Real Name: Aprill Brandon Gender: female Date of Birth: June 20, 1981 Member Since: September 28, 2007 Last Signed In: November 19, 2008 Profile Views: 3990 Blog Views: 13732 Homemade Christmas gifts for the craft-impaired Nobody puts Grandma in the corner eAffair: Adultery has gone digital Where were you when... Consider the vote rocked For all you health nuts out there... And now for something really scary... Kevin Smith: What's so wrong with the word porno? Heck, even Paris Hilton wrote a book Manscapes, Veepstakes and Guitarthritis, Oh My! September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 
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Inside the world of Internet trolls
Even if you've only spent minimal time on that wide, wide world web, chances are you've encountered an Internet troll. You know, those anonymous online posters who gather at discussion forums and blogs and intentionally try to bait and cyber-bully other online users? Or as I like to call them, the online equivalent of that butthead in elementary school who knocks the books out of your hand and calls you a "fart-face." (Although it seems that trolls are getting more and more cruel, going from immature to downright malicious in some cases...the Megan Meier's saga, anyone?). Sure trolls are annoying and more than once they may have baited you into an emotional outburst, but have you ever wondered why they do what they do? If you have, check out this fascinating, in-depth piece by the New York Times Magazine called "The Trolls Among Us." It's an eye-opening piece on this Internet sub-culture that has grown over the years. I will warn you that it's a lengthly piece but well worth it. Just reading this one quote from one troll summing up why he does what he does had me hooked: "Am I the bad guy? Am I the big horrible person who shattered someone’s life with some information? No! This is life. Welcome to life. Everyone goes through it. I’ve been through horrible stuff, too.” I mean, if this is the trolls' mentality, Lord help us all. 4 comments from 4 users
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posted by
gansoblanco
on Aug 5, 2008 at 06:41 AM
A good read. My favorite highpoints: “You look for someone who is full of it, a real blowhard. Then you exploit their insecurities to get an insane amount of drama, laughs and lulz." "The willingness of trolling “victims” to be hurt by words, he argued, makes them complicit, and trolling will end as soon as we all get over it." "But while technology reduces the social barriers that keep us from bedeviling strangers, it does not explain the initial trolling impulse. This seems to spring from something ugly — a destructive human urge that many feel but few act upon, the ambient misanthropy that’s a frequent ingredient of art, politics and, most of all, jokes" “People know to be deeply skeptical of what they read on the front of a supermarket tabloid,” says Dan Gillmor, who directs the Center for Citizen Media. “It should be even more so with anonymous comments. They shouldn’t start off with a credibility rating of, say, 0. It should be more like negative-30.” When dealing with online jackasses....er...difficult personalities I try to remember the closing scenes of the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" in which our heroes take the income from the movie rights to track down and physically assault all the anonymous folks that have talked trash about them on the internet. It's always kids and milquetoast types. When online just remember what you're are dealing with: anybody with a keyboard and a connection. posted by
ragman
on Aug 4, 2008 at 11:43 PM
I think there are some of those trolls here on the forum section!
posted by
Bicycle
on Aug 4, 2008 at 09:16 PM
I wonder: 20 or 30 years from now, after these "trolls" have grown up, will they be proud of what they have done? Eric posted by
ErnieCash
on Aug 4, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Wow... what a bunch of low life scumbags. Ernie
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