InternetTrolls TrollHunter 1500

an experiment that actually curbed hate speech on the internet

I HATE BUL­LIES and I see internet trolls as bul­lies. So I hate in­ternet trolls. But aside from Face­book, where I can keep them curbed by ex­cluding them from my com­ment thread, I have little in­ter­ac­tion on so­cial media plat­forms on the in­ternet. Con­se­quently, I have little in­ter­ac­tion with bul­lies and trolls on the internet. [Read more] “an experiment that actually curbed hate speech on the internet”

Castle NathanFillion StanaKotic 1500

anonymity empowers cowards to become bullies

I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT BUL­LIES sev­eral times on this site, both from per­sonal mem­o­ries and with the still es­ca­lating in­stances of In­ternet bul­lying often re­ferred to as “trolling.” We are watching the sev­enth season of the tele­vi­sion se­ries CASTLE, and one of the episodes deals with both the type of bul­lying that I ex­pe­ri­enced fifty years ago and the cyber-bullying of today. [Read more] “anonymity empowers cowards to become bullies”

Trolls Stone 1500 1

trolls are leaving forests and bridges for the internet

TROLLS ARE EVERY­WHERE! It wasn’t al­ways this way. Once upon a time, trolls dwelled in Scan­di­na­vian folk tales, crea­tures hos­tile to all things human. But now trolls are every­where! They’re leaving forests and bridges and the rocks and trees of the Old World to dwell in the cy­berci­ties that en­circle the globe. [Read more] “trolls are leaving forests and bridges for the internet”

Trollology 1500 crop

sadism! psychopathy! machiavellianism! and trolling?

THE FOL­LOWING PARA­GRAPHS were taken from an ar­ticle ti­tled “The One Psy­cho­log­ical Char­ac­ter­istic That On­line Trolls Tend to Share.” It’s an in­ter­esting look at what trolling has be­come, and most of the find­ings fit my ob­ser­va­tions of and ex­pe­ri­ences with per­sis­tent (com­pul­sive?) trolls on so­cial and news-oriented websites. [Read more] “sadism! psychopathy! machiavellianism! and trolling?”

JasonPage TrollUnderBridge dwg

what about them there leftwingnut trolls?

AH YES, LEFT­WINGNUT TROLLS. I sup­pose they’re there, but they have to wait until I ad­dress old-fashioned, mod­erate Re­pub­li­cans. If they have a pres­ence or a voice on Face­book and other so­cial media on the In­ternet, it’s hard to find. Or it’s there but drowned out by the ubiq­ui­tous and rabid rightwingnuts and their bel­li­cose blath­er­ings and intellectually-challenged ‘opin­ions.’ [Read more] “what about them there leftwingnut trolls?”