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Very good article on internet trolling
Posted by salomey5 • 3/17/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: forums, internet, message boards, trolling
I find teh internets to be quite a fascinating, albeit sometimes sick little world. Actually, make that "often sick BIG world".
A couple of days ago, I found this really good NY Times article on internet trolling.
It's quite chunky, but well worth the read.
www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3
I've been a regular poster on a bunch of IMDb boards for quite a long time, and they have their fair share of trolls. That's due in big part to the IMDb boards not having moderators; if you're offended by someone or something, you have two options: ignore or report.
It usually works out fairly well, but things get out of hands at the times when some people get a little too report-happy.
I thought IMDb was pretty bad until I read that article. I always thought trolls were nothing more than basicallly internet a-holes, but reading this made me realize that there is a whole other dimension to trolling.
I thought the attack on the epilepsy website mentioned in the article was a good example of trolling taken way too far.
Any thoughts on this? Have any of you guys ever been a victim of trolls, or witness severe trolling on forums?
User Comments
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Some trolls take their trolling to a very, very bad (and illegal) place. Between attacking people, cyber-stalking, harassing, outing, libel and hacking trolls can really ruin a person's day.
Most people associate "trolls" with those who are just looking to get a rise out of people, but it does go way beyond that.-
Yes, It's gone far beyond harassment in some cases. And the more trollish behaviors we are willing to overlook and/or look away from the worse it will get.
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@salomey5
Yes, I have witnessed severe trolling on a forum. Yes, I have been victimized by a troll. And, yes, I am prepared to take legal action against any troll, who harasses me and/or assassinates my character by defaming me.
When character assassinations in the virtual world impinge on a person's ability to make an income in the offline world - the rubber meets the road. The need for defamation (libel & slander) laws and for the ability to sue those who launch character assassinations online is self evident.
No Tolerance for Trolls
thistimethisspace.com/tag/internet-trolls/
Libel: Blogging Rights and Wrongs
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/libel-blogging-rights-and-wrongs/
See also: 100 Essential Legal and Privacy Guides for Bloggers www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2009/100-essential-legal-and-privacy-guides... -
I posted regularly on MSN Communities which became MSN Groups, which are now nonexistant. I'd moved on from them before they closed because of the roving packs of feral trolls who took their trolling beyond closing groups and online harassment and began trying to destroy people's marriages, jobs, home settings, and lives. That to me is an internet troll, one who takes it beyond the internet. -
I had no idea it got so evil, I just assumed it was sad mentally ill people or bored teenagers.Some of the stuff in that article is downright nasty especially the epilepsy thing and the kid who died.
I think things of this type need to be prosecuted, I think the thing that disturbed me most about them was their utter lack of empathy or compassion for other people. I think they must probably all be sociopaths of varying degrees. -
Wow, this is incredible. I will admit, there are certain things that get me going. I have been known to post comments on this forum that can be seen as argumentative. I try to keep it civil though and I would never cyber-stalk or harass these people.
I have very limited patience for willful ignorance or deliberate misinformation though. If I see someone posting on a topic that I believe is spreading misinformation, I comment on it. -
@stillthinking.....there's a difference between being arguemenative in stating your opionion, and personally attacking people, trolls get off on the latter-
I try not to post any personal attacks. I think you're just more convincing if you point out why their arguments are bad.
Recently, I got into with some kid who was posing as a psychological counselor and claimed to have a cure all for depression and anxiety.
That kind of stuff just gets my blood boiling. He just kept calling me crazy and I just kept reiterating that there is no single solution to mental illness.
Then there was the woman who posted a diet thread that people should just suck it up, stop eating, and move more. The way she put it was just so arrogant and snide that it really ticked me off.
I might have called her a bitch on that one.
But from now on, I am reformed. No more.
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lol "he kept calling me crazy" ummm dead give away on his part...I am all for free speech, and arguing your opionion...what I don't like is when people snoop around peoples profiles and blogs and try to use information out of context to somehow bring down your arguement, it just shows their stupidity ,
Oh and dropping the word "bitch" is not so bad I've been called worse on here
Keep giving us your opinions, it's a fresh change -
The number of children reporting online harassment has gone up by 50 percent since 2000. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Here is a sampling of some news on the subject:
The family way
One in three young people have been the victim of cyberbullying, research has found.
www.halesowennews.co.uk/newsxtra/4181511.The_family_way/
Stefanie Rengel’s accused killer frantic in hours before death network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/03/11/stefanie-renge...
Her teen committed suicide over ‘sexting’
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/
Late teen’s mom calls for prison in cyberbullying case
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27996381/
Cyber-bullied to death
www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25106249-2862,00.html
Teens driven to suicide by cyber bullying
www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,27574,25135707-5006009,00.html
Teens killed in cyber bullying 'epidemic'
www.smh.com.au/news/technology/web/teens-killed-in-cyber-bullying-epidemic/... -
It is a very good article, but unfortunately it has no comment from the psychiatric community in regard to what makes the troll tick. I'd say the ones interviewed in the article are severely screwed up people, desperately craving attention online because they are frustrated by real life. That they have the audacity to actually say they post crap on an epileptic site that induces seizures "to get them to change the site" is either the height of self-delusion or just another way the troll gets to laugh at us by fooling a reporter into writing his BS into the story.
In the end they're just cowards. I'd love to see how they'd react if their lives were splayed out on the Internet for all to see, but then again, there's not much of a life to destroy, so why bother?
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