Trolling on the internets

[الله أكبر]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

It's about trolls on the internet and fucked up stuff they do. A pretty interesting read.

[WWW.SETH.COM]

It's a pretty well-written article. My only problem is that the journalist is putting trolls in the New York Times magazine, which will maybe give them more attention.

[الله أكبر]

Yup, and since all they do is crave attention, it's giving them exactly what they want. If nothing else, maybe people won't be as frivolous with the kind of stuff they put up on the internet as a result.

[Rhino......................]

Exactly. I don't understand why anyone thinks giving these idiots, who're obviously trying to provoke people, more attention. Look at them:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai5kqwLdOtM[/youtube]

Also, I'm not defending any of the gross invasions of privacy these dipshits are responsible for, but I can't begin to imagine how anyone could expect this to be taken the least bit seriously.

[Larry Flyntz]

If nothing else, maybe people won't be as frivolous with the kind of stuff they put up on the internet as a result.

I think this was the point of the article.  It's saying "Hey readers, beware of these douche bags."

It's really messed up how these trolls think they're doing their victims a service.  Like the guy who posted flashing colors on an epilepsy website saying that it showed epileptics that they need to be more careful on the internet.  And then there's the guy who wants to kill 4 billion people for the good of humanity.

[Pube Truth]

These are severely depraved individuals, who didn't get enough love as children, now they hate the world. It's pretty screwed up that anyone would think of doing these kinds of things, and then have the balls to try and rationalize/justify their behavior by saying that it's for the common good. What's commonly good about death threats, and inciting violence?


Now, having said that, I thought the one dude's "green hair theory" was really interesting. Instead of justifying or rationalizing, he's simply saying that it's "our" fault for being open to the onslaught in the first place.

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

Is Asshat just a controlled laboratory for trolling?

[الله أكبر]

It's humor of a slightly similar variety, but it's not like we post peoples' addresses or credit card info and stuff.

[FAGGOT WATCHIN TRON]

I actually thought this was incredibly interesting. Maybe not the subject matter specifically, but this guy's take on it, and his presentation. I particularly liked the end bit about what makes a good person with the quotes from the message board. The last quote was more or less perfect for the tone of this piece. I'm more than a little surprised that SA or Lowtax's name didn't come up anywhere in this, though.

[الله أكبر]

Yaknow, I was wondering the same thing about SA. SA has staged similar antics, like the robots rights protest in some foreign country or Leonard Crabs, Attorney at Law. I'm not part of the SA community though, so I'm not quite sure what else goes on, but I somehow get the impression that goons would make fun of 4chan people.

[FAGGOT WATCHIN TRON]

but I somehow get the impression that goons would make fun of 4chan people.

Yeah I think they would, too. I think the difference between these troll douchebags and the goons is that the goons generally use their "powers" for good. Still I was surprised they weren't mentioned at all.

[الله أكبر]

Yeah, goons are kinda like "Trigger Happy TV;" they fuck with peoples minds, but no real harm done. 4chan is kind of like "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow!;" laughing at peoples' misfortune while lots of crazy anime shit happens. Has this article come up on SA at all? I'd be interested to hear what Lowtax has to say about it.

[Rhino......................]

somehow get the impression that goons would make fun of 4chan people.

They do and always have. 4chan was founded by FYAD rejects.

[FAGGOT WATCHIN TRON]

somehow get the impression that goons would make fun of 4chan people.

They do and always have. 4chan was founded by FYAD rejects.

That was exactly the impression that I was getting. "/b/" sounded like nothing more than a shitty FYAD.