This theory has long since met with reality and lost. I mod - and it turns out that trolls target groups of people. So for example seeing a bunch of posts tar

This theory has long since met with reality and lost. I mod - and it turns out that trolls target groups of people. So for example seeing a bunch of posts targetting women, or minorities, is going to go ahead and affect people who have been abused for being parts of those groups. Indiscriminate massed assaults are extremely hard for people to deal with - and even if I am not the target I would expect myself to step in, or some authority to step in. So yes, in a very real way they have power over a large number of people, just the same way you have power over someone weaker or more vulnerable than you. The old chan philosophy worked on a smaller net, if it even worked then.