Unanswered 8: Trolling

Once only residing in Nordic legend, trolls have rampantly multiplied and found new, fertile ground along the Information Superhighway. As the world started to connect, and as technologies and services grew to house it, the human race re-encountered behaviours that the rigours of meatspace had started regulating years before.

What’s troubling is, as more significant and influential people are thrust into online confrontations they weren’t expecting, we’re all struggling for a term to describe it. Steev and Nick aren’t so sure putting it under the umbrella of largely innocuous attempts to derail discussion threads for a cheap and easy, angry reaction is really that suitable.

Has the term evolved or is it being hijacked where other, existing descriptions already exist? Continue reading →

Once only residing in Nordic legend, trolls have rampantly multiplied and found new, fertile ground along the Information Superhighway. As the world started to connect, and as technologies and services grew to house it, the human race re-encountered behaviours that the rigours of meatspace had started regulating years before.

What’s troubling is, as more significant and influential people are thrust into online confrontations they weren’t expecting, we’re all struggling for a term to describe it. Steev and Nick aren’t so sure putting it under the umbrella of largely innocuous attempts to derail discussion threads for a cheap and easy, angry reaction is really that suitable.

Has the term evolved or is it being hijacked where other, existing descriptions already exist?

Download Show 8 [MP3, 28.6 MB]

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“What an Academic Who Wrote Her Dissertation on Trolls Thinks of Violentacrez” by Whitney Phillips, The Atlantic; October 15th 2012
“Comedians using their fans for co-ordinated, safety-in-numbers bullying” by Neil, Cook’d and Bomb’d Comedy Chat; September 5th 2012
“Trolling: Who does it and why?” by Tom de Castella and Virginia Brown, BBC News Magazine; 14th September 2012
XKCD: Trolling
According to Wikipedia: Troll (Internet)
Urban Dictionary: Trolling
According to Wikipedia: Flaming (Internet)
According to Wikipedia: Three Billy Goats Gruff
IMDB: Upworld/ A Gnome Named Gnorm (1990)
YouTube: Upworld/ A Gnome Named Gnorm (1990) trailer ↓

According to Wikipedia: Warren Ellis
WarrenEllis.com
SomethingAwful.com
According to Wikipedia: Delphi (online service)
According to Wikipedia: Usenet newsgroup
According to Wikipedia: Agent provocateur

Details

Recorded: 06 February 2013
Running time: 1:02’25
Bad language: Yes [1x f*ck; 2x d*ckhead; 3x sh*t]
Feature image source: http://whynne.deviantart.com/art/Comic-Trolls-98357844


Credit for Trollface: Whynne
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