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Paraphrasing an article by Time Magazine's Joel Stein:
The Internet's personality has changed -- once it was like a geek with lofty ideals about the free flow of information. Now the web is a sociopath with Asperger's. [ Submitter's note: the "Sociopath with Asperger's" comment is not my addition, but a verbatim phrase in the source article ]
The people who relish their online freedom to act under influence of the online disinhibition effect are called "trolls." Trolling is, overtly, a political fight; but it has become the main tool of the alt-right, an Internet-grown reactionary movement that works for men's rights and against immigration. They derisively call their adversaries "social justice warriors" and believe that liberal interest groups purposely exploit their weaknesses to gain pity, which allows them to control the leverage of political power.
When sites are overrun by trolls, they drown out the voices of women, ethic and religious minorities, gays -- anyone who might feel vulnerable. The alt-right argues that if you can't handle opprobrium, you should just turn off your computer. But that's arguing against self-expression, something antithetical to the original values of the Internet.
The article closes with a description of an exchange between Stein and a detractor. In meeting the detractor in real-life, he was surprised by her lack of bravado, to which she responds, "The Internet is the realm of the coward. These are people who are all sound and no fury."
Stein ruminates in response, "Maybe. But maybe, in the information age, sound is as destructive as fury."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:27AM
The larger issue is that a small handful of media writers don't control the narrative anymore. So even if you're a millionaire NYT senior editor, you can't post an editorial filled with lies and half-truths about your favorite political candidate, because people that know the truth will appear in your comments and school you.
Granted, many of them are in fact trolls. But trolls are not THAT hard to get rid of. We of Soylent/Slashdot know this because we built a system that hides them most of the time. Anyone else could do something similar. But instead of doing that, they just get rid of all comments. Blaming trolls is an excuse for wanting complete control with no dissent.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:45AM
If you think for one second the SD system can not be manipulated you have not been paying attention. I have done it by accident a couple of times on this site with modding. Think if you had 20-30 people all getting mod points (and the SD system is fairly generous with points). You could easily change what the conversation is here on any thread.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @07:38AM
You could easily change what the conversation is here on any thread.
No, you couldn't. We wouldn't let you. I can't even hear you.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:58AM
Granted, many of them are in fact trolls. But trolls are not THAT hard to get rid of. We of Soylent/Slashdot know this because we built a system that hides them most of the time.
You are delusional. The only reason trolls are somewhat controlled here is because the community is tiny. Remember all that fucking around buzzard did with the mod system? It had zero effect because we simply didn't have any big problems to begin with. If soylent gets even close to mainstream popularity this place is going to be overflowing with shit and its going to take exponentially more effort to keep it from becoming a permanent cesspool. We don't even have meta-mod for chrissakes...
(Score: 2, Troll) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:05AM
Uzzard even says outright he's a troll himself. What the haemorrhaging purple fuck do you do when one of the staff is a troll?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:59AM
Leave? Start your own web forum. With blackjack... and hookers! [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @06:38AM
I don't think he's a troll. I think he genuinely believes his own bullshit. I think he even revels in it. He shows all the signs of a kid that's been beat too much and now knows no other way to express himself but with cruelty born of an ego-protecting belief in his superiority. He was the social misfit who, unable to understand why he was being picked on, decided that it was because his tormentors were jealous of his intelligence. His entire personality is now dependent on that illusion because he never developed the kind of healthy self-confidence that comes from a loving and supportive family. If that illusion ever cracks he's going to have the mother of all nervous break-downs. So he absolutely must defend his worldview with everything he's got because anyone who disagrees with him is not just challenging his beliefs, they are threatening his identity and thus are literally his personal enemies.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday August 20 2016, @06:47AM
Regardless of the genesis of his douchebaggery, I think the same thing. No one says the shit he says, with the frequency he says it, without believing it. I can feel the difference between a simple troll and a walking, talking dumpster fire of a human being. He got very, very upset when I suggested that he never completely came home from whatever war he says he's a veteran of, which may be where this lies.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:05PM
> he never completely came home from whatever war he says he's a veteran of
The great online troll wars of fidonet?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday August 21 2016, @02:16AM
He insists he's a veteran, and IIRC he let slip that he's in his early 40s. This would place him in Desert Storm. He also has this bizarre fantasy that being a vet means he's somehow superior to civilians who were never in a war somehow; it hasn't occurred to him that his previous status as cannon fodder may have something to do with, for example, lower intelligence than he thinks he has.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @02:28AM
S A V A G E
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @12:54PM
So even if you're a millionaire NYT senior editor, you can't post an editorial filled with lies and half-truths about your favorite political candidate, because people that know the truth will appear in your comments and school you.
I've been an active (registered) poster on several sites sponsored by old-school news organizations, and they all either shut down their forums or turned them over to FB. That was in spite of the substantial traffic attracted to the sites by those forums.
I really doubt that any of them did so because responsible posters refuted the work of their reporters or editorial writers. They did it because they were tired of devoting resources cleaning up after trolls, spam, haters, obvious jerks. And then some of the jerks would complain about censorship after their bullshit had been removed.