I was trolled on Facebook this morning

[Marthe48]

I made a comment about josh hawley living in Virginia, but voting in and representing Missouri. Some guy said I looked nice and wanted me to friend him. I thought about it and thought why not.

Then I googled him, and turns out Lt. General Stephen Townsend's pictures and name are often used to create scam accounts. I blocked him immediately. If I take blandishments seriously in the future, (which I won't after this!), I'll google first and then decide to friend or not.

I have pretty strict security on my page, but guess I need more security on my head. Was was playing Word Wars for awhile, but a lot of people were there to pick up, and you'd think I would know better

[Siwsan]

1. I ALWAYS do the same thing

First I take a hard look at their profile page, and about 99.9% of the time the discrepancies and red flags I see have me immediately hitting the block button.

Even if I get a request from someone who is a 'friend' of one of my friends, I always check with them, first, to make sure.

I confess that one of my guilty pleasures is watching shows about catfishing victims. It boggles my mind how people can fall for these things, whether it be emotional or financial catfishing.

[Marthe48]

3. catfished, not trolled?

I got fooled for a minute. lol

[Siwsan]

5. I have no patience with either one but my mind flashes first to catfishing

Every single done I've gotten shows a male who thinks he's pretty hot. All races, all kinds of professions but normally in the range of military officers, doctors, or some other high paid profession.

The trolls I've dealt with haven't been through friend requests. They've been right wing nut jobs who jump into political FB groups, and try to show how right they are and how stupid the rest of us must be to believe what we believe. I usually leave them as road kill, and if they come back to life, I block them.

[Sherman A1]

2. I rarely accept any friend requests from folks I don't already know

or are not in a similar hobby that I have. I also rarely if every make any political comments on FB. It really saves the potential for arguments there which gain nothing for anyone involved.

[Marthe48]

4. I get feeds from several Democratic sites

sometimes, I can't help myself to comment

And I usually am more careful.

[Sherman A1]

6. I occasionally will make a comment on an article or reply to someone's post

on C-Span but generally I will not engage. No minds will be changed and it just isn't worth the effort or the increase in blood pressure.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. For what it's worth, I don't accept friend requests

if I don't actually know the person.

And I've learned somewhat the hard way, to look at someone's FB page before I do accept a friend request. It's shocking how many people I knew years ago have turned out to be right wing jerks.

Oh, and when I send a friend request to someone that I think may not remember me, I also message them to let them know how we know each other and assure them that if they don't accept my request, no hard feelings.