I ran across a discussion in a newsgroup concerning an incident involving a woman in Louisiana who was brutally beaten by a police officer during a DUI stop. It ended up evolving into a discussion about the characteristics of fascist regimes, and whether the story in question was something of a bellwether for things to come in the realm of human rights violations in this country, especially considering the Bush administration’s unabashed hostility toward certain constitutional rights (read: the Patriot Act’s infringement on privacy rights, as well as controversies concerning torture).
I used to spend late nights browsing the Usenet back in middle school and early in my high school career, but until tonight I hadn’t been on it in years. Like most Usenet users, I came to loathe so-called “trolls.” According to the Straight Dope, Trolls are individuals who bait other users by posting highly controversial and often pointlessly offensive material in the hopes of evoking a heated response. Obviously, the term is a pretty direct reference to the act of fishing, as in fishing for a response. True trolls earn their keep by intentionally misleading others, detracting from the overall health of discussion boards. There are two schools of thought in regards to how people should deal with internet trolls. The first is to simply ignore them. The second is to contradict any false information the troll provides in such a way as to provide little–if any–fuel to his/her fire. Both can be effective, depending on the troll (Straight Dope 1).
As far as the role that Usenet will play in further development of the online community, I think things will remain pretty much status quo. If only because, save the development of access systems like Google Groups, things haven’t changed that much on Usenet since I stopped logging on several years ago. Nevertheless, I’d love to get back into the swing of things in the Usenet community. But I know the kind of time sinkhole that it can be, so I’d have to be careful.
Adams, Cecil. What Is a Troll? Retrieved February 21, 2008 from StraightDope.com.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html
3 comments:
I can relate to the Patriot Act. There is mixed response whether it is a good thing or not. Our son is doing a powerpoint for high school government class on political issues regarding antiterrorism and he is disecting the Patriot Act. In some ways it is a political way (albeit supposedly aimed to help with Terrorism) to allow the GVMT more infringement on our privacy. Once we give away this privacy,will we ever get it back? Highly unlikely.. Even in our own household there are mixed feelings. I agree with your view!
Hi, Gavin, I read your article and appreciated the info on "trolls" because I've heard of them but never knew, for sure, what they really were. When cruising through some of the newsgroups, I can see that some of those participants were definitely "trolls"--making malevolent comments and degrading others. What an appropo term for those individuals. We are also of mixed feelings in our household on the Patriot Act. I wonder how many people really understand HALF of the legislation that comes out of government offices? If they understand the ramifications resulting from these laws? Thank you for your blog info.
Cyn
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