Science Proves That Trolls Ruin Everything

[bigfatcarp93]

You know, while I'm not debating the article, there is one other interesting viewpoint to consider here: has anyone else noticed that trolls have a tendancy to bring other web users together into a unified front? Like, everytime a solitary troll shows up and causes trouble, all the other users around tend to work together to laugh him out of the room.

Navigate Youtube often enough and you tend to see this in abundance. I would actually submit that trolls have made the internet a better place overall, by giving users common enemies.

Captcha:

Finish this poem: For whom does the bell toll?

A: It tolls for thee.

Creepy captcha is creepy.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Science apparently needs to prove everything, including that people respond to hostility with hostility.

I thought the point here was that trolls (in this sentence, I'm using trolls to mean 'inflammatory, reactionary asshats') make people more secure in their previously held beliefs and less likely to welcome contradictory evidence or new data? Despite everyone saying "no, DUH!" in this thread, I find that very interesting and honestly quite accurate.

I am also amused by the idea of somehow forwarding this study to the Conservapedia admin, to point out that their anti-liberal, anti-evolution and anti-everythingelsethatisn'tintheirspecificversionofthebible ranting is only pushing people further away from the views they're trying to espouse. The same goes for any hardcore fundie or atheist who'll go to a forum populated by their opposite number and post the stupid "there is no God/God is sending you to hell for not believing" bullshit - it'd be nice to have an actual scientific study to cite when informing them that they are achieving exactly the opposite of what they intended.

 

[SonicWaffle]

You know, while I'm not debating the article, there is one other interesting viewpoint to consider here: has anyone else noticed that trolls have a tendancy to bring other web users together into a unified front? Like, everytime a solitary troll shows up and causes trouble, all the other users around tend to work together to laugh him out of the room.

Yeah, but by then the damage is done. The thread is derailed and nobody is in a rational frame of mind to resurrect the discussion. Plus you get a whole bunch of people who only contribute to say "Hey, this guy is such a troll" and then leave again, which makes the majority of the posters in a thread hit-and-runners, and causes the troll (or just the person who doesn't agree with the majority opinion but is incapable of expressing their viewpoint like a rational human being) to react aggressively in response.

Captcha:

Finish this poem: For whom does the bell toll?

A: It tolls for thee.

Creepy captcha is creepy.

Ask not for whom the troll trolls...

He trolls for thee.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Rude or derogatory comments don't really get regarded as trolls a lot of the time. In fact it is easy to see that a lot of people who think that they are decent people fighting against trolls think that they have a free licence to be as rude and derogatory as they like with no consequence in terms of being a dick. Certainly it takes more than not liking some popular video game series or not liking the direction of some trend in gaming to be a troll. What is the point exactly in equating people who don't like something about Mass Effect to climate change deniers? It's almost like being a passive consumer who never complains is what you need to be to be a decent respectable person who does not poison the groupthink mind.

With experience you can build a thicker skin so you don't react over emotionally to certain types of language. In fact real seasoned trolls say that their mission is to train up people who they think are not emotionally insulated enough to deal with the world. If you can't deal with a troll then how can you deal with the sort of propaganda messages you get from people who really have some heavy duty experience and resources behind them.

 

[D-Soul]

I think this image summarizes how I feel about this


Science proves that trolls make everything bad?

Thanks Science!

 

[Product Placement]

Also, as always, not feeding the trolls would be a very good idea.

Didn't that entire study (and this article, for that matter) serve as one massive smörgåsbord buffet for all of trolldom?

 

[Darth_Payn]

I wonder if the scientists running this study factored in Penny Arcade's GIFT (Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory):
Regular Person + Anonymity + Audience = Fuckwad. They may have been generalizing, but that does explain trolls' behavior.

 

[Snownine]

Don't worry, I have my jar of Turkish miak; I'm good to go.

I was hoping someone else recognized Trantor the troll.