The World of Web Trolling (and the death of my childhood)

[SDSD]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/ma...ll&oref=slogin

Pretty interesting article. The writer approaches /b/ and trolling in general from the outsider point on view. While I don't agree with lots of what he wrote, he does make some good points.

What's really sad about /b/ going mainstream for real this time--the cancer shit was still sorta small in the big picture--is that it really hits home that lots of things I took for granted about the net sorta disappeared the past five years, like Usenet.

I think most of the people on this board, whether they intended to or not, have grown up with internet culture being one of the larger influences in their life. And now, with the internet continually changing, more idiots logging on everyday, I wonder if some of the things that made it such a safe place (if you weren't an idiot) emotionally or mentally are going to disappear also.

[KuaiEQ]

lol XD epic win!

[Correction]

I think most of the people on this board, whether they intended to or not, have grown up with internet culture being one of the larger influences in their life.

Pretty sure I was raised by my parents.

I didn't even have an email account until just before I graduated from high school.

The effects of 'internet culture' on the breadearning segment of today's populace is grossly overestimated.

And now, with the internet continually changing, more idiots logging on everyday, I wonder if some of the things that made it such a safe place (if you weren't an idiot) emotionally or mentally are going to disappear also.

The Internet has never been and will never be safe. Be careful about exposing your ignorance of this hard and fast rule on a public forum.

Ooops, too late. :D

[Kaisha]

Anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled.

A broader answer is persistent pseudonymity, a system of nicknames that stay the same across multiple sites.

I think most of us would be out of a job if the net ever got around to enforcing global XBL! style user accounts.
(impossible as that sounds)

[Souj]

Quote:
Anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled.

good luck. just googled my 1st and last name, 2.5mil search results mwahaha.
and yeah, the only time the internet was ever safe was about 3minutes after it was first created.

[Elvis]

Measured in terms of depravity, insularity and traffic-driven turnover, the culture of /b/ has little precedent. /b/ reads like the inside of a high-school bathroom stall, or an obscene telephone party line, or a blog with no posts and all comments filled with slang that you are too old to understand.

Loved this part. Very well written. It's like the writer gift-wrapped the turd that is /b/.

[Bingbong]

Anyone who thinks /b/ was anything but a turd to begin with is fooling themselves.

Hmm, anonymous internet postings that nobody need be accountable for...
Yeah, sounds like a perfectly wonderful place.

There is some funny shit on there, but for the 2 or 3 good threads you see, there's 400 threads of junk.

[rithridan]

Quote:
Anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled.

good luck. just googled my 1st and last name, 2.5mil search results mwahaha.
and yeah, the only time the internet was ever safe was about 3minutes after it was first created.

I recently got a new job and one of my colleagues there came up to me one day and asked me if I play tabletennis. Turns out he googled my name and 2nd hit was the website of my tabletennis club. Now some names are more common then others (like John Smith or something) but my name isn't that common and when I checked it out myself I noticed like half the hits were about me (or from me). Its pretty much impossible to stay anonymous on the web, especially to people who know where to look (no, not google)

[Senoska]

That was long as hell, and I got bored around the time that PENGUIN OF DOOM (kate.) showed up and started "checking his head for lice and calling him jew" mainly because I know people like this and they are hands down the most annoying people EVAR...

Overall, good article.

[Norelco]

Heh, that Fortuny guy sounds like a real douchebag.

Someone should do a social experiment on him and break his fucking face.

[miokomioko]

I've heard of multiple situations where an employer looked an applicant up on their myspace, saw retarded shit, drunken photos left and right, animated pot leaf gifs and shit like that... and said fuck no to that person. I'm all for that. If you're putting public profiles out there, you better at least appear to be professional. I consider it a form of self respect to keep a close eye on what spiders its way to search engines with your name on it. It comes with the territory of hyper exchanged "information."

[Chreman]

Interesting read to say the least. In a world of spoonfed liberties and absolution by placing blame elsewhere I'm happy to see the masses punishing ignorance on their own terms.

[Shuemue]

Uh, what's wrong with Usenet?

[Charismatic]

cp everywhere

[Beckwin]

interesting article. funny to see everything wrong with internet behavior and the isolated modern misanthropy collected almost entirely in the psyches of a couple people.

[Elvis]

Heh, that Fortuny guy sounds like a real douchebag.

Someone should do a social experiment on him and break his fucking face.

Exactly.

The author of this article asked some very pussified questions.

Fortuny finds everything he does to be some sort of social experiment, but he's obviously taking pleasure in the misery he may be causing others.

It's ONLY enjoyable when you're the one pushing the buttons.

These trolls/hackers/whatever are really stretching their MO. They're just idiots with lots of free time.

RL card is definitely appropriate in this case and I'd gladly beat the shit out that Fortuny guy while at the same time telling him to realize I'm just conducting a social experiment on pain threshold amongst basement dwellers in their early to mid 20s.