went-horribly-wrong.63701/

The "I Am a Master Mindreader (And It's the CFI's Fault I Flew So Poorly)" Saga:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/just-had-a-tol-eval-went-pretty-badly.143249/

Please nominate your favorites! If you have a link, please post it up. If you don't, no worries. Just describe the troll as best you can and maybe someone else will be able to find the thread you're recalling.
Click to expand...

Probably the one about me getting engaged.
 
Vance Breese said:
What is the goal of a troll?
What is counted as a win for a troll?
What is counted as a loss for a troll?
Click to expand...
Trolls like to say increasingly absurd things and see how far they can go until people finally recognize they're being ridiculous. The more time you invest in them -- the bigger their win.

They "win" when people take them seriously and try to address their increasingly absurd questions/statements.
They "lose" when you immediately recognize them as a troll and either (1) don't respond to them, or (2) repeatedly call them out for what they are.

Being a troll is really about making the game last as long as possible so that people have invested a bunch of time in it before they'll finally say something so outrageous that whether or not they're a troll is no longer in question. Sometimes a troll and a BS'er are indistinguishable.

To save yourself from genuinely investing time in someone who is doing this, it's best to just completely disregard comments from members who haven't contributed to PoA for very long. PoA like many other platforms (including video games where trolling is rampant) has an issue with brand new members who come in, say outrageous stuff to stir the pot/get attention, and then either get booted or leave forever. It's why when you see members pop up who say something completely unorthodox (like mention their sexual orientation right off the bat, or airing a controversial grievance) it's a pretty clear sign their motivations have nothing to do with learning about flying.
 
schmookeeg said:
anything in the format of "I endangered society using shocking amounts of brain-altering chemicals and got caught, can I still get a medical?" -- particularly when all advice to clean it up first is argued with.
Click to expand...

Should I just add a link to the Medical Forum along with the links to the other troll threads mentioned? :D
 
If I wanted to read posts from or engage with trolls there's always Facebook (and Twitter, and Instagram, and on and on). I don't go there either.

Edit: And you spelled "Hall of Flame" wrong.
 
Vance Breese said:
I feel confused about trolls and I would be grateful for some clarity.

I often go to considerable effort to help people who turn out to be trolls.

I gain insight trying to help trolls so it may be time well spent.

What is the goal of a troll?

What is counted as a win for a troll?

What is counted as a loss for a troll?
Click to expand...


Most trolls are people that peaked in high school and never really matured emotionally or socially beyond that point. They are still the drama queens/attention whores they were then, typically with a very low self-esteem. And they will completely deny that they are not happy with themselves.


What is the goal of a troll? To create drama, start an argument, get a response of any kind.

What is counted as a win for a troll? When their threads gets lots of responses quickly, especially if it provokes lots of drama or animosity.

What is counted as a loss for a troll? To be ignored. Hence…Don’t feed the trolls.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Trolls like to say increasingly absurd things and see how far they can go until people finally recognize they're being ridiculous. The more time you invest in them -- the bigger their win.

They "win" when people take them seriously and try to address their increasingly absurd questions/statements.
They "lose" when you immediately recognize them as a troll and either (1) don't respond to them, or (2) repeatedly call them out for what they are.

Being a troll is really about making the game last as long as possible so that people have invested a bunch of time in it before they'll finally say something so outrageous that whether or not they're a troll is no longer in question. Sometimes a troll and a BS'er are indistinguishable.

To save yourself from genuinely investing time in someone who is doing this, it's best to just completely disregard comments from members who haven't contributed to PoA for very long. PoA like many other platforms (including video games where trolling is rampant) has an issue with brand new members who come in, say outrageous stuff to stir the pot/get attention, and then either get booted or leave forever. It's why when you see members pop up who say something completely unorthodox (like mention their sexual orientation right off the bat, or airing a controversial grievance) it's a pretty clear sign their motivations have nothing to do with learning about flying.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the explanation and so completely answering my questions.

I find the time I invest in answering what turn out to be troll questions is often helpful in my flight instruction as I am better prepared for those who misunderstand the basics.

I still have trouble understanding the joy some find in wasting others time by exaggerating their ignorance.
 
Vance Breese said:
Thank you for the explanation and so completely answering my questions.

I find the time I invest in answering what turn out to be troll questions is often helpful in my flight instruction as I am better prepared for those who misunderstand the basics.

I still have trouble understanding the joy some find in wasting others time by exaggerating their ignorance.
Click to expand...


This is probably the most genuine post I have read on POA. Thanks. I have zero doubt that you are an amazing instructor.
 
Morgan3820 said:
What’s funny to me is my DPE passed me on my instrument Check ride when I didn’t think I should have been as my performance was so poor. I still think he made a mistake.
Click to expand...
Same here! (Same situation, I'm not agreeing that your DPE made a mistake!)
 
do trolls get extra credit for getting a thread locked?

is the troll more or less successful if subsequently banned?
 
I thought Whitney was pretty entertaining until ejection handle pulled.
 
Vance Breese said:
I feel confused about trolls and I would be grateful for some clarity.

I often go to considerable effort to help people who turn out to be trolls.

I gain insight trying to help trolls so it may be time well spent.

What is the goal of a troll?

What is counted as a win for a troll?

What is counted as a loss for a troll?
Click to expand...
The trick is not to care whether someone is trolling or not. A discussion is either interesting and informative, or it's not. If the former, great! If the latter, disengage and go to some other thread.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Trolls like to say increasingly absurd things and see how far they can go until people finally recognize they're being ridiculous. The more time you invest in them -- the bigger their win.

They "win" when people take them seriously and try to address their increasingly absurd questions/statements.
They "lose" when you immediately recognize them as a troll and either (1) don't respond to them, or (2) repeatedly call them out for what they are.

Being a troll is really about making the game last as long as possible so that people have invested a bunch of time in it before they'll finally say something so outrageous that whether or not they're a troll is no longer in question. Sometimes a troll and a BS'er are indistinguishable.

To save yourself from genuinely investing time in someone who is doing this, it's best to just completely disregard comments from members who haven't contributed to PoA for very long. PoA like many other platforms (including video games where trolling is rampant) has an issue with brand new members who come in, say outrageous stuff to stir the pot/get attention, and then either get booted or leave forever. It's why when you see members pop up who say something completely unorthodox (like mention their sexual orientation right off the bat, or airing a controversial grievance) it's a pretty clear sign their motivations have nothing to do with learning about flying.
Click to expand...
If I'm living up to my own standards, a troll "winning" does not subtract in any way from my quality of life.
 
The troll seems very much like the entity on the original series Star Trek episode “Day of the Dove.” The entity feeds on strong negative emotions much like the troll attempts to evoke.
 
Another board I have frequented for years had a subforum for threads such as these (although their threads were far better). At a minimum this thread should be stickied and periodically updated.
 
I’m not going to look up the thread, but my favorite has long been the guy who, in pre-ADS-B days, asked if it was ok to give ATC a different tail number than his real one in his IFR flight plans. As the thread went on, he eventually divulged his wife knew how to track him on FlightAware, and he wanted to conceal the fact he was was shuttling back and forth to his mistress.
 
Van Johnston said:
I’m not going to look up the thread, but my favorite has long been the guy who, in pre-ADS-B days, asked if it was ok to give ATC a different tail number than his real one in his IFR flight plans. As the thread went on, he eventually divulged his wife knew how to track him on FlightAware, and he wanted to conceal the fact he was was shuttling back and forth to his mistress.
Click to expand...

"Takeoffs are optional. Landings are not."

"You never had your wife show up at the airport when your girlfriend was in the plane."
 
The writing style of the last one started to ring a bell...... just sayin' .
 
Van Johnston said:
I’m not going to look up the thread, but my favorite has long been the guy who, in pre-ADS-B days, asked if it was ok to give ATC a different tail number than his real one in his IFR flight plans. As the thread went on, he eventually divulged his wife knew how to track him on FlightAware, and he wanted to conceal the fact he was was shuttling back and forth to his mistress.
Click to expand...

I just spent way too much time trying to track this one down and have had absolutely zero luck. I found a few threads that alluded to this story, but not the original thread. Do you happen to remember the username or anything else about the thread that might help?
 
SkyChaser said:
I just spent way too much time trying to track this one down and have had absolutely zero luck. I found a few threads that alluded to this story, but not the original thread. Do you happen to remember the username or anything else about the thread that might help?
Click to expand...

Was on the east coast. I think he was in the NE corridor and she was in Florida. That’s all I’ve got.
 
jim rush said:
I thought Whitney was pretty entertaining until ejection handle pulled.
Click to expand...
Whitney turned out to be a foul-mouthed dude. I was surprised and a little disappointed, frankly. “She” had an epic run.
 
Van Johnston said:
Nope, got it backwards.

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/do-i-need-help.88752/
Click to expand...

Thank you! I thought I was pretty good at researching stuff, but I assumed too much about the original poster. I didn't think to search for "tail #" instead of "tail number" nor did searching for "little friend" cross my mind. :p

Racerx said:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/ads-b-out-and-passive-radar-homing-missile.134057/

Dude waited 4 years and came up with this
Click to expand...

How the heck did I miss this one??? The premise is hysterical and it's recent, even. (Wait, actually, I know how I missed it. This thread happened while I was visiting @2-Bit Speed and POA was the last thing on my mind. :cool: )
 
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