4 ms·

I don't share the experience of this author. I don't often encounter trolls. What I encounter instead is intense differences of opinion, difficult to reconcil

I don't share the experience of this author. I don't often encounter trolls. What I encounter instead is intense differences of opinion, difficult to reconcile, and a lack of respect and manners not because the people at the keyboards are trolls, but because of the psychology of arguing anonymously with an unknown and imagined "enemy". I don't believe "traditional gatekeepers" is a good solution to the intensity and the chaos.. I think the right solution is just time. Social norms need time to adjust, on many fronts. We are in a period of upheaval, but as Jimmy Eat World says "it just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride, everything, everything will be just fine..."

ipython 7y ago
Social norms work because there is self-regulation. But how does self-regulation work if there are no aligned incentives? Why would trolls living thousands of miles away give a hoot about your precious democracy? They don’t stand to gain anything by following some “social norms”. In fact, you can profit quite well writing drivel to engage the communal lizard brain of a population, liberally peppering your content with advertisements. So while yes I do think that we are in the middle of rapid upheaval, things will get much worse before it gets better. I wonder if the solution will look like Stevenson’s idea of “stream editors” - AI or even humans who sort through the constant noise to filter only the information deemed trustworthy or relevant. Then we have gatekeepers once again.
allovernow 7y ago
I think part of the problem is that the word troll has been (probably somewhat deliberately) bastardized to mean "anyone who questions my views."
trophycase 7y ago
Similar to what you said, I often see people arguing against strawmen, or even arguing strawman on strawman. To the point where internet discourse is a simulacrum of real life politics.

ipython 7y ago

Social norms work because there is self-regulation. But how does self-regulation work if there are no aligned incentives? Why would trolls living thousands of miles away give a hoot about your precious democracy? They don’t stand to gain anything by following some “social norms”. In fact, you can profit quite well writing drivel to engage the communal lizard brain of a population, liberally peppering your content with advertisements. So while yes I do think that we are in the middle of rapid upheaval, things will get much worse before it gets better. I wonder if the solution will look like Stevenson’s idea of “stream editors” - AI or even humans who sort through the constant noise to filter only the information deemed trustworthy or relevant. Then we have gatekeepers once again.

allovernow 7y ago

I think part of the problem is that the word troll has been (probably somewhat deliberately) bastardized to mean "anyone who questions my views."

trophycase 7y ago

Similar to what you said, I often see people arguing against strawmen, or even arguing strawman on strawman. To the point where internet discourse is a simulacrum of real life politics.