http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354 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. 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. en-us Wow... what a bunch of low life scumbags. Ernie http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62133 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62133 Wow... what a bunch of low life scumbags. Ernie I wonder: 20 or 30 years from now, after these "trolls" have grown up, will they be proud of what they have done? Eric http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62147 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62147 I wonder: 20 or 30 years from now, after these "trolls" have grown up, will they be proud of what they have done? Eric I think there are some of those trolls here on the forum section! http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62159 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62159 I think there are some of those trolls here on the forum section! 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. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62169 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/AprillBrandon/8354/#c_62169 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.