University of Manitoba? Ya sure, some bloody Canadians are going to lecture us about being nice in comment sections â talk about the blind leading the blind.
Iâve always consider trolling a form of masochism: people who are desperate enough for people to pay attention to them, and who donât know how to attract attention in any other way, that theyâd rather be disliked than ignored.
Which is one reason âdonât feed the trollsâ works so well. Ignoring them, or at least not getting drawn into playing their game, avoids giving them the acknowledgement theyâre seeking and they go elsewhere in search of it.
Unfortunately thatâs a hard rule for some folks to hold to.
âDark Tetradâ? Are they trying to glamorize being an asshole?
I think trolls are âpeople hackersâ who have discovered people have knee-jerk reactions to a wide variety of subjects, and that saying the right words in an internet forum can cause a reaction that is interesting in the same way as a rapid chemical reaction.
That said, doing so is definitely antisocial, and I think this research will be useful in identifying people with âdark tetradâ traits. Once identified, internet trolls could be sterilized - not necessarily forcibly, maybe paying them would work - in order to take âdark tetradâ genes out of societyâs gene pool so future generations can be safer and saner.
I imagine that experienced online moderators are establishing that Mega-Narcissio-Machiavio-psychopathic-sadistic polemics tend to subdue discussion and therefore kill page views ⌠and hence ⌠are evil and should be labeled as such with the vocabulary of authority.
I think of internet trolls as the intrusive thoughts of our collective digital psychology. With them life is uncomfortable and reveals things that arenât true or are divisive for no sake at all above rebarbativity.
And sometimes shit-heel aphorisms can ascribe more truth to a subject than any hyper-educated expert, fame-addict or star-fucker dare draw near to.
To effect said sterilization, perhaps a Co-60 source in the front edge of laptops could be unshielded in response to trolling, increasing the dose with repeated behavior.
However, wouldnât the ultimate troll be to see that oneâs dark triad genes spread far and wide in the gene pool?
Dear Scientists,
Normally I support research and the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, but, dammit, didnât anyone tell you not to feed those things?
âUltimately, the allure of driving trollies may be too strong for sadists, who presumably have limited opportunities to express their sadistic interests in a socially-desirable manner.â
So is malicious driving trollies online an expression done in âa socially-desirable mannerâ? Who desires to be trolled? Or are sadists less likely to trolley in real life because it is less desirable for them? If the writer is arguing for the second, Iâd have to disagree. I have known real life malicious trollies, and I think they quite enjoy seeing the faces of their victims after their fuckery. They may be doing the driving trollies behind the scenes, but trollies love a good response,. Actually in real life, Iâd call them borderlines. Maybe the scientists should study the subjects further to see if driving trollies online is therapeutic and limits damage in the real world. Then Iâd almost be okay with it.
On the other side, there are benign trollies who are in it for the lolz, who can be quite funny and who fall into jokester or prankster category.
Good thing our society doesnât glamorize and overpay people who arenât total meatheads about channeling these traits⌠That might be a bad thing.
I think the implication was that they donât like being punched in the face, so the Internet is a much safer place to act on their desires.
ESPN and several other high profile discussion forums have switched to requiring real names and it hasnât done much to eliminate the trolls. Itâs amazing the things people will post with their real name, photo, and employer attached to it. It has been assumed the trolling is fueled by anonymity but it is now starting to look like thatâs not the case, or at least much less important than we thought. Being known by oneâs true identity but not having a personal connection to those in the community might be the bigger factor. Or maybe some people are simply jerks no matter where they are.
No. Itâs that sitting in momâs basement covered in cheeto dust at 4 am and crapping in the cornflakes of well-intentioned strangers is just about the perfect definition of anti-social behavior.
An interesting video for anyone wanting to look at responses to the different kinds of trolls:
Itâs about the doctrine of âDonât Feed the Trollsâ and how itâs a problematic response to modern trolling.
I think the worst of the trolling is from the same set of urges as vandalism in the physical world. People want to change the world around them in a way that other people notice, and it is much easier to destroy than it is to build.
Jardine: Fuck you; youâre gay.
crenquis: Fuck you; youâre gay.
technogeek again: Fuck you; youâre gay.
PhasmaFelis: Fuck you; youâre gay.
exception: Fuck you; youâre gay.
BackToYouJim: Fuck you; youâre gay.
silkox1: Fuck you; youâre gay.
SpunkyTWS: Fuck you; youâre gay.
IMB: Your initals are gay.
fuzzyfungus: Fuck you; youâre gay.
jandrese: Fuck you; youâre gay.
Engineer: Fuck you; youâre gay.
AcerPlatanoides: Fuck you; youâre gay.
Scaevola: Fuck you; youâre gay.
scratcheee: Fuck you; youâre gay.
I thought it was funny until the very end.
Dark Tetrad is my new dubstep name.
âEmpathyâ is a deeply problematic term here, as everywhere.
It equates recognizing other peopleâs feelings with caring about other peopleâs feelings, and it is used to dehumanize autistic people⌠there is an irony in that, in that we often care what other people feel, we just canât recognize what allistic people [and some other autistic people] are feeling, while the quacksperts donât seem to recognize what autistic people are feeling and often donât seem to care.
