4 ms·

It's sad the Troll now means asshole. Ken M [1] style trolling is one of my favorite things on the internet. Even David Thorne's [2] slightly more aggressive Tr

by xupybd 5y ago

It's sad the Troll now means asshole. Ken M [1] style trolling is one of my favorite things on the internet. Even David Thorne's [2] slightly more aggressive Trolling is fantastic. I think we need to separate this from online bullies. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_M [2] https://27bslash6.com/missy.html https://27bslash6.com/missy.html

elliekelly 5y ago
And Fansy the Bard. Sometimes trolls really can make an online community a better place.
arp242 5y ago
Trolling is essentially online pranking. There's good-natured "smile, you're on candid camera" pranks, and then there's just being an asshole.
- bb88 5y ago
  I wouldn't call it "pranking". I would call it a subversive action from a deep sarcastic view. E.g. I'm pretty sure some people might think that "swatting" is a form of trolling.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    https://thewestlakereview.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/review-help-i-am-being-held-prisoner/ https://thewestlakereview.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/review-he...
  - klyrs 5y ago
    Trolling is a spectrum, people
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - adingus 5y ago
      Trolling is a art
  - me_me_me 5y ago
    "Ken's comments are usually benign, with his comments displaying a complete lack of understanding of the featured topic, while other commenters take him seriously" That was the OG trolling, you were wasting peoples time for laugh while they were educating you about something. Term got hijacked and morphed into causing mental trauma to people. One was harmless prank causing eye rolling, other mental trauma.
toiletaccount 5y ago
My personal fav was the guy on craigslist that pretended to be an attractive young woman looking for sex w randos. All 'she' needed was a photo of their drivers license to make sure they weren't creeps/as insurance. This guy tracked down every man's spouse and told them what was up. He was sued (and lost, iirc, after about 100 men were divorced), and ended up being interviewed by the nyt. BUT he picks up the interviewer in a limo with his gf near an abandoned mall or something. he thought trolling was going to change the world, his gf thought he was jesus, there was champagne and it was an all around weird experience for the reporter. They honestly sounded like real live discordians. This is probably getting close to being 15 or 20 years old now, but it was pioneering. Yeah I had a few what of it.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  That sounds like weev
  - toiletaccount 5y ago
    Thank you, I'm pretty sure this was it. Pure gold.
    - moron4hire 5y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev Just your regular, garden variety rapscallion, right there. Not at all a perfect example of the title thread's point.
- smt88 5y ago
  It's interesting that, on a thread about how trolling used to be good-natured, you brought up a literal neo-Nazi[1]. So it seems like this study's findings are probably not far from the truth. 1. https://www.newsweek.com/neo-nazi-andrew-weev-auernheimer-daily-stormer-jewish-descent-768805 https://www.newsweek.com/neo-nazi-andrew-weev-auernheimer-da...
  - toiletaccount 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
danwills 5y ago
Wow! I haven't uncontrollably cried with laughter like that for so long, KenM is my new hero. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
blondin 5y ago
you are quite right. i remember a time when seeing the troll emoji meant someone was being pranked and the small communities i was part of enjoyed the laughter. nowadays, i wouldn't bother using that emoji. besides, i don't think it made it to the standard emojis. there is... just something about things becoming popular or going mainstream and turning bad. countless of benign things became harmful once they went mainstream.
O_H_E 5y ago
Wow, I had no idea troll carried a similar connotation problem as hacker
- nieve 5y ago
  It doesn't, we didn't call them trolls on Usenet as a positive thing. The first trolls were still assholes and existed mainly to disrupt conversation and try to start fights between each other. If the height of your personal accomplishments was starting a vicious flamewar you were just a jerk. Hacker on the other hand did not involve the current negative connotations.
  - xupybd 5y ago
    Ah ok, so maybe there is a need of a term for online pranksters.
spfzero 5y ago
Thanks for reminding me about David Thorne. Priceless.
moepstar 5y ago
Oh wow, that's quite a blast from the past - haven't read David Thornes antics in a while.. Also, it reminded me of http://dontevenreply.com/ http://dontevenreply.com/
- xupybd 5y ago
  I'm so glad you shared that. It's brilliant.
moron4hire 5y ago
Troll always meant asshole. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/7/12/17561768/dont-feed-the-trolls-online-harassment-abuse https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2... The only people who cling to this idea are the ones who need it to excuse their own shitty behavior.

by xupybd 5y ago

elliekelly 5y ago

And Fansy the Bard. Sometimes trolls really can make an online community a better place.

arp242 5y ago

Trolling is essentially online pranking. There's good-natured "smile, you're on candid camera" pranks, and then there's just being an asshole.

bb88 5y ago
I wouldn't call it "pranking". I would call it a subversive action from a deep sarcastic view. E.g. I'm pretty sure some people might think that "swatting" is a form of trolling.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  https://thewestlakereview.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/review-help-i-am-being-held-prisoner/ https://thewestlakereview.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/review-he...
- klyrs 5y ago
  Trolling is a spectrum, people
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - adingus 5y ago
    Trolling is a art
- me_me_me 5y ago
  "Ken's comments are usually benign, with his comments displaying a complete lack of understanding of the featured topic, while other commenters take him seriously" That was the OG trolling, you were wasting peoples time for laugh while they were educating you about something. Term got hijacked and morphed into causing mental trauma to people. One was harmless prank causing eye rolling, other mental trauma.

toiletaccount 5y ago

My personal fav was the guy on craigslist that pretended to be an attractive young woman looking for sex w randos. All 'she' needed was a photo of their drivers license to make sure they weren't creeps/as insurance. This guy tracked down every man's spouse and told them what was up. He was sued (and lost, iirc, after about 100 men were divorced), and ended up being interviewed by the nyt. BUT he picks up the interviewer in a limo with his gf near an abandoned mall or something. he thought trolling was going to change the world, his gf thought he was jesus, there was champagne and it was an all around weird experience for the reporter. They honestly sounded like real live discordians. This is probably getting close to being 15 or 20 years old now, but it was pioneering. Yeah I had a few what of it.

moron4hire 5y ago
That sounds like weev
- toiletaccount 5y ago
  Thank you, I'm pretty sure this was it. Pure gold.
  - moron4hire 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev Just your regular, garden variety rapscallion, right there. Not at all a perfect example of the title thread's point.
smt88 5y ago
It's interesting that, on a thread about how trolling used to be good-natured, you brought up a literal neo-Nazi[1]. So it seems like this study's findings are probably not far from the truth. 1. https://www.newsweek.com/neo-nazi-andrew-weev-auernheimer-daily-stormer-jewish-descent-768805 https://www.newsweek.com/neo-nazi-andrew-weev-auernheimer-da...
- toiletaccount 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

danwills 5y ago

Wow! I haven't uncontrollably cried with laughter like that for so long, KenM is my new hero. Thank you so much for the recommendation!

blondin 5y ago

you are quite right. i remember a time when seeing the troll emoji meant someone was being pranked and the small communities i was part of enjoyed the laughter. nowadays, i wouldn't bother using that emoji. besides, i don't think it made it to the standard emojis. there is... just something about things becoming popular or going mainstream and turning bad. countless of benign things became harmful once they went mainstream.

O_H_E 5y ago

Wow, I had no idea troll carried a similar connotation problem as hacker

nieve 5y ago
It doesn't, we didn't call them trolls on Usenet as a positive thing. The first trolls were still assholes and existed mainly to disrupt conversation and try to start fights between each other. If the height of your personal accomplishments was starting a vicious flamewar you were just a jerk. Hacker on the other hand did not involve the current negative connotations.
- xupybd 5y ago
  Ah ok, so maybe there is a need of a term for online pranksters.

spfzero 5y ago

Thanks for reminding me about David Thorne. Priceless.

moepstar 5y ago

Oh wow, that's quite a blast from the past - haven't read David Thornes antics in a while.. Also, it reminded me of http://dontevenreply.com/ http://dontevenreply.com/

xupybd 5y ago
I'm so glad you shared that. It's brilliant.

moron4hire 5y ago

Troll always meant asshole. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/7/12/17561768/dont-feed-the-trolls-online-harassment-abuse https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2... The only people who cling to this idea are the ones who need it to excuse their own shitty behavior.