The Trolls Among Us

[CHR]

The Trolls Among Us

From the New York Times, a fascinating, disturbing and lengthy article about internet trolls and their justifications of their actions.

Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”? Is the effort to control what’s said always a form of censorship, or might certain rules be compatible with our notions of free speech?

Have to say I'm shocked at the actions and of the excuses these full-time trolls use to justify their abusive behaviours. Pretty sick and scary stuff - with the technological savvy to harm just about anybody.

 

[aileen_c]

It's pretty obvious from that guy's picture that something is definitely NOT RIGHT in his head. Look at his eyes.....

 

[LJVF]

From the article:

So that's what a message board troll looks like.

 

[Beth]

Really disturbing. Cathy, I have to admit, the first two pages upset me so much I didn't want to read 5 more. Just awful!

 

[CHR]

I'd previously read about the death threats to that blogger, but didn't understand there was a sub-culture bent on disruption-by-any-means.

For me, the scariest parts are the kids who believe what they read (like the poor girl who took her own life), and the other kids who want to emulate the psycho trolls out of desire for a sick sort of power.

Our Rosie ventures out into the web and even though we monitor her closely, this article makes it clear we need to talk to her more frankly about the evil out there.

 

[Tuberose]

Actually, that guy is just a prop, but he is scary, if you scroll down the real guy's pic is there. They said he was molested by his grandfather when he was 5 which is why he's sick and gets his jollies doing this stuff, tormenting people. He blames them for falling for it and for being easily provoked.

Another message board I belong to there is a troll, SHE never gives up and loves lying and provoking people, she publicly humiliates and torments the musician she claims to be a fan of and also his other fans. She's had lawyers send her legal letters telling her to back off and has almost lost her job, but she still keeps on keeping on. Now I'm wondering what kind of abuse she has suffered that triggered this kind of behavior.

It is waaay to easy to be anonymous on the internet and people, esp young people, are waaay to gullible. They believe anything anyone tells them and they never look for the signs of an impostor meanwhile spilling their guts on their personal life. They are easy targets for people looking for prey.

trish

 

[RJD]

Don't feed the trolls on your blogs or YouTube videos. They feed off the negativity. Ignoring them is the best thing, and they'll wander off to more fun places.

There are all sorts of antisocial pathologies out there. Some people thrive on drama, some thrive on hate, and some thrive on the truly bizarre. The anonymity of the Internet emboldens them and insulates them from repercussions. This is nothing new--trolls have been around since the 1200 baud BBS days (that would be about 1984).

Also, CHR, you can change your DNS settings to a family friendly service called ScrubIt. It blocks as much nasty as it can. More info at http://www.scrubit.com/.

 

[SpringCity]

you know what, we all have times when we give each other crap or joke around or whatever on here but I consider people as described in the article to be pure evil. I don't throw phrases around like that lightly. I couldn't finish the article either. Anyone who would act that way is someone I need to distance myself from, fast. Ugh.