'Trolling'

[Almac]

Just read about a man who was jailed for ‘trolling’ on social networking sites? He posted abusive comments in regards to dead teenagers in Northumberland, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire. Is ‘Trolling’ one of the sickest things to do on the Internet? He was given an 18-week sentence is that really enough for the pain he must have put the families of those poor kids through?

[gilhooly]

I have a 72 year old sister who loves to troll the net. She is looking for bad people who are going to hell because of their obvious behavior. She swears that when she and her fellow eucharistic ministers do things they mean no harm. When a woman arrives home from a Planned Parenthood Clinic she and her fellow christians scream at the woman that she has just had an abortion. This bitch has just had an abortion they scream to the woman's neighbors. She claims that she merely wants the woman to repent of her visit to Planned Parenthood Clinic. When I ask my sister what the woman went for she says it doesn't make any difference. Anyone who visits those clinics supports abortion. She is a devoted follower of Sen. Santorum of Pa. Currently he wants a quiet campaign to close gay bars in Pa. The eucharistic ministers will throw live rats into gay bars after they are closed. Local tv stations will film rats running around in bar and show it on tv. The resulting outcry will cause the gay bar to be shut down ---WITHOUT MENTIONING THE WORD GAY. She says they've tried it out a few times and so far it has worked. Gay bars have never reopened. They major campaign will follow the removal of Obama.
Trolling may have been taken over by smart right-wingers. They just want to screw one gay guy at a time and quietly move on. They think open campaign against gays will backfire.

[James]

no comment

[JShell1265]

Wow, I'm glad they are finally looking into this. In the U.S. they are trying to crack down on cyber bullying. Never heard anything about Trolling though, but is that the same thing just different name?

[Almac]

Wow, I'm glad they are finally looking into this. In the U.S. they are trying to crack down on cyber bullying. Never heard anything about Trolling though, but is that the same thing just different name?

Hi JShell, yes it's the same thing, just bullying by another name, every bit as awful.

[marshlander]

I only caught the headline. His actions must have been extreme to have attracted a prison sentence. The group "Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook" makes an effort to get its supporters to think about the differences between free speech and hate speech. I do try to make that difference when I am reading and listening too.

Trolling can be controlled by admins with a delete button.

[bariuke]

trolling can be direct or subtle. The direct kind is just bullying. They just like to antagonize people, and that's easy to deal with.

The subtle trolling is the stuff that can get really out of hand, because sometimes they do it so well that there's no way to prove that the person is trolling. It's like gaslighting. They pretend to be naive, innocent, or genuine, and make little passive-aggressive comments here and there to push peoples buttons and instigate others' anger. Then, when someone does call them out, they can easily play dumb and say things like "whoa buddy, calm down! I was just trying to have a conversation. I wasn't looking for trouble!" and make the other guy look like the aggressor.

This is the reason for the online words of caution "don't feed the trolls."

[Drew]

Trolling sucks big time, but it's unthinkable for an arrest to happen because of it in the United States....if the Westboro Baptist Church can protester dead soldiers' funerals with their vitriol, then even the worst cyberbullying is considered free speech. But that doesn't mean the administrators of the websites should just let it go, they should be obligated to keep things civil. It does take a toll on those affected, and shouldn't be tolerated at all. It's like if someone got fired for saying hurtful things at work and they try to say their "free speech" was violated....no it bloody wasn't, the law didn't scoop them up and arrest them, but realize there are consequences for saying demeaning things.

Gilhooly, is that true with the rats? You should expose them to the press, anonymously if you wish, to stop these monsters. If they are actively working for the Santorum campaign isn't that a violation of separation of church and state? They could be stripped of their tax exemption status as a church if doing so. Otherwise, I say gather a bunch of rats and unleash them in their own bloody church. Give em' a taste of their own medicine, if they're going to fight dirty like that. Don't take it lying down!

[SrChulo]

free speech =/= bullying. Cyber bullying you're directly affecting the well-being of another person.


I wouldn't say trolling is one of the "sickest" things you can do on the net, but it's pretty pathetic. Cowards do it because they feel safe behind their computer screens.

[pellaz]

a little personal control goes a long way here in the interweb. remember the late 90's pictures "its retarded to argue in the internet".