About Trolling
by Troll on Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:01 pm

Ever since I started posting in the 90s I have been called a troll. In those days starting flame wars was never my intention (as far as I can remember) instead it just happened naturally. Back then I did not even know what trolling was, but over the years I learned that trolling was whatever I was doing. Over the years I also got better at it – I now feel right at home under other posters’ skin causing terrible rashes.

I still don’t think trolling is evil though, in fact the very reason trolling works is because trolling is what debate is all about.

What is trolling? Let’s say you have an opinion (Dynaudio is the best !) but it’s just an opinion and not something that can be objectively analyzed. You feel strongly about that opinion and yet you have nothing to back it up with. Now a troll knows what is going on inside your head and he senses your weaknesses (such as beliefs suspended on thin air). A troll may conduct a brief research into your delusions (give you an MRI so to speak) to better understand where the actual discontinuities in your system of understanding lie by asking you a few questions like a psychiatrist would. You may be able to reason from A to B but a troll may determine that you can only take a leap of faith from B to C and once the troll knows this he moves in to maneuver you to that point, get behind your back and push you off the cliff. Troll knows that there is no way you can prove your belief (that Dynaudio is good) and he also knows that you owe him nothing and if challenged to prove it you will simply walk away from the argument. This is why troll comes out and says “wow I thought Bose was bad but Dynaudio is the real garbage.”

Why trolls are hated? Because weak people care only about security. Weak people gladly trade their liberties for security. You would give up your freedom of speech just to make sure that I cannot tell you the truth about yourself. You know your beliefs are **** but you want to keep believing them because it makes you feel warm and fuzzy to think that you actually understand or know something when you really don’t. Furthermore a regular poster is defenseless against the troll. Troll will go through your system of beliefs like a chainsaw through butter. You know this and that is why as soon as you realize there is a troll on the forum you start crying and begging for help.

How trolls are fought? The usual technique is for somebody who wants to appear wise to come out and say “don’t feed the trolls. If you don’t feed him he will go away.” This does not work. The reason it doesn’t is because everybody else would love to see your guts smeared all over the ceiling when the troll is done with you. You also know this and it pisses you off to no end to see others pretending to try to help you but in actuality fueling the fire in which you are burning.

Why trolls are needed? Because without one a forum goes stale. Elite cliques form from people who tacitly agree to publicly call each other experts and never disagree with each other except jokingly. A set of beliefs is chosen to become “common knowledge” even though it is actually total bull****. Anybody who disagrees with the official bull**** is collectively driven off the board. Eventually the board is nothing but incessant patting of each other on the back for fictional accomplishments and for great “wisdom” where wisdom is measured in adherence to the unfounded beliefs held collectively by the board. For example if the board decides that the earth is flat you would be called wise every time you say the earth is flat and if you were to say it is round everybody would be on your ass until you left. This situation cannot arise on a forum with effective trolling because trolls actively seek out such delusions and attack them mercilessly. Once a forum successfully gets rid of its last troll (by banning him) that forum is doomed. Like a nation without dissidents a forum without trolls will enter a period of stagnation and decay. Other nations will remain innovative, continue to develop and eventually stomp all over the ******.

Trolling is active discussion. It may be heresy but it’s much better than inquisition. Trolling should not be fought, it should be properly addressed.
How can trolling be properly addressed? The only good way of dealing with trolling is to subdivide the forum into sections. For example a troll may be highly political and simply by avoiding the “politics” subforum you will spare yourself much of the aggravation of dealing with him. Likewise a troll may believe that only idiots use vacuum tube amplifiers so if you have a “vacuum tube amplifiers” subforum it will most likely be too boring for the troll to bother visiting it so you can sit there all day and discuss shiny tubes with other like-minded individuals while the troll is bashing unsuspecting noobs in general discussion area.

Trolls are an important element of every great forum just like healthy political opposition (im not talking about 2 party system here, but real opposition) is essential for any great nation. Dissidents such as constitutionalists will get called “anarchists” by fox news but these “anarchists” are the only thing that stands between us and fascism. When fox news calls you an anarchist you should be proud and just the same I am proud of being a troll.

Madness? this is Spartaaaaa !!!


Troll
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