{"id":8287,"date":"2008-08-01T16:14:42","date_gmt":"2008-08-01T20:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=8287"},"modified":"2024-10-27T17:58:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T21:58:34","slug":"trolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=8287","title":{"rendered":"Trolls Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A masterpiece of an article<\/a> in this week’s upcoming NY Times Magazine<\/i> about trolls on the Internet. Bravo, Mr. Schwartz. I’ll read anything you write now. I don’t want to go into why I think it’s so damn brilliant … but I will say this: it goes further<\/i> into the conversation than most “oh woe is me there are bad people on the Internet” conversations go. Here’s just one example from the article:<\/p>\n

Is the effort to control what\u00e2\u0080\u0099s said always a form of censorship, or might certain rules be compatible with our notions of free speech?<\/p>\n

One promising answer comes from the computer scientist Jon Postel, now known as \u00e2\u0080\u009cgod of the Internet\u00e2\u0080\u009d for the influence he exercised over the emerging network. In 1981, he formulated what\u00e2\u0080\u0099s known as Postel\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Law: \u00e2\u0080\u009cBe conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.\u00e2\u0080\u009d Originally intended to foster \u00e2\u0080\u009cinteroperability,\u00e2\u0080\u009d the ability of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Law is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to write code that could \u00e2\u0080\u009cspeak\u00e2\u0080\u009d as clearly as possible yet \u00e2\u0080\u009clisten\u00e2\u0080\u009d to the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance \u00e2\u0080\u0094 the spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle. They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can to confound you.<\/p>\n

Why inflict anguish on a helpless stranger? It\u00e2\u0080\u0099s tempting to blame technology, which increases the range of our communications while dehumanizing the recipients. Cases like An Hero and Megan Meier presumably wouldn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t happen if the perpetrators had to deliver their messages in person. But while technology reduces the social barriers that keep us from bedeviling strangers, it does not explain the initial trolling impulse. This seems to spring from something ugly \u00e2\u0080\u0094 a destructive human urge that many feel but few act upon, the ambient misanthropy that\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a frequent ingredient of art, politics and, most of all, jokes. There\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a lot of hate out there, and a lot to hate as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I get sick of the “well, on the Internet you’re anonymous and so you can say anything” argument because, hey, I’m part of that, I’m sitting at my computer, safe and sound, and no one can “get” me, I COULD go onto sites and stir up shit, and call people names, but I DON’T. Why? What is it in some people that enjoy<\/i> disturbing the peace? I haven’t had “trolls” to that degree, although I’ve had a couple of stalkers – and a couple of folks who do the driveby “You’re a stupid C***” comment. These people ARE trolls, make no mistake … but my site is small enough that I just delete, ban, and move on. But what is it in someone that would read a post like this<\/a> and feel the need to say, “You’re a stupid c***” in response? THAT’S what interests me. That’s what intrigues me. What button was pushed? What in my tone brought out such rage? What in my post disturbed<\/i> that individual to such a degree that he HAD to lash out, and get personal<\/i>? It was NOT random. It was a personal attack<\/i>. Now of course I know where he is from, I have his IP address on file, and yes, he is anonymous. If I told that story out in public, would he, standing in a group with me in a public place, say, “You’re such a stupid c***.” Probably not. But there’s more to it than that … and that’s, ultimately, what Schwartz’s article is about. I’ve said it before: those who come up with easy answers in such matters I look at with suspicion – I consider them to be part of the problem, and they don’t want to really look<\/i>.<\/p>\n

It’s been a long time since I’ve read something so fascinating, gripping, something that upset me as I read it, but that I needed to continue.<\/p>\n

Well DONE. Read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A masterpiece of an article in this week’s upcoming NY Times Magazine about trolls on the Internet. Bravo, Mr. Schwartz. I’ll read anything you write now. I don’t want to go into why I think it’s so damn brilliant … … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181816,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287\/revisions\/181816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}