Anonymity on the Internet is nice because you really don't have to worry about what other people think of you. You can speak your mind without fearing any lasting repercussions. This same anonymity does give rise to trolls, however. When we humans are no longer held accountable for our actions we can become pretty horrific creatures. On the Internet the most we can usually do is attack/harass/annoy other people with words. People know there won't be any repercussions for their actions so they say whatever they want because they like the hate and deception.
What makes trolling and the like so effective, though, is the people that respond to it. Bad trolls are pretty easy to spot and should just be ignored, but good trolls are difficult to detect; especially if the topic they're trolling lends itself to oppositional discussion. The only way to stop a good troll, aside from ignoring everything you read, is to not give knee-jerk responses. We have to actually think about what is being said. Is everything the other person/people are saying always opposite to what we say? Do they give extreme examples/views on unimportant topics? The longer a conversation goes on the easier it is to out a troll but by then they usually have gotten the feeling they were looking for.
As for the negative effects of trolls, most people that spend a moderate amount of time on the Internet have come into contact with them and know that what they say can be ignored.
It is really easy to spot a Troll that is just out to rile people up. I was reading an article on Yahoo! news about an increasing number of employers refusing to hire unemployed workers (http://tinyurl.com/6gzqwxm If you are interested)and there are several comments of a trollish nature that are quite obvious. What do you mean by "good" Trolls? Are you talking about the subtle ones who often go unnoticed? Doesn't being a subtle Troll seem counterproductive to their anarchist tendencies? I'm sure that some Trolls actually believe that by posting their comments and hacking into sites they are going to bring about a revolutionary way of thinking about things and bring down "The Man" (check out the movie Hackers), but I think that there are also an awful lot of people who Troll just to be vindictive.
ReplyDeleteA troll is a Troll, I don't believe there is such a thing as a good or bad troll, they are all just bad. Hiding behind the screen tring to cause trouble, wheater it is just for fun or to be done right out mean. Like the lady from Trenton posting a grim-ripper mother image with the child that is dying. That was just plan wrong. She stated is was not meant to hurt anyone, who was she kidding..
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