Internet Trolls

Postby Jack Roper » Tue Mar 11, 2014 4:24 pm

Here is a fascinating article from Slate about Internet Trolls. I wonder how many people on this site can recognize themselves in this, especially the phrase:
"The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt." It appears that sadism is one of the primary factors in Internet Trolls' satisfaction in their commentaries.

Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People, Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic.

By Chris Mooney

The Internet is sadists' playground.

In the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet trolls (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics.

That’s bad, but it’s nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

It is hard to overplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet.

In the study, trolls were identified in a variety of ways. One was by simply asking survey participants what they “enjoyed doing most” when on online comment sites, offering five options: “debating issues that are important to you,” “chatting with others,” “making new friends,” “trolling others,” and “other.” Here’s how different responses about these Internet commenting preferences matched up with responses to questions designed to identify Dark Tetrad traits.
To be sure, only 5.6 percent of survey respondents actually specified that they enjoyed “trolling.” By contrast, 41.3 percent of Internet users were “non-commenters,” meaning they didn’t like engaging online at all. So trolls are, as has often been suspected, a minority of online commenters, and an even smaller minority of overall Internet users.

The researchers conducted multiple studies, using samples from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk but also of college students, to try to understand why the act of trolling seems to attract this type of personality. They even constructed their own survey instrument, which they dubbed the Global Assessment of Internet Trolling, or GAIT, containing the following items:

I have sent people to shock websites for the lulz.

I like to troll people in forums or the comments section of websites.

I enjoy griefing other players in multiplayer games.

The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt.

Yes, some people actually say they agree with such statements. And again, doing so was correlated with sadism in its various forms, with psychopathy, and with Machiavellianism. Overall, the authors found that the relationship between sadism and trolling was the strongest, and that indeed, sadists appear to troll because they find it pleasurable. “Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others,” they wrote. “Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!”

The study comes as websites, particularly at major media outlets, are increasingly weighing steps to rein in trollish behavior. Last year Popular Science did away with its comments sections completely, citing research on the deleterious effects of trolling, and YouTube also took measures to rein in trolling.

But study author Buckels actually isn’t sure that fix is a realistic one. “Because the behaviors are intrinsically motivating for sadists, comment moderators will likely have a difficult time curbing trolling with punishments (e.g., banning users),” she said by email. “Ultimately, the allure of trolling may be too strong for sadists, who presumably have limited opportunities to express their sadistic interests in a socially-desirable manner.”

Chris Mooney is the author of The Republican War on Science and, with Sheril Kirshenbaum, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future.

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Jay Feely » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:48 pm

Trolls are very annoying but that is why you can ignore them.
You will have to subdue me to restrain me. I been a bad boy so make sure you torture me too with anything but pain.

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Lake Lover » Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:44 pm

Lord. How horrible! I spend a LOT of time on the internet. I hope I am not a sadistic psychopath. I had better think on it.

Do you think the article describes a hidden character flaw in many TV nightly news broadcasters?

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Jason Toddman » Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:08 pm

Lake Lover wrote:Lord. How horrible! I spend a LOT of time on the internet. I hope I am not a sadistic psychopath. I had better think on it.

Do you think the article describes a hidden character flaw in many TV nightly news broadcasters?

If they work for FOX News, perhaps so. Guys like Bill O'Reilly come to mind.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Kyle » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:02 pm

O'Reilly is more of a jerk than an outright troll. I'm no fan of his either but he at least opens up discussions with those who disagree with him.

Glenn Beck is a troll. O'Reilly is just a blowhard with an overinflated opinion of himself. Though the fact it's people who claim to disagree with him who keep telling me what he thinks--which means they're clearly paying attention to him more than me-- means he must be doing something right.

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Jason Toddman » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:11 pm

Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Kyle » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:12 pm

I probably shouldn't have said anything...

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Jason Toddman » Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:10 pm

Kyle wrote:I probably shouldn't have said anything...

Why?
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby chadmc90 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:20 pm

Image

Sorry, I just had to... :big:
Check out my latest story A Cowboy's Dream!

Feedback highly appreciated! Feel free to Private Message me if you prefer to not post on the public forum!

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby tony2 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 11:31 pm

Thanks Jack, that is an excellent article to post. It is the first one to measure and quantify what a lot of us had suspected.
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.


ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby drawscore » Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:53 am

At least the conservative/libertarian Fox commentators have liberal guests on their shows, unlike BSDNC, which is "All liberal, all the time." When was the last time you saw a conservative guest on 'The Ed Show," "The Rachel Maddow Show," or any of the others?

Love it or hate it, Fox must be doing something right, otherwise they would not have two to five times the audience of CNN and MSNBC, and for that, they deserve credit. And when was the last time you heard James Earl Jones intone "CNN - The most trusted name in news?" Not lately. Not since several polls have shown more people trust Fox. This, despite the fact that a comparison between Fox and CNN showed a news to opinion ratio of 55-45 for CNN, and 45-55 for Fox. MSNBC came in with 85% opinion, and 15% news. (I think the survey/study was done by Pew Research)

But if you doubt my assertions, the TV and cable ratings are on line, and the ratings books are usually in the reference section of your local library.

Drawscore

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby chadmc90 » Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:13 am

With all seriousness, I have to thank you too. This article speaks a lot of truth about the internet.

I believe one of the root causes is that people have no fear behind the screen, and they think they can say whatever that want regardless of who it offends. None of those people would have any courage to say trollish things to others face directly. Computers and the Internet have provided that iron shield, and they are certainly taking advantage of it.
Check out my latest story A Cowboy's Dream!

Feedback highly appreciated! Feel free to Private Message me if you prefer to not post on the public forum!

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Chris12 » Sat May 03, 2014 5:19 am

Now remember kids

Image

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby tony2 » Sat May 03, 2014 7:49 am

L O V E I TI
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.


ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby lockedup » Tue May 27, 2014 4:39 pm

i think its cause people can pretty much do anything on the internet and affect others, and not be affected themselves cause it's not real life, they're 'hiding behind a computer screen'. in fact theres a lot of things you can do online that you can't do in real life. for example i'd never go into a shop and steal loads of movies/music/games cause then id get arrested which would be terrible. but i can easily pirate (illegally download) them and get them free, and cause its the internet nothing will happen (probably... im not responsible if you get found out. my internet provider doesnt seem to care but yours might). although to be honest trolling is worse than stealing cause the people you're stealing from are millionaires anyway, so i don't wouldn't feel guilty at all for pirating them... but trolling is just horrible, if you troll you can really hurt peoples feelings and make people depressed. in fact theres a lot of stuff u can do online that u cant do in real life...
i'm 17, male, a bit of a computer geek, and love to be tied up :D

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby Jason Toddman » Tue May 27, 2014 8:35 pm

lockedup wrote: in fact theres a lot of stuff u can do online that u cant do in real life...

Yes, like talking to people thousands of miles away from you (and often from one another) and either befriend or insult them with impunity - and basically all for free if you don't count the internet fee itself. cheers
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: Internet Trolls

Postby skybird137 » Wed May 28, 2014 2:04 am

[quote=lockedup] although to be honest trolling is worse than stealing cause the people you're stealing from are millionaires anyway[/quote]

These millionaires are trolls themselves, because they call what is happening 'stealing' and 'theft' when it isn't.

To use an example:

Let's say that my next door neighbour has a car which I like. If I take it from him, so that I can drive it myself, that is theft. If I somehow manage to make a duplicate of that car, so that I can drive the duplicate around, how can that be theft? Making counterfeit items or infringing on intellectual property possibly, but there is no theft involved.