Urbandictionary.com defines the verb ‘trolling’ as: “Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent bystander, because it's the internet and, hey, you can.”
The same site further defines the noun ‘troll’ as: “One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.”
Anyone who’s followed an article’s comment threads will know that there are many trolls skulking on t’interweb; drooling disgustingly and attacking for the most obscure reasons.
With a little imagination, one might envisage a mean-spirited oaf, hiding in the shadows beneath a bridge, just waiting for a carefree rambler to jump out and scare.
An internet troll would be much the same – an ugly, smelly ogre hunched in a dark room; the eerie, ethereal greenness of its visage created by the glow of its monitor. There might be screams in the background, but these will be from some website devoted to torture porn or Jerry Springer reruns.
Andrew Heenan’s page on www.flayme.com/troll/ informs that the term comes from “a style of fishing which involves trailing bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite.”
He continues, “I believe that most trolls are sad people, living their lonely lives vicariously through those they see as strong and successful.”
Heenan maintains that trolls are harmless, but “when a troll becomes persistent and personal, you may need to consider the possibility that it has fermented into an Internet Stalker - equally pathetic, if not more so.”
A British journalist, tired of the shit he was getting from vindictive fucktards, managed to track down the perpetrators. When he approached them, all were apologetic. One troll even went as far as to say, “The internet got the better of me.” – so it’s not only in government that there’s a lack of accountability.
Some maintain that the best thing to do is just ignore trolls, but I think they cause damage. The problem is that those with perspicacity, upon seeing a trollish thread, will realise it’s beneath them to get involved.
This blog doesn’t get many comments, and it used to cause great insecurity on my part that no one gave a shit. But on second thought, maybe readers of these ramblings are of above average intelligence, and choose to process my opinions and disagree silently.
Or maybe that idea just strokes my ego instead of flailing it.
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