do you have any tips on identifying trolls / troll blogs / bad faith in general? i am autistic & fairly new to the kin community in general, i'm worried about being swindled. thank you in advance, hoku!
Hello, grey friend with sunglasses!
This is a really good question, actually, and it addresses the whole reason that trolls are a problem– the good ones can be mistaken for serious otherkin, especially by people who have little to no experience with the community. As a fellow autistic person, this is something I used to have trouble with, too. However, you eventually start picking up on patterns.
So, how does one go about spotting trolls? Some hallmarks that I look for are:
•"ridiculous" kintypes. Food is really common. This one can be hard, since ridiculousness is subjective, and there are some people with out-there kintypes who are completely sincere. This sign really only applies in conjunction with others.
•odd pronouns, especially nounself. As with before, this is only in conjunction with other signs.
•a million labels, often conflicting with each other. You may as well have the entire dictionary.
•sudden appearance with a lot of posts. Usually trolls like to hit fast and hard.
•over-use of "uwu" and similar emotes.
•a LOT of posts about species dysphoria. Serious otherkin will address this topic on occasion, but trolls often make it every other post.
•posts about how their kintype interferes with normal human functioning. Most otherkin would seek help if it interferes (which it almost always doesn't).
•posts about otherkin being oppressed (especially the poster). This ties in a lot with the previous point, since they like to say that being "forced" into functioning normally is oppressive and they shouldn't have to do it (famous example: the rabbitkin in a restaurant post).
•posts about being triggered by stuff related to their kintype. This especially applies with "foodkin" ("please don't talk about eating I'm biscuitkin and it's really triggering"), but can also be related to other kintypes.
•inflammatory behavior. They come onto the tags, and start fights when someone tries to gently correct them.
•justifying shitty behavior with their kintype (i.e. zoophilia, acting out in public, eating stuff they shouldn't, etc.). This is easily the biggest marker, as well as the one that fools the most outsiders. We've all seen the posts about the dragonkin eating gems and the cat therian who is attracted to cats. Those are notorious troll posts that are still passed around by anti-kin despite being years old and demonstrated to be fake many times. It's definitely rarer than the others, though they definitely get the most attention when they show up.
Some stuff that is usually not troll behavior:
•having a lot of kintypes. This is common among younger folks and people who aren't totally familiar with otherkinity as a concept, but not trolls.
•on that note, misinformation. Same as above.
•unusual kintypes (when not accompanied by other markers of trolls). I've seen some very odd kintypes with some totally serious folks.
Some other people to avoid:
•people who pretend to know everything. We are all humans, whether we like it or not, and are ergo fallible. Nobody knows everything. Be wary of what they tell you.
•godkin/deitykin who demand worship. Just don't bother with them, you'll be a lot better off.
•physical shifters (a.k.a. "p-shifters"). These are folks who claim they can physically transform into another being. They also call themselves lycans, werewolves, and shifters. They lurk in the corners of the community, making grand claims with zero evidence to back it up. They tend to prey on vulnerable people, forming small cult-like groups of followers who all believe that they, too, will one day have their first shift. However, physical shifting is impossible, despite how much we wish it wasn't. Avoid these folks at all costs.
The listed troll behaviors are almost never isolated– trolls usually exhibit two or more behaviors from the list. Usually, I keep my guard up at one, but once you see at least two, you can be pretty sure they're a troll. However, I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt until they actually start hurting people.
This was a really good question, and it's good information to know. Thanks for asking!
Edit: added some stuff and corrected some typos
