Wednesday, February 26, 2014

1580th.


"Trolling used to be pretty funny and almost entirely harmless. Trolling, despite the modern usage, does not mean 'the act of pissing somebody off and laughing about their anger.' It is 'the act of pissing somebody off based on something completely meaningless and laughing about their misplaced anger.' It isn't considered trolling to leave a comment full of racial epithets and laugh when people, 'don't get it.' It is trolling if you leave a comment insisting on the wrong information about something irrelevant - how many runes are on a Stargate, for example (everybody knows it's 12) - and wait for one guy that just can't let that transgression pass. If you start a fake fight with Professor Stargate, dragging him deeper and deeper until hopefully, finally, even he has to stop and think, 'wait a minute, this is riduculous,' that is trolling. That's the difference: No actual harm is caused and even the victim can eventually get in on the joke. 'Trolling' isn't referring to hiding behind a fortification and trying to hurt people like the mythical creature. It's referring to the style of fishing - you drag bait across the bottom hoping to get a rare bite. It's not 'bait' if you're earnestly spouting your misogynistic beliefs and somebody gets upset. There's nothing funny about entirely justified anger." - Robert Brockway


Photo is "Discord Trolling" - from Grumbeerkopp.