Trolls

xine267 wrote (see)

One of his terrible justifications was that it was a reaction against all the "hypocritical" posts from people who didn't know the victims saying how much they would be missed. 

Whilst it's not a great justification- and certainly doesn't excuse the extreme actions of trolls, I do agree with this.

A friend of mine has a blog and every time a celebrity dies, he'll have a post about how wonderful they were and how much they'll be missed. It's grief tourism.

My kneejerk reaction is always to say "Well I'm glad they're dead, and here's why...".
It's a reaction to the bandwagon jumping, not the actual event.

"Grief tourism" - love it!

Intermanaut wrote (see)

"Grief tourism" - love it!

Never heard the phrase but yes i agree.................I can't believe how people can put floweres ( in plastic Bags)...at places where someone died...who they never ever knew..........its almost as they want to be part of it in someway......not to miss out...........You can be sad that someone died way too young and feel sympathy for the family ....but how can you be in grief for a stranger........

Swissjames - I get your point, but personally despite things that go on I would find it very hard to say I'm glad he or she is dead, I can only think of two people I dislike strongly and I would still be reluctant to voice that.

Swissjames - I get your point, but personally despite things that go on I would find it very hard to say I'm glad he or she is dead, I can only think of two people I dislike strongly and I would still be reluctant to voice that.

Also does that make you a Troll and do you disguise your ID

Also why do people set up tribute things on the internet (facebook etc) knowing someone is set to put something vitriolic on there

seren nos wrote (see)

Intermanaut wrote (see)

"Grief tourism" - love it!

Never heard the phrase but yes i agree.................I can't believe how people can put floweres ( in plastic Bags)...at places where someone died...who they never ever knew..........its almost as they want to be part of it in someway......not to miss out...........You can be sad that someone died way too young and feel sympathy for the family ....but how can you be in grief for a stranger........

I agree - I got flamed a bit for voicing this kind of opinion over the reaction to the death of the young woman near the end of the London Marathon this year.

If I went ahead and said "I'm glad they're dead" then yes I would be a troll! But I don't.
I can only really think of 1 person who I wish was dead, and I'd be just as happy if his band split up instead.

Not to get all Nick Hornby, but I think this started with the reaction to Princess Diana's death. My Mum actually took a train from Yorkshire to London to look at the flowers outside St James's Palace. It actually seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time, if she'd done the same for Jill Dando, we'd have been worried about her mental health.

24-hour news channels have a lot of time to fill too, so the reporting of every event is not complete until we've: 

a) Watched footage of people leaving flowers outside a football ground / hospital / makeshift shrine

b) Seen an endless rolling feed of related tweets

c) Heard what One Direction's view on the matter is

You can't blame them entirely, it's a very easy way of padding out a news story, but I don't think it adds to our understanding of an event to read: 

"CARNT BELIEVE HIS GONE- MISS YUO MJ XXXxX" 

scrolling along the bottom of the screen.

This is officially a tangent now isn't it? Rant mode off.

EKGO wrote (see)

Why are they called Trolls? Just wondered.

 

If it helps, it's not based on the trolls that live under bridges that gobble up goats that try to cross, but trolling as in the fishing type, where you drag a nice shiny sparkly object through the water and wait to see what bites. So the classical troll would be someone who makes a seemingly innocoulous comment that's guarenteed to make someone bite, and then sit back and let people argue away exposing their various predudices. So posting a thread on say a cycling forum saying you've just started a petition to make helmets compulsory to make cycling safer would be a classic troll that someone will pretty much always bite on. I guess the equivalent on a running forum would probably involve mp3 players . But just being rude to someone ain't trolling, it's just being rude to someone.

Yeah, tangent indeed I get you, I'm just not sure about wishing someone dead,

Thanks Ian and while you're on the subject, when I'm running, I wouldn't be seen dead without my MP3 player

Good for you! Obviously once runners have compulosry insurance like other road users they'll probably be an extra premium associated with using them.

EKGO wrote (see)

Yeah, tangent indeed I get you, I'm just not sure about wishing someone dead,

I should clarify- my kneejerk reaction is to play devil's advocate, whether that's to say

"Oh don't get so upset, she was never going to bring out a decent 3rd album anyway"

or 

"He was a deeply troubled paedophile, let's not get carried away because he could dance in 1987". 

What I actually do is maintain a respectful silence. 

So you say something just for the sake of getting a reaction?!

*Scrolls back up to Ian M's description*

WiB wrote (see)

So you say something just for the sake of getting a reaction?!

*Scrolls back up to Ian M's description*

Nope.

Not sure how much clearer I can be here. I might think these things, but I don't write, say, or post them. To do so would be to put the 'jerk' in 'kneejerk'.

The OP said he couldn't understand why people would write such offensive things. I'm saying that I can kind of understand it, but I don't do it, or excuse it.

SwissJames wrote (see)

My kneejerk reaction is always to say "Well I'm glad they're dead, and here's why...".
It's a reaction to the bandwagon jumping, not the actual event.

SwissJames wrote (see)

EKGO wrote (see)

Yeah, tangent indeed I get you, I'm just not sure about wishing someone dead,

I should clarify- my kneejerk reaction is to play devil's advocate, whether that's to say 

Maybe you should have said 'think' instead of 'say'?! Just so you are aware those 2 words do not share a meaning.

Not really interested in getting into an argument.

Colin McLaughlin wrote (see)

When websites allow people to post other than in their real names, they separate freedom from responsibility. Posters are enabled to say what they like under cover of anonymity. It isn't surprising that some people will choose to be rude, offensive, threatening, sinister, careless, reckless, defamatory, et cetera, in what they say. Such is human nature. The ability to post without giving your real name brings out the worst in certain types if they think no one knows who they are and there will be no consequences. They would behave differently, I'm sure, if they could only post under their real names.

Personally I'd prefer it if everyone used their real names online, but that isn't the way the internet has developed. Trolling and other offensiveness is simply a consequence of anonymity being freely available across the internet.

I totally agree with you Colin McLaughlin, or whatever your real name is.........

Regards

Mike Hunt

There was a lot of talk in South Korea a few years ago about forcing people to post under their real name. In fact, just checked, and they did implement it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_real-name_system

It ties in nicely with their national ID card scheme. Not sure whether I can imagine a similar thing happening in the UK though, I guess a lot of people would worry about identity theft?

carterusm wrote (see)

 

I totally agree with you Colin McLaughlin, or whatever your real name is.........

Regards

Mike Hunt

An oldie, but a goodie!