by berkut Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:31 am
A very interesting article, and one that definitely provokes thought. While I personally believe that the number of trolls pales in comparison to the number of civil internet users, I also think that Mr. Bacon's thought that there is perhaps a greater level of malice, that drives us to do hateful things when anonymity is assured, exists within the population as a whole is an interesting suggestion, and one that would make for an excellent debate topic.
On a secondary note: I think it should be noted that one of the most common suggestions for dealing with trolls is to ignore them. While I agree that this would work in many instances, there are some situations where a trolling action is formulated in such a way, or targets a particular psychological wound, that it causes significant pain that cannot be ignored. Mr. Bacon provides examples of situations such as this as the ones he personally experienced, or the other one where families with deceased children are heinously trolled about their child's death.
While I believe that there will always be trolling (there will always be someone who wants to ruin your day), I also think that much of it is preventable by the actions of the internet community. We can, for example, start here on these forums; while there is little trolling here it does indeed occur, by resisting temptations to do it ourselves, and by not condoning such behaviour, we can all do our part to ensure that someone's feelings out there are not hurt
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