Troll culture (4chan, Autoadmit) has a sort of "secret society" flavor to it-- catchy memes and in-jokes, plus new words, much of which spreads out into the mai

Troll culture (4chan, Autoadmit) has a sort of "secret society" flavor to it-- catchy memes and in-jokes, plus new words, much of which spreads out into the mainstream. (Pwn, "over 9000", Final Fantasy fetishism). It's a guilty pleasure and mostly harmless, but its creepiest 0.1% gets a lot of press. I know a therapist who deals with trolling addicts (yes, this is a real problem for some surprisingly smart/high-functioning people) and believes troll culture is a casual sex replacement; that the sublimated, transgressive, and self-destructive energies that used to lead to casual sex are now being directed into troll culture. It's as good an explanation as any. That should be comforting, because as bad as 4chan is, it's a lot less destructive than casual sex.