There are people on the internet who are bored and there only excitement comes from annoying people online. The factor of being anonymous plays a huge factor because there may be very few people who would actually act like idiots if they were know. Doctorow's article was very interesting because I have never thought or knew how serious of a problem trolling actually is. The point about giving the troll satisfaction by replying or arguing back with him is absolutely correct, but the fact is once we get into an argument with a troll we forget that that person is here for their own enjoyment and its not worth fighting over. These are people who have nothing better to do and the best advice is to avoid them and not take the comments they post to heart.
I have first hand experience in witnessing trolling on many sports blogs, its always that one guy who doesn't agree to something even though he knows he's wrong. Trolling is a common occurrence and happens frequently, especially when it comes to talking about a particular NHL team. Sometimes it can get aggressive while other times its just annoying, what ever it may be we should avoid trolls and move on.
http://www.urlesque.com/2011/01/25/trolls-local-news/
I completely agree that we should ignore and not give trolls the satisfaction and attention they so desperately crave but I also think that another problem needs to be addressed as well and that is the fact that a lot of trolls create multiple accounts in order to literally argue with themselves. There has to be a way to monitor these multiple accounts and the things they post because when these self-involved arguments happen it can create a complete mud-slinging match with innocent people being sucked into these pointless arguments.
ReplyDeleteI was also just curious about exactly what kind of hockey websites have trolling occurring, is it mostly on Twitter and Facebook? Or do some teams have fan pages where members can express their opinions?
I also found it interesting that you said "its always that one guy who doesn't agree to something even though he knows he's wrong" because a lot of the time a person trolling might not even agree with what they posted they simply know they are going to get a reaction out of people.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.