Trolling Call-outs as Communicative Acts

This study analyzes cases where participants in Reddit’s advice-seeking forums are called out for trolling. The data consists of 217 call-out messages, in which other participants point out that the advice-seeker may be trolling them with a deceiving post. We analyze the call-out messages as Communicative Acts and introduce 1) a classification of trolling call-out acts and 2) an analysis of the functions of trolling call-outs. We used a CMC act classification and found five types of trolling call-outs: claim, desire, react, inquire, and direct. The call-out messages have two primary functions: They orient to either dealing with the deception or dealing with the transgression. This division of orientation can be seen in the format of the call-out message: call-outs can be used for different functions depending on whether the call-out message contains only the call-out or also other activities.