4 ms·

>His psychiatric evaluation, released through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by several news organizations, describes him as suffering from “grandio

>His psychiatric evaluation, released through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by several news organizations, describes him as suffering from “grandiosity” and “delusions of persecution.” That describes every troll in the entire Internet.

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
I dunno, some of 'em are just assholes.
- a_bonobo 11y ago
  This paper made the rounds a few years back: >Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000324 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914... HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7241233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7241233
contingencies 11y ago
I'm not so sure it's very different offline.
GunboatDiplomat 11y ago
Wait, how are we defining trolling? I'd say this kid went above and beyond what would be "trolling." Trolling is trying to get a rise out of people on a discussion board or twitter or similar. Trolling is not encouraging terrorists to bomb American cities.
- ryanlol 11y ago
  >Trolling is not encouraging terrorists to bomb American cities. Really depends on if he would have alerted LE or not, which we can't know as he was arrested so early on. (Which TBH, considering the FBIs formidable surveillance capabilities seems a little sketchy.) Obviously, if such an attack actually went through he'd be no better than the attackers themselves.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
    > Really depends on if he would have alerted LE or not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment

PhasmaFelis 11y ago

I dunno, some of 'em are just assholes.

a_bonobo 11y ago
This paper made the rounds a few years back: >Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000324 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914... HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7241233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7241233

contingencies 11y ago

I'm not so sure it's very different offline.

GunboatDiplomat 11y ago

Wait, how are we defining trolling? I'd say this kid went above and beyond what would be "trolling." Trolling is trying to get a rise out of people on a discussion board or twitter or similar. Trolling is not encouraging terrorists to bomb American cities.

ryanlol 11y ago
>Trolling is not encouraging terrorists to bomb American cities. Really depends on if he would have alerted LE or not, which we can't know as he was arrested so early on. (Which TBH, considering the FBIs formidable surveillance capabilities seems a little sketchy.) Obviously, if such an attack actually went through he'd be no better than the attackers themselves.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
  > Really depends on if he would have alerted LE or not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment