Trolling: Why nasty commenters take delight in wrecking your day

[MisterBeale]

Our local newspaper had to shut down its discussion forum due to trolls and just generally nasty people.

They reverted to allowing comments on articles and editorials only if you use either Facebook or Google+ to log in.

It's certainly reduced the garbage!

However, I don't know if it could possibly work here.

They didn't HAVE to. I know journalists. They work hard on their stories. They very much dislike being scooped. If they can't find out who did it, or track down the person that has inside information, then they don't want comments. Heaven forbid they can't control the flow of information.

What they hate, is having their integrity and their stories questioned. Anonymous comments are the best source of whistle blowing the wire articles. It is the best check on the establishment media.

Take that away, and the media is better able to condition and brain wash the masses. I won't read any source that doesn't have anonymous comments. A lot of times, I read comments first. lol

 

[MisterBeale]

God got him.

He smote GC's ass!

Probably b/c he didn't give enough money.

 

[Iceweasel]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Back in my day you met them after school. Kept the bullshit to a minimum when you were expected to back up your alligator mouth.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Letting others know who you are online could prove dangerous, in my opinion.

We're not anonymous online. Connection from our home, to our ISP, to a website is anything but anonymous.

For $250, any decent PI can get you the home address and probably a photo of anyone on the net.

Save your money. You can get any info you want for free.

 

[Roadrunner]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Ha!

No caller ID back in the day.

Playing on the phone was our version of surfing the net.

 

[Roadrunner]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Back in my day you met them after school. Kept the bullshit to a minimum when you were expected to back up your alligator mouth.

Remember that guy that always said "Meet me after school" and just never showed up?

 

[mdk]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Back in my day you met them after school. Kept the bullshit to a minimum when you were expected to back up your alligator mouth.

We did as well. There was a small concession stand by the soccer field that folks would meet after school to settle their differences physically. It was commonly refereed to as "meeting someone at the white building." lol

 

[MisterBeale]

If you get butthurt on any social media you need thicker skin or go do something else. The younger generations seems really susceptible to it, like it's more important that the reality around them.

I think that might in reality be the whole impetus for this article. The older generation probable thinks this article is a joke. The millennials might think this article has legs because they have no spine.

A Nation of Wimps
Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.
A Nation of Wimps Psychology Today


"The Fragility Factor

College, it seems, is where the fragility factor is now making its greatest mark. It's where intellectual and developmental tracks converge as the emotional training wheels come off. By all accounts, psychological distress is rampant on college campuses. It takes a variety of forms, including anxiety and depression—which are increasingly regarded as two faces of the same coin—binge drinking and substance abuse, self-mutilation and other forms of disconnection. The mental state of students is now so precarious for so many that, says Steven Hyman, provost of Harvard University and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, "it is interfering with the core mission of the university."

 

[Manonthestreet]

How many of the Founders published under a pseudonym

 

[mdk]

How many of the Founders published under a pseudonym

A great deal.

 

[Roadrunner]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Back in my day you met them after school. Kept the bullshit to a minimum when you were expected to back up your alligator mouth.

We did as well. There was a small concession stand by the soccer field that folks would meet after school to settle their differences physically. It was commonly refereed to as "meeting someone at the white building." lol

In elementary, it was always at the bus stop after class.

Damn, the little hard ass acorns you had to roll around in while fighting were worse than the fights.

7-12, it was "the bull pen", the designated student smoking area, or, the parking spaces under the buildings.

By 7th grade, you were expected to stand up and fight, so at least the acorns were no problem.

I guess I had, two, three school fights a year.

Those were the days; today I'd probably be serving life as a repeat offender of the PC rules.

 

[Manonthestreet]

How many of the Founders published under a pseudonym

A great deal.

Exactly..,

 

[Roadrunner]

How many of the Founders published under a pseudonym

A great deal.

Of course, they did have a King that wanted to hang them.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Having said that, only a fool would use their real name, especially on a board like this one. This board would clean up its act in a flash if people did use their real names but we live in the real world.

May I ask why you think that? It seems likely to me that people inclined to insult would just do it with real names, too --- they live far away, there are no legal or other penalties. I think hostile remarks would go on much the same, except for fewer rape and death and mutilation threats, but those are not common on this moderated forum anyway -- it's more of a Twitter or news site comments thing.

Yes, there are legal and personal "penalties" although you'd be a fool to wait for law enforcement to do anything.

Back a few years and on a different board, I was stalked by three people who came from very different parts of the country and said that one of them was going to pay me a visit in order to do me harm.

There is currently someone on this board who is stalking another poster.

Delta is right that we give out much more info than we think. On this board especially, I am very careful to guard against giving out personal info.

As I've said before, its not necessarily other posters you need to be concerned about. Its the more than 1000 lurkers that are here at any given time. Before the new software, the number was published at the bottom of the page.

 

[mdk]

When I was in middle school and you wanted to hate on someone using technology your options were very limited. The most you could do was send 666 to their pager. lol.

Back in my day you met them after school. Kept the bullshit to a minimum when you were expected to back up your alligator mouth.

We did as well. There was a small concession stand by the soccer field that folks would meet after school to settle their differences physically. It was commonly refereed to as "meeting someone at the white building." lol

In elementary, it was always at the bus stop after class.

Damn, the little hard ass acorns you had to roll around in while fighting were worse than the fights.

7-12, it was "the bull pen", the designated student smoking area, or, the parking spaces under the buildings.

By 7th grade, you were expected to stand up and fight, so at least the acorns were no problem.

I guess I had, two, three school fights a year.

Those were the days; today I'd probably be serving life as a repeat offender of the PC rules.

I had one my entire time in middle/high school. He was the new kid and wanted to act tough with me for no reason. I guess he was trying prove his chops to the rest of student body or something. It really didn't go as he planned. We both got suspended for 2 days (in-school) and we actually became good friend afterwards.

 

[Iceweasel]

And no news spread faster on campus than "girl fight after school". The thoughts of bras flying off was almost too much for the average boy. Pretty much wiped out a school day.

 

[mdk]

How many of the Founders published under a pseudonym

A great deal.

Of course, they did have a King that wanted to hang them.

Even after the war was won the FF used pseudonyms to sway public opinion.

 

[Circe]

As I've said before, its not necessarily other posters you need to be concerned about. Its the more than 1000 lurkers that are here at any given time. Before the new software, the number was published at the bottom of the page.

Yes, I've been on a forum where the "guests" were numbered at the bottom -- I myself don't believe they are real. Mostly spiders and botnets, I expect.

Still, I know what you mean: I was stalked twice. I left those two forums and never returned, of course. When online merges with reallife, Danger, Danger, Will Robinson.

 

[Iceweasel]

I had one my entire time in middle/high school. He was the new kid and wanted to act tough with me for no reason. I guess he was trying prove his chops to the rest of student body or something. It really didn't go as he planned. We both got suspended for 2 days (in-school) and we actually became good friend afterwards.

Yep, that happened a lot. Just standing up to someone made them respect you and was often the beginning of a friendship.

 

[mdk]

I had one my entire time in middle/high school. He was the new kid and wanted to act tough with me for no reason. I guess he was trying prove his chops to the rest of student body or something. It really didn't go as he planned. We both got suspended for 2 days (in-school) and we actually became good friend afterwards.

Yep, that happened a lot. Just standing up to someone made them respect you and was often the beginning of a friendship.

Agreed. I often think of the Lincoln's words regarding my situation, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"