The Internet Troll Epidemic
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Social Networking
It all started last night when I was recording the second episode of DuoRadio with my friends Andrew Reed and Wyatt Alan. I was once again doing a live feed through Ustream and I had the chat room open as well. Well, except for one exception, everyone who was in that chat room was a troll, and I am under the impression that there was really only one person behind it. But one person is enough to ruin everyone’s time, and unfortunately, the internet is crawling with them.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with what “trolls” or “trolling” is, it’s when people go into chat rooms and forums and begin saying inappropriate things. They get away with it because on the internet, no one really knows who you are. They do it anonymously, because what they are saying are things that they would never say in person, especially to people that they have never met before. That is, if they have decent social skills, which if they choose to spend their time in chat rooms and on forums flaming at people they have never met before, they probably don’t.
I just have to ask all the trolls out their on the internet, do you guys have a life? Because, it seems to me that the only reason you would be a troll is because you have nothing to actually add to the conversation. You don’t have any interests or hobbies, you don’t have a knowledge of recent events or world issues, your life is empty. I know I’m being judgmental, but how else am I supposed to feel about someone who comes into my chat room just to ask about everyone’s latest sexual adventures?
And you do it anonymously, which is the part that is most frustrating to moderators all over the internet, but all it means is that you are cowards. That’s right, you are cowards. Only a coward would attack someone he doesn’t know anonymously over the internet (the key is not being face to face) just to make him or her feel better about them self. You see, that’s the other problem, you have low self esteem. Only people with low self esteem find it necessary to attack people they don’t know just because of one thing that they say in a chat room or on a forum.
I used to be like you, attacking people online because they said “Mac sucks” or “Mariners suck” or something like that. Giving a meaningless opinion about a subject that in the larger scheme of things doesn’t matter. So what if you think Macs suck? I like my Mac. So what if you think my baseball team is awful? They probably are, but I don’t care, they’re my childhood team. So, here’s my advice to trolls, keep your typing fingers to yourself if you don’t have anything to add to the conversation. Your just annoying for moderators like me to deal with, but we will ban you if we find it necessary.
