Trolling?

[Guest]

Well met.

Newbie Shiro-chan here.

So, it is no secret that the internet is full of trolls. Spreading lies, starting flame wars or even getting a streamer to be raided by a swat team, trolling happens everywhere.

This community and it's members are quite interesting, so I would be delighted if you could spend some of your time listening to my reasoning and answering these questions I've been thinking over this last day.

 

Now, what are the reasons for trolling? I wonder, what a troll wants? Is it attention? Does a troll have fun making other people annoyed?

 

If it's the former, it doesn't make much sense to me. Most trolls I've seen are anonymous, so they're not very effective at gathering attention. They also gather negative attention and angry people, which isn't very pleasant. There are several ways to gather considerable attention with little effort on the internet, being anonymous or not, that seem preferable to trolling.

 

If it's the latter, then why do cases like the swat team raid happen fairly often? The person who did the prank call to the police will most likely be arrested, if they aren't already. Is it really worth risking going to jail or having to lose a lot of money to bring misfortune to someone? If so, then does having a big number of individuals like that tells anything about us as a society?

 

Thanks for reading so far,

 Shiro-chan.

[Fiddle]

As William Paul Young once said, the reason that all evil exists is that people want to feel powerful. The only circumstance that restricts people from carrying out acts that make them powerful is the consequences provided by society. On the Internet, however, one's anonymity often renders it impossible to suffer any punishment.

 

Another plus of the computer screen barrier is that those who inflict damage don't fully understand the extent of their inflictions. If those who consistently troll others were to see what the other party experiences, I'm sure they'd hold on to at least some strain of morality. Alas, we often fail to realize that the words on our monitor do, in fact, represent another individual.

[Christfall]

Human nature, perhaps. Tons of people with low self-esteem are under stressful environment take out their frustrations on the net as anonymous because they know they can get away with it. Those are the most common of trolls, just like how bullying works. They may try to actually gather attention but they usually fail to.

 

Some people goes into great length trolling because they don't have a good life to begin with, gets envious on others and just feel like ruining everyone else's lives.

[Mr. Meogii]

Most troll because the know they'll get a reaction from people. It think you could also call it attention seeking.

Most trolls maybe just love attention

[Nimbus]

After much experimenting and observation I have come to the conclusion that people are trolls because they got some kind of sexual pleasure from ruining other people's fun. I shall call this the "Yahtzee Complex"

[Nimbus]

Also, while this may not be about trolls, but the arguments this guy makes could be applied to trolls.

 

[Kimanor]

I thought this thread would be filled with a deep and engaging debate.

 

 

 

Seems I was wrong.

[dabuddah453]

Also, while this may not be about trolls, but the arguments this guy makes could be applied to trolls.

 

Fun fact, that happens a lot in history.

 

Christians was originally an insult meaning "little Christs." "Nigger" got boiled down to "Nigga" and has become a brotherly form of affection. Otaku from Japan to U.S. and then you have Nerd. Y'know, lol.

 

Insults become a compliment after a time often.

[CruelN1N1]

I'm somewhat a little troll, i used to spoiler person but i don't do it now, what i do sometime is scary persons because their reactions but nothing more, Seeing that just gave me some anger because police is for protect no to to stupid things like this

[Insania]

Trolls can troll for a number of reasons. The exact nature of these reasons can be varied and expansive so it's hard to say exactly 'why' Trolls troll. 

 

Trolls, in my experience, are similar if not identical to a run of the mill bully. Bullies or Trolls simply insult, enrage or attack someone due to (generally) a insecurity about themselves or their lives.

In reaction to these insecurities they pick on others weak points to feel better about themselves.

Most people, if not all, will point out and ridicule some aspect of a person to deter thought of their own insecurities. Unfortunately even I acknowledge I do so. It's a defence mechanism to help deal with the society we live in.

 

Trolls are similar but are more prevalent as, like others have stated before, have the strength of anonymity as they are behind a computer screen, and as such do not have to face the consequence of their actions.

 

If you think about it, a mask can give someone an incredible amount of 'courage' to do things they most often would not; and the internet is one hell of a mask.

 

To summarise my rant, bullying and trolling share a common factor, ridicule and riling people up to cover for imposed insecurities.

It's an annoying part of our culture and nature, trolling is just the internet's version of it.

[Nayleen]

Those people aren't trolls, please stop labeling them as such - they're criminals.

 

SWATing is not a prank, it's a crime. It wastes:

• People's time, and time is money, especially for streamers
• Tax payers' money
• Police resources

SWAT teams also break down doors, no-knock, no questions asked. You get guns pointed to your face, and alas your dog if you have one - those are regular casualties in those no-knock warrant situations. It's just a matter of time before this bullshit kills someone. It needs to stop, and the "prankers" need to pay for everything and additionally face jail-time to deter it, otherwise they get off with "some lulz" and probation and it's going to become just as common as DDOSing, which is just as much of a criminal offense.

[Chewy]

Well met.

Newbie Shiro-chan here.

So, it is no secret that the internet is full of trolls. Spreading lies, starting flame wars or even getting a streamer to be raided by a swat team, trolling happens everywhere.

This community and it's members are quite interesting, so I would be delighted if you could spend some of your time listening to my reasoning and answering these questions I've been thinking over this last day.

 

Now, what are the reasons for trolling? I wonder, what a troll wants? Is it attention? Does a troll have fun making other people annoyed?

 

If it's the former, it doesn't make much sense to me. Most trolls I've seen are anonymous, so they're not very effective at gathering attention. They also gather negative attention and angry people, which isn't very pleasant. There are several ways to gather considerable attention with little effort on the internet, being anonymous or not, that seem preferable to trolling.

 

If it's the latter, then why do cases like the swat team raid happen fairly often? The person who did the prank call to the police will most likely be arrested, if they aren't already. Is it really worth risking going to jail or having to lose a lot of money to bring misfortune to someone? If so, then does having a big number of individuals like that tells anything about us as a society?

 

Thanks for reading so far,

 Shiro-chan.

Well i dont troll often online but i troll my friends a lot. If you ask me, to me its pretty funny when you just male people slightly annoyed and you being able to laugh at it. Its like if someone trips a bit (not a really bad one) and everyone usually just laughs it off. Its just how we are. We dont really seek anything like attention. I mean i troll half the time to entertain people such as trolling one friend and the others laugh it off and then the reverse happens. I believe its just a type of interaction between people. That could be just me though.

[Guest]

Also, while this may not be about trolls, but the arguments this guy makes could be applied to trolls.

 

 

This guy lacks a brain, making a video insulting people isn't going to make them change.

 

 

Back on topic.

Trolls often just do that for fun, or maybe it's part or the culture of internet. No idea, I don't really understand it.

 

Sometimes it gets extreme, this is when it gets problematic.

 

Personnal attacks for example, I don't know who does those, but they certainly must have a whole lot of free time to care about torturing peoples minds rather than making their own think.

 

The liberty than internet gave to those who couldn't express themselves has both done good and bad.

This is a compromise we'll have to live with I'm afraid.

[havoc]

Also, while this may not be about trolls, but the arguments this guy makes could be applied to trolls.

 

well that interesting total bullcrap.

i will admit there is a part that is indeed like that.

But most people talking about being pc master race don't mean it like that.

And are in part mocking themselves and the industrie wich has gravitated it's major releases to the consolwe wich in effect after it has been released stands still in time.

And as such are slowing the progress of games.

 

very few people actually have anything against console gamer they have something against console exclusive games.

I am part of the '' Pc master race'' and it is staggering anoying to see games released to console's only because of a deal with the console company.

Add to that the fact that a good pc is often better than a console and you can safely say that consoles are in effect slowing the industy down.

 

That is nothing against hey guy who can't afford a good pc and thus has to use a console.

there is nothing wrong with that.

There is one problem that arises when console and pc player play in the same server.

And that has to do with things like aiming assisantce, as most console shooters have some form of it and pc games generally don't.

So what are they going to do to level the playing field?

 

And i have myself been an ''inferior console player'' for years.

So i have seen both sides of the coin.

 

As for trolls, there are different kinds.

Some just want to ocasionally just thease someone. (me)

And there are the assholes who just wan't to piss someone off or make someone sad.

[Narcosis]

 

Why, hello there~

[crunchytaco]

Shortly after the birth of the internet, god decided to balance out the powers that be. He bestowed every newsgroup and message board with their resident troll. Tired of life under dreary bridges, these trolls emerged from their habitats to play mischief on humanity. They would often stir up debates, played devil's advocate, and disguised themselves as opposing sides of an argument. It was an art form to behold these trolls deliberately baiting people into full circle until one realized they've been had . That was how the idiom, "Don't feed the trolls" came about. Before his identity was understood, Stephen Colbert was a classic example of old fashion trolling. 

 

That art form is now lost.

 

Having a personal computer was once a privilege owned by those with higher education, professionals and computer nerds who specialized in the science. It's now become a right to anyone but those still living in wood shacks and those still eating mud cookies. No doubt, when god gave the world internet, he advised them to multiply and be merry; and he saw that it was good. With more humankind however, invited more trouble. Trolling is now reduced to malicious attacks resulting from immaturity and well... mean spirited people in general. Repeatedly harassing others and flaming people for no good reason are now what falls under the category of trolling. The last bastion have retreated to places like 4CH, Reddit, Yahoo answers, and online gaming. May their sinful souls be cleansed in purgatory. 

[havoc]

Shortly after the birth of the internet, god decided to balance out the powers that be. He bestowed every newsgroup and message board with their resident troll. Tired of life under dreary bridges, these trolls emerged from their habitats to play mischief on humanity. They would often stir up debates, played devil's advocate, and disguised themselves as opposing sides of an argument. It was an art form to behold these trolls deliberately baiting people into full circle until one realized they've been had . That was how the idiom, "Don't feed the trolls" came about. Before his identity was understood, Stephen Colbert was a classic example of old fashion trolling. 

 

That art form is now lost.

 

Having a personal computer was once a privilege owned by those with higher education, professionals and computer nerds who specialized in the science. It's now become a right to anyone but those still living in wood shacks and those still eating mud cookies. No doubt, when god gave the world internet, he advised them to multiply and be merry; and he saw that it was good. With more humankind however, invited more trouble. Trolling is now reduced to malicious attacks resulting from immaturity and well... mean spirited people in general. Repeatedly harassing others and flaming people for no good reason are now what falls under the category of trolling. The last bastion have retreated to places like 4CH, Reddit, Yahoo answers, and online gaming. May their sinful souls be cleansed in purgatory. 

there is mean spirited and there is mean spirited, but i get what you mean.

 

Althought the idea about computers is not entierly true, i believe we had one before 2000 in our house.

Ahhh the good old time, where 1gb was a great amount of storage that would never get full....... until it did get full

[crunchytaco]

there is mean spirited and there is mean spirited, but i get what you mean.

 

Althought the idea about computers is not entierly true, i believe we had one before 2000 in our house.

Ahhh the good old time, where 1gb was a great amount of storage that would never get full....... until it did get full

 

Like all generalizations, they aren't meant to be a catch all net. That doesn't mean the generalization itself isn't true . My family also owned a computer in 88. It was a used computer passed down from an architect that my father worked for, but it became ours nonetheless. 

[Mephisto]

What does one define a troll as?

I get called a troll because I just do whatever I feel like doing rather than what people want me to do. 

[sanahtlig]

I've seen trolling defined in various ways:

1) Griefing others

2) Inciting unrest

3) Rocking the boat

 

The common theme is behavior that's annoying to others.  Who you blame--the ones doing the annoying or the ones being annoyed--typically determines whether it's considered trolling or not.

[arakura]

Trolling is the easiest way to prove to yourself that you actually matter in some way, by inciting a reaction in other people (real emotions). It's probably less about attention than it is about feeling like your actions have an impact on the world. This explanation gives an answer to why so many people would troll when there are other ways to receive attention, and I think even more than that you should consider how reasonable it is to say that so many people are desperate for attention. I think it's much more reasonable to say that people are desperate to confirm that something about themselves matters by affecting their world in some way... the easiest way. Getting people mad by saying whatever. It's not a particularly hard skill to come by in communities bursting with youthful passion ;D

 

Side note, I got called a troll for one of the first times ever recently for just casually saying some silly random things in a chat filled with mostly silly random things. It's kind of bothersome to be regarded as a troll when you dont mean it, but it's also bothersome to ignore trolls sometimes. I view them as a sort of inevitability. If you want the internet, then just deal with em, because that equation a few posts above mine is true of at least a few individuals out of a ten or a hundred.

[Chewy]

What does one define a troll as?

I get called a troll because I just do whatever I feel like doing rather than what people want me to do. 

I really agree with that for i get called a troll because im 'different' and i do what i want to instead of what is expected of me.

[Narcosis]

I'm in the "rocking the boat" part of the society.