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posted by Dopefish on Friday April 11 2014, @05:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-big-surprise dept.

New research suggests that internet trolls are sadists, albeit sub-clinical levels of sadism; not the more extreme forms that are seen in serial killers and criminals.

Buckels [one of the authors] said that the anonymity of the Internet can no doubt provide a dark corner from which to strike. For some users, trolling may also offer the same outlet as do violent video games or movies, providing a dose of vicarious sadism as an alternative to the actual thing.

"Our research suggests that trolls also want to be mean to people in real life," Buckels said. "Perhaps trolling online allows them to satisfy their appetites for cruelty without it creeping into real life."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 11 2014, @06:05PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday April 11 2014, @06:05PM (#30186) Homepage

    Some trolls are a genuine cause for concern. Ones who thematically and repeatedly stalk and antagonize one person, or take the trolling out of scope and into real-life, even as "real-life" as Facebook is. Or spamming search results by sullying a mark's good name with rumors of the mark having carnal knowledge of barnyard sows.

    But if, say, you're on Slashdot and you like to wear black pants and some troll says that black pants are for fucking Nancies, and you are driven to anger to the point of contacting the admins and advocating censorship on that troll, then you are the problem because you're nothing but a fucking pusillanimous whiner who still expects momma and daddy to take care of all the hard stuff in life for you.

    * flips middle fingers * Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou! Bitchbitchbitch!

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  • (Score: 2) by dotdotdot on Friday April 11 2014, @06:11PM

    by dotdotdot (858) on Friday April 11 2014, @06:11PM (#30189)

    I was hoping you would comment on this. Thank you! You didn't disappoint.

    • (Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 11 2014, @07:31PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday April 11 2014, @07:31PM (#30228) Homepage

      Mexicans are an urban blight. Since they subscribe to a Mediterranian value system -- extended social welfare through the family -- rather than the rootsy self-sufficiency of old-school American patriots, their parasitic and selfish interests are incompatible with those of the United States of America. This is why they will at once disregard their traditional (aligned with Republican) values to vote Democrat for the handouts. In that case, the welfare state assumes the place of the extended family and as a result the incentive to provide, rather than leech, is lost.

      American politicians, aligned with the corporations, consider Mexicans useful idiots because they are willing to work for less and drive down overall wages. One reason for that is because the living situation of the average Mexican is cramming 3 generations into a 1-bedroom apartment, and they also enrich the prison industrial complex since they are more feral and predisposed to committing crimes. When Mexicans move into your neighborhood, your property values drop like a rock because those immigrant families broadcast themselves to the entire neighborhood in the forms of strewn trash, robberies, taggings, vandalism, gang violence; and the ever-ubiquitous blaring cacophony of howling and yelping, rap and Mariachi music, missing or augmented exhaust systems on their '82 Cutlass Supremes with gold-wire rims, vocalized threats to rival gangs -- to name a few.

      Sure, some magical Mexican families exist in places like Orange County, ones who don't piss and shit on the sides of Home Depot stores in broad daylight, but let's get real here --

      Do not allow the Brown menace to invade your neighborhood -- your life may depend on it.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by gishzida on Saturday April 12 2014, @12:33AM

        by gishzida (2870) on Saturday April 12 2014, @12:33AM (#30364) Journal

        Hate to break it to you... in the New World Order of NSA-ware... we're all Mexicans.

        As for psychos and trolls... Isn't that what Fox News and MSNBC is for?

        On a more serious side note a few years back the NY Times did a "magazine style" piece about trolls [August 3, 2008 The Trolls Among Us [nytimes.com] By Mattathias Schwartz] which focused on Jason Fortuny and "Weev" yep... that WEEV [wikipedia.org] who is the former president of the "Gay Nigger Association of America" [wikipedia.org].

        Both of them are borderline sociopaths [I speak as an expert since I am one (a sociopath that is)]... The interesting thing here is that Fortuny was abused as a child and as an adult has become a serial troll... spreading the abuse. One can only wonder about Weev... The government certainly tried to bugger him for the ATT / iPad hack... but the Appeals Court let him off.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday April 12 2014, @12:38AM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday April 12 2014, @12:38AM (#30368) Homepage

          for every troll who was abused as a child, there are two trolls who grew up in comfortable boredom always getting what they wanted.

          • (Score: 1) by GeminiDomino on Saturday April 12 2014, @07:17PM

            by GeminiDomino (661) on Saturday April 12 2014, @07:17PM (#30581)

            Don't forget the sprinkling of the genuinely mentally damaged.

            --
            "We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture"