Why do people hate trolls?

I personally find them either halarious or meh. I've never understood why people get so worked up over it.

They cause trouble for people.

Only if people don't relise they're being trolled and get sucked in.

They go out of their way to antagonize people and then act as if it reflects poorly on those people to respond. In real life, that sort of behavior would not net you any sympathy, and you'd be culpable for harassment. When someone deliberately tries to make others angry and succeeds, they're unequivocally at fault.

Well, what I don't understand is why people get mad because

1. That's exactly what the trolls wanted

2. a lot of the time the trolls can actually be halarious (search "vent harrassment" on youtube)

3. the person who falls for an obvious troll really should know better, and if they do fall for it, should learn to laugh at themselves

4. instead of finding it funny, or meh when someone else gets trolled (IMO the only two reactions that make sense) people get mad at the troll, or say stuff like "don't feed the trolls" I say, why not feed them. Some of the better ones provide free laughs for anyone with a sense of humor.

As for your point about "in real life" that's just it. The internet isn't real.

edited 8th Dec '10 8:28:38 PM by qqq

People hate trolls because they make silly threads in OT and are most likely MFE.

MFE?

Tries not to troll if he does it's usually stupid little things which nobody has a right to get offended for like putting up a digimon for pokemon month.

<redacted wrong thread>

EDIT: because Trolls are assholes, simple as that. I won't let racist/anti-aspie/insert biased pieces-of-shit get away with their garbage. That's why people hate trolls, at least the DOUCHEBAG variety of trolls.

People who just have fun/light fun etc I don't care about. Or people who are blatantly trolling (E.g. I denied the holocaust in front of a Jewish Judge and a polish girl as my pposition in debate league, it was debate so it was allowed - people pull all sorts of stupid arguments in debate)

edited 8th Dec '10 9:17:57 PM by BalloonFleet

Well, what I don't understand is why people get mad because

1. That's exactly what the trolls wanted

And if someone punches you in the face, do you think you can not get hurt to spite them?

2. a lot of the time the trolls can actually be halarious (search "vent harrassment" on youtube)

3. the person who falls for an obvious troll really should know better, and if they do fall for it, should learn to laugh at themselves

They're usually not, and the trolls are at fault in the first place. Why laugh at yourself when no matter how lame you may get in picking up the bait, the trolls are always lamer for laying it in the first place?

As for your point about "in real life" that's just it. The internet isn't real.

Aside from the effect of being granted anonymity, this doesn't change human psychology. People aren't going to simply not take offense at things they otherwise would have just because it's the internet. You're still interacting with real people, and humans are social animals with strongly ingrained responses to certain types of social interactions.

A tidbit you might find enlightening. A psychology professor at my school told me about a recent experiment where students participated in an extremely simple electronic game of three way catch. The players would toss a ball from one to another between them. Eventually, the other two players would start tossing the ball to each other, rarely letting the avatar of the experiment subject have the ball. The purpose of the experiment was to study the emotional effects of exclusion when reduced to the simplest and most abstract forms; the subjects knew nothing about the players behind the avatars, and knew that the other players had know way of knowing anything about them. The subjects found the experiment sufficiently emotionally painful that no similar experiment will now pass the Institutional Review Board.

When you ask internet goers to simply shrug off antisocial online behavior, you're not simply asking them to be "mature," you're asking them to defy ingrained human psychology.

And if someone punches you in the face, do you think you can not get hurt to spite them?

It depends how hard was the person hit, and do they have a pain resistance. I know someone people who can be hit in the face and not even flinch.

That's kinda splitting hairs. The quality of the pain isn't the point he was making—pain is pain, and in all estimation, we shouldn't have to endure it.

People hate trolls because it is immature, prevents rational and important discourse that could be taking place, and causes people suffering.

Blaming the people who get trolled is like blaming the people who are bullied-"oh, why don't they just get away from the bullies, why don't they just develop thicker skin, why don't they just ignore them, blah blah blah..." Because they shouldn't have to, that's why.

Coincidentally, (I'm aware that it might not be this) this is coming off as trying to excuse your own actions.

Well

by definition, people who troll do it to offend others, this means intentionally picking a topic that to some is Dude, Not Funny! and laughing as they offend people.

My definition of trolling seems to be a little more broad. I tend to include the lighthearted stuff Balloon Fleet mentioned.

I think trolling in the form of rebukes can be useful in some instances. Pranks played on extreme fundamentalist groups protesting, for example. I don't think it's useful in getting such groups to stop or reconsider, but it sends a clear message to others that such behavior is socially unacceptable and will not be taken seriously, as well as weakening the power of their message.

So, I tend not to have a single opinion on trolling itself. I tend to think of it as a case by case thing to judge, but trolling doesn't excuse being an asshole.

my definition is pretty broad comparatively, trolling high-winded people and blatantly trolling are still picking something not funny to the person and then laughing as it offends them.

even quote/unquote "light hearted trolling" is still from a position that offends the person who gets trolled. don't try to play it off as something else.

Because no one likes a jerkass, and trolls are jerkasses.

even quote/unquote "light hearted trolling" is still from a position that offends the person who gets trolled. don't try to play it off as something else.

Even if it's good-natured harassment between good friends?

Also, I think "offends" is the wrong word. For example, tricking someone into believing false information counts as trolling, but it's not something that's offensive.

Good friends always laugh off jokes, even if it's trolling.

Tricking someone with false information is still offensive...to the truth!

seriously though, you'll most likely "let it slide" as they say, for a friend, because

A: you know their intentions beforehand aren't really to harm you.

B: you're their friend, through or because, of their antic.

3: No C tonight.

Also, trolls smell funny and typically want to eat you.

Trolls go out of their way to stop people doing what they were trying to do. It's on a par with someone throwing snow back on your car while you're trying to clean it.

If a troll isn't pissing people off, then he's doing a pretty bd job at trolling.

1. That's exactly what the trolls wanted

Exactly?

I can pretty safely say that anyone who says that victims of trolling should just not get angry and bear it stoically, that'll sure show those trolls, ha ha, was never bullied in school.

2. a lot of the time the trolls can actually be halarious (search "vent harrassment" on youtube)

Schadenfreude suffers a lot from Fridge Logic. Most people sympathize with the victim, not the troll. Trolling is only funny to the average human being if it's aimed at an Asshole Victim who had really had it coming.

And it's spelled "hilarious."

3. the person who falls for an obvious troll really should know better, and if they do fall for it, should learn to laugh at themselves

An obvious troll being what? Poe's Law states that you can't find obvious trolls by looking at how extreme their positions are, and the only other kind of obvious troll (that is, bad trolls) almost never fool anyone, and instead become increasingly aggravating as they refuse to kindly shut up now that they've had their fun.

4. instead of finding it funny, or meh when someone else gets trolled (IM Othe only two reactions that make sense) people get mad at the troll, or say stuff like "don't feed the trolls" I say, why not feed them. Some of the better ones provide free laughs for anyone with a sense of humor.

People sympathize with the victim, not the troll.

As for your point about "in real life" that's just it. The internet isn't real.

Except for how, you now, the internet is real. There, is in fact, an actual network connecting millions of computers across the entire globe. It's not a conspiracy. It's not just an exceptionally detailed simulation someone installed on your computer when you weren't looking. The internet is an actual thing that exists.

The people you are talking to on the internet are real people. Your relationships with them, however much they may differ from the relationships with people you know in "real life," are still very much real relationships. The internet is very different from "real life," yes. But it's not an isolated vacuum where nobody you talk to is actually a person, and your actions have no consequences. Video Game Cruelty Potential does not apply.

The internet is, in fact, Serious Business.

Because they eat children.

They're lice on the body of the internet. They don't contribute anything, all they do is cause annoyance for their own amusement.

And we're talking fairly hefty stuff sometimes. Trolls have literally ruined lives. I'd rather not bring up any examples (though one big one sticks out in my mind) but I will if forced.

They are pointless, harrassing, disruptive and often outright destructive to people in their lives outwith the internet too. And even the ones who are just "having a laugh" are annoying everyone who isn't "in on the joke." Minor or major, they're an irritant.

edited 9th Dec '10 8:37:47 AM by GameChainsaw