The easiest way to get attention is by being an ass. If one lacks the personality to stand out in a crowd, they'll take the easiest way out.
You can either be a work of art or wear a work of art. Their wear being a mask filled with pathetic need to be heard.
Oh yeah. It's also easier to be an ass when you have a distance, like say a computer.
Of all te rude remarks and comments I've gotten on the internet, I wonder how many of them would dare to say it in my face.
I (and most trolls in general) get a sort of visceral and childish joy out of causing distress, it basically is just the "stomping on sandcastles" mentality. It's immensely satisfying to watch someone's incoherent, impotent rage.
Here's a good example, a month or so ago i was on 4chan's anime board in a thread discussing the last episode of a show that had just ended, when a tripcode user entered the tread and began derailing it. Now this tripcode user was very well known on this board, mostly for being immature, annoying and for having done just about the stupidest thing you can do on 4chan, she had posted a picture of herself.
Now for the first 10 minutes we simply tried ignoring her, but it became clear that she wasn't going away, so i decided to have some fun with it, I hit up google image search, found a couple of pictures of pigs, whales and manatees and booted up MS paint. After a few minutes i had edited this girl's head onto a myriad of fat creatures and i started post them in the thread. Here's one of her actual responses to one of my posts, where i had shopped her head onto a pig and claimed that it was a picture of her in middle school:
"You!!!! you know im going to kill you right! YOU FUCKING DRUGS DEALING PIECE OF SHIT!! Your mother and father will dy horribly!
==============D *****!!! YOUR A FUCKING FAG!!!! YOU PRETTY MUCH DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE ON ABOUT RIGHT LOSER? YOU LIKE FAT DICK? but seriously you fail I DONT EVEN LOOK fat in the picture you are just a pathetic failure!"
After i read this i was close to falling out of my chair, i could have sworn that i was going to die from laughter, it was better than anything i had hoped for.
Now this is of course an example of some of my more harmless trolling escapes, the victim had basically brought it upon herself and she had made every wrong move you can possibly make when you're on the internet.
But it works the same done against less deserving targets.
Now i myself have a rule that i never troll forums that i would like see stay clean, as why i don't troll here.
But that's basically it, there not really anything else to it than the primal glee of schadenfreude.
FairlyFrightenedFeline said:
how do trolls keep it up? Perpetually doing the same thing over and over.
No troll worth his salt does the same thing over and over, the best kind of trolling is when it's subtle, when the victim doesn't even realise that he's been trolled, and the most satisfying part of trolling is getting creative with it.
Now there are those worthless scumbag trolls that think that: "HURR THE PS3 HAS NO GAMES" constitutes proper trolling, i don't even consider these people trolls.
FairlyFrightenedFeline said:
I can't help but think how emotionally hollow it must be. I get the greatest boost from helping people.
Sure you could, but the easiest way would be if people stopped making it so damned easy, but since we probably won't get rid of idiots any time soon, the best way to "reform" a troll would probably be to give him something more entertaining to do.
FairlyFrightenedFeline said:
and for a forum, what would be the best troll deterrent?
DON'T FEED THE TROLLS! No really, i know that this is age old conventional internet wisdom, but 95% of people are too stupid to recognise a troll when they see one, the people who can recognise a troll are usually too stupid to ignore him after that.
Banning trolls does no good, if they wanna troll you they will, and the more obstacles you throw at them, the more fun it will be for them.
But that's basically the breakdown of it, Trolling 101 if you will, see you later.
This basically sums up trolling, direct all relevant trolling questions to bringer of illumination.
I don't really have much of an issue with those who troll, its quite funny to watch somebodies OTT reactions to something when they realise they'te the victim but I suppose its all down to a persons ability to ignore insults and the like. Also it sepencd on the amount of actual harm done, as long as its harmless fun then I have no problem with it but when it borders on bullying an harassment I think a troll should be conscientious and move on.
Reform a troll? Again as stated above, give them something more entertaining to do. The internet makes it all but impossible to truly make someone stop doing what they like unless they choose to do so themselves
But some people class trolling as merely disagreement with the prevailing mood. You can make the most intelligent, pertinent and measured criticism of a subject and you get labelled a troll by unimaginative fucktards.
Entertainment value they get when someone expresses their frustration or anger.
Or they just don't like you and want you to be annoyed or angry for the sake of you being annoyed or angry.
The best troll deterrent would be to recognize when someone is doing it, and give them no reply so they get no satisfaction, get bored and move on to someone/ somewhere else, and don't just assume anyone who disagrees with you a troll.
The obvious ones will probably just do something along the lines of going onto a forum where everyone is a fan of inserthere and saying that inserthere sucks while saying titleofsomethinghere is awesome even though everyone one the forum hates titleofsomethinghere and saying stuff like "lol inserthere is for fagz", but even then for all you know it could just be someone who just really doesn't like the thing you like and decides to go the rude method of expressing it.
The more subtle ones will be the ones who honestly just look like they're expressing their unpopular opinion on a subject which just happens to make people aggravated, and you can't be certain weather they're trolling or not...
With regard to gaming sites, it's very tempting to drop incendiary statements every now and then, because watching people in their twenties get extremely uppity about the Autobots or console exclusives makes you feel better about yourself. You know, for not being them.
But some people class trolling as merely disagreement with the prevailing mood. You can make the most intelligent, pertinent and measured criticism of a subject and you get labelled a troll by unimaginative fucktards.
This. Trolls do it to make you fell bad and to make themselves feel better. I personally think that's a bit of a mental problem that other people have to suffer for your day to be nice but that's a broad statement to make.
I think the crux of the problem is right there, it's not some beast creature out to ruin your day, it's another person, a human being, one other asshole who probably has problems and gets relief by trolling people, hell, I'm an IRL troll but I only go after people too stupid to realise what is going on. (That or just assholes)
They think they get something out of it, but their payoff is so flimsy that it is meaningless. Let me explain...
Trolls have really poor self-esteem. They think their self-worth is equal to how many people they can make miserable. When they can't do that, their venomous minds turn in on themselves and (to borrow a term from 8-Bit Theater) they turn into an impotent singilarity of hatred. If they had any real self-esteem, this would not be their double-edged sword. So, they have to live and die by the troll, so to speak.
Unfortunately for them, they fail to realize that their entire everything they do has a sharper and nastier sting to themselves than anyone if they fail. Trolls need some sort of negative reaction when they do things, because that's all they can understand. When somebody actually starts talking rings around them and making everything that they say look ridiculous, or refuses to be pissed off in any way that they like, basically...tantrum time.
I've seen these sorts of people come and go. They're not bright, and their temper is rather short. And the more they jump and shout to aggravate you, the more the modship takes a look and says "Found one!" and the Banhammer falls. When a troll badly exposes himself and gets splattered by the powers that be, it is most cathartic.
Back when I was a troll I stopped trolling because it got old. After a while I figured that I wasn't really achieveing anything anymore so I stopped. Not sure how other trolls can keep it up. I guess they get some enjoyment out of it, but my sense of having fun by trolling dried up quickly.
I was just thinking, in general, how bad things make people feel good. I know about the whole stomping-on-sandcastles logic but, seriously, how do trolls keep it up? Perpetually doing the same thing over and over.
I can't help but think how emotionally hollow it must be. I get the greatest boost from helping people.
But, I pose a question; Could you reform a troll, and for a forum, what would be the best troll deterrent?
"I did it for the lulz" pretty much defines trolling and griefing.
I'd normally refer you to Encyclopedia Dramatica, but they are pretty much dead now. Read their various articles and you'd learned a surprising amount about what makes trolls tick.
Something Awful's "Second Life Safari" is dated, but can also be insightful into trolling as these guys recorded their antics, and a bit of the thought behind them.
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