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Trolls and sadists - Just having fun!

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  Trolls and sadists - Just having fun! wjwlsn <ibillwilson@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 12:57 -0800
    Re: Trolls and sadists - Just having fun! Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-02-12 13:59 -0800
    Re: Trolls and sadists - Just having fun! "q.kontinuum" <achsis_of_elvis@yahoo.com> - 2014-02-12 22:22 +0000
    Re: Trolls and sadists - Just having fun! Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 09:42 -0500
    Re: Trolls and sadists - Just having fun! "wjwlsn" <ibillwilson@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 15:45 +0000

#324 — Trolls and sadists - Just having fun!

If you spent any amount of time reading Slashdot comments, this will just confirm what you already knew... but at least you now have scientific research to back up your belief!

"A group of Canadian researchers has given the imprimatur of social-science recognition to a fact that many of us who spend time in internet comment forums have suspected: there's a strong correlation between online trolling and sadism. 'Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!'" 

More info at "http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/study_shoes_that_online_comment_trolls_are_sadists/"

(Let us hope that this post does not act as troll bait.)

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#331

On 2014-02-12 20:57:53 +0000, wjwlsn said:

> If you spent any amount of time reading Slashdot comments, this will 
> just confirm what you already knew... but at least you now have 
> scientific research to back up your belief!
> 
> "A group of Canadian researchers has given the imprimatur of 
> social-science recognition to a fact that many of us who spend time in 
> internet comment forums have suspected: there's a strong correlation 
> between online trolling and sadism. 'Both trolls and sadists feel 
> sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun 
> ... and the Internet is their playground!'"
> More info at 
> "http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/study_shoes_that_online_comment_trolls_are_sadists/" 
> 
> 
> (Let us hope that this post does not act as troll bait.)

There is a distinction to be made here.  Not all trolls are necessarily 
assholes or crapflooders.  Poking fun at others is a fine tradition 
with roots stretching back to antiquity, and while the niceties of 
polite society, plus the desire for continued employment in the 
workplace and so forth often preclude poking gentle fun when deserved, 
the internet provides a very handy forum for this kind of thing.

Some people will go so far as to label dissent as trolling.  I have had 
conversations both online and in real life where I was called a troll 
simply for disagreeing with somebody's premises or conclusions in a 
discussion.

But, yeah, it is a joyous thing to torture people sometimes, especially 
when they deserve it.  I think that a well-executed troll is one of the 
most enjoyable things to behold.

Famous real-life trolls include Bill Hicks, Andy Kaufman, Susan Sontag, 
Rush Limbaugh, and John Stewart.

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#336

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On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:57:53 -0800, wjwlsn wrote:

> internet comment forums have suspected: there's a strong correlation
> between online trolling and sadism. 'Both trolls and sadists feel
> sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun
> ... and the Internet is their playground!'"

I beg to differ. Not everyone who is by majority considered a troll 
necessarily enjoys to cause serious distress. A good troll can be quite 
entertaining and might manage to make people think, by adopting absurd 
positions and arguing in their favour or by exaggerating positions to 
show how ridiculous they are. One of my favourite trolls would be 
Shelleytherepublican.
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-- 
Trolling is a art!

My public-key is available on http://tinyurl.com/ps9r99y

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#378

On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:57:53 -0800 (PST), wjwlsn
<ibillwilson@gmail.com> wrote:

>If you spent any amount of time reading Slashdot comments, this will just confirm what you already knew... but at least you now have scientific research to back up your belief!
>
>"A group of Canadian researchers has given the imprimatur of social-science recognition to a fact that many of us who spend time in internet comment forums have suspected: there's a strong correlation between online trolling and sadism. 'Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!'" 
>
>More info at "http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/study_shoes_that_online_comment_trolls_are_sadists/"
>

In other words, this reaffirms something else that everybody knows:
the way to get rid of a troll is not to rise to their level. That's
their reward; that's what kicks in the endorphins for them. Obvious
trolls you ignore, less obvious ones you respond to politely until it
becomes obvious they are trolls, at which point - again - you ignore.

Mind you, not all trolls are bad, since they often encourage
interesting discourse in taboo topics. The problem with trolls is as
much how some people are unable to disengage their emotional response
to certain topics as the trolls themselves. A troll saying "The
Slashdot beta redesign is great" could inspire discussion about the
pros and cons of the new look, for instance. But too often it degrades
into name-calling and ad hominem attacks (which is, of course, what
the troll wants).

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#391

I don't disagree with any of the replies up to this point. Just like anything else, 
there is a broad spectrum of trolling. At one end, you have people that will never 
troll, even if it might occasionally be an effective way to prod a discussion. At 
the other end of the spectrum are the habitual sadistic trolls that know no boundaries 
of common decency. Somewhere between those extremes are the occasional artistic 
or humorous trollers and the chronic malicious trolls. I suspect that the authors 
of the study probably had malicious trolling (or worse) in mind when they made their 
conclusions. Admittedly, that's an assumption on my part.

Anyway, perhaps I started this thread as a troll. :)
-- 
View this thread at http://squte.com/node/4418#comment-10340

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