One of our regular commenters recently left this blog in protest over some of Marty's comments. This commenter considers him a harmful troll who destroys all useful discussion on this site.
He sent me the following and asked that I post it:
In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, taking place inside of small, single-topic Usenet groups. The trolls employed what the M.I.T. professor Judith Donath calls a “pseudo-naïve” tactic, asking stupid questions and seeing who would rise to the bait. The game was to find out who would see through this stereotypical newbie behavior, and who would fall for it. As one guide to trolldom puts it, “If you don’t fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.”
Today the Internet is much more than esoteric discussion forums. It is a mass medium for defining who we are to ourselves and to others. Teenagers groom their MySpace profiles as intensely as their hair; escapists clock 50-hour weeks in virtual worlds, accumulating gold for their online avatars. Anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled. As our emotional investment in the Internet has grown, the stakes for trolling — for provoking strangers online — have risen. Trolling has evolved from ironic solo skit to vicious group hunt.
“Lulz” is how trolls keep score. A corruption of “LOL” or “laugh out loud,” “lulz” means the joy of disrupting another’s emotional equilibrium. “Lulz is watching someone lose their mind at their computer 2,000 miles away while you chat with friends and laugh,” said one ex-troll who, like many people I contacted, refused to disclose his legal identity.
Another troll explained the lulz as a quasi-thermodynamic exchange between the sensitive and the cruel: “You look for someone who is full of it, a real blowhard. Then you exploit their insecurities to get an insane amount of drama, laughs and lulz. Rules would be simple: 1. Do whatever it takes to get lulz. 2. Make sure the lulz is widely distributed. This will allow for more lulz to be made. 3. The game is never over until all the lulz have been had.”
12 comments:
I suggest most strongly we adopt the approach of not feeding the trolls, and you choose deletion of their comments where the comment is inappropriate.
Of course, if we were plating Colossal Cave (or Adventure) we could feed the troll the golden eggs, and then say Fee Fie Foe Foo and the eggs would magically return to the next from where we could harvest them again, take them back to the little wooden building, and gain the points.
But if you put yourself out there, so to speak, in the opinion-editorial marketplace (as these blogs are) you have either got to let everyone speak freely, or moderate them. Can't have it both ways---you're either for free speech, or running a site friendly only to your like-minded lefties.
The problem with a heavily-weighted site like this is that moderate dissenters feel unwelcome, and don't necessarily want to go great guns against the passionate left-wingers.
That's fine---you all are clearly having a delightful tea-party snickering at your political opponents, and well you should! We over here in these NewNighted States of Amurka are having a rather pleasant time smiling about the recent election of Scott Brown (Republican) to "Teddy Kennedy's seat"---I mean, let the people vote, right? They voted!
Oh, wait---oh, dear, does this make me a TROLL? What a stupid term. It only means someone who doesn't toe the party line of a particular blog.
I like to think we're all more mature than that.
In 1984 Winston's interrogator explains to Winston that freedom is the right and ability to say that 2+2=4 and that is one wishes to envision the future imagine a boot stamping on the face of humanity forever.
Brody's most recent proxy post features something, a video clip, that is not true news but part of a policy to forward to media companies articles, clips, etc. that promote policy being undertaken; in this case it is the move to regulate and restrict the internet in the name of "safety". Brody is of course familiar with this since it has been a priority of the Obama administration and Obama's appointee Cass Sunstein who is quite willing to wear the face stamping boots of fascism. This very topic has led true progressives to post such questioning articles as this one: http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/got-fascism-obama-advisor-promotes.html
Is it truly bullying to directly quote the Babylonian Talmud and a Christian response and a Jewish response to the quoted material? Or is it truly bullying to attempt to deny some kids presence on the playground because they don't have the right color armbands?
Brody's protest would be a lot more philosopically ethical if he would quit sending you material to post in his self imposed exile, it gives him less the appearance of a martyr and more the appearance of a simple drama queen.
Glen Greenwald in Salon:
"Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama's closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama's head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things, he is responsible for "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs."
In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites -- as well as other activist groups -- which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens' faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists."
This is the kind of political movement Brody supports because he is too foolish to realize that if speech restriction becomes accepted it is only a matter of time before his speech is restricted, or worse (probably worse, authority thirsts for power and every bit given up to authority increases instead of quenches the thirst).
I looked up lulz in the urban dictionary and I also found this defintion for drama:
"Something women and especialy teenage girls thrive on. consisting of any number of situations that have an easy solution, wich would bring a fairly good outcome, but these girls choose another, shitty, bad way to deal with it, again consisting of backstabbing, blackmailing/gossiping/betraying their friends, or the all-too-common "I want to break up with him but i still love him!"
it drives men and what i like to call "normal" girls nuts."
Is the view that good down there in the cheap seats Marty? Or is that really even your name?
Brody at least has the decency to not respond to your "troll" behavior oh and he uses his own name too. You just don't like him because he's a journalist and because he's Gay.
makes you a pathetic bigot with a big mouth and exactly like the kind of person that the ABC reporter was describing.
I think a simple term fits better to describe you Marty, you're just an asshole.
He doesn't really fit my idea of a journalist Rodger, he's more like a cheerleader for the Democrat Party. I dont care if he is gay, more power to him. I would think as little of his behavior and journalistic achievements if he were straight or a hemaphrodite. You know it is possible to dislike certain attributes of a personality for reasons other than sexual orientation or profession. At least he is not a lawyer.
No, what I dislike about Brody is how he lives in the US and criticizes our country and our people while sucking up the fat of the land. I think he should go back to Canada and practice his particular brand of yellow journalism up there.
And too, Rodger, if you did fifteen minutes of digging you would find out that the terms that ABC reporter was discussing come from the online gaming community- not exactly a very threatening community to anyone but otherkins, furfags, weeaboos, and other such silliness. It's all very high drama but it's just pimply faced adolescents and transportation security officers and whatnot that inhabit that world ABC is so concerned about. How they mix that world up with the sort of things that led to the suicides of those girls is beyond me, but it makes a good soundbite and gives the reporters a chance to put on concerned expressions that show the socially responsible nature of ABC (who takes no thought of profit and wouldn't dream of taking a dime from the federal government for disseminating policy blurbs disguised as news reports).
Face it Marty, this country sucks and has gone into the toilet because of pathetic assholes like you.
You just hate ANYBODY that doesn't agree with your Nazi-KKK ideology, which includes apparently just about anybody that isn't YOUR perfect picture of a "white" American. So I'll just bet that having a Black President just sets you off.
I've seen your kind, ugly physically and mentally.
Too bad your mother didn't abort your ass, oh wait, I forgot, you're against a woman's right to chose too. Damn, Well go worship your hateful God who has blessed this fucked up country with so many of your kind.
Oh, I bet Jews, Latinos, and immigrants are high on your list of scumbags too huh?
That's not a troll, Brenda! if you spent enough time on the internet you see what they're like. :)
Yeah, Brenda, you ain't no troll. You are just opinionated! :) there's a big difference.
I don't recall ever calling anyone a scumbag or even thinking of anyone in that way Rodger, that's not one of my characteristics.
As for Latinos, I live with a family of Latino immigrants (in my house) and I've given them a quarter of my company in exchange for a committment to help me get it up and running (which does wonders for their immigration status).
Jews? I have no quarrel with them either, nor Christians nor Muslims. I do find some of their scripture quirky (my earlier post) and I do think the devoted ones are among the most racist people I've ever run across in my life. Being kosher means not mixing with gentiles at all in any sort of intimate way- they are not even allowed to bless or give gifts to gentiles. So if the opportunity arises for me to point this out, you can bet your sweet ass I will because I am fed up with the ADL and unending chorus line of far left Jewish lawyers streaming out of the Ivy League university system, all engaged in various "legal projects" dedicated to bringing about the end of western civilization and culture.
No, Rodger, you are so far off the mark in your estimation of me it is as if you are shooting in the opposite direction. I have my many faults, but not the ones you think.
It is better to be scolded by a wise man than praised by a fool, so I take it as high compliment that you withhold any praise from me.
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