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NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:12 pm
by okra_Archive
They should interview Rick Reuben - best troll I've ever seen.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:16 pm
by tommydski_Archive
That's seriously understating his unique brilliance though. He's a goddamn showman. I feel like people get caught up in the nitty-gritty of his posts and forget to marvel at the big picture.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:44 pm
by Dave_Eksvplot_Archive
CB's not like those guys. He's definitely got his trollish quirks, for sure, but those predatorial, largely-suburban trolls in that article are straight-up Smerdyakovs.

The main reason I have no respect for someone liek that is that I think there's something genuinely creepy about invading some else's private/inner life. I mean that there's something profoundly wrong about it, like watching your parents fuck out of curiosity.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:06 pm
by pwalshj_Archive
lemur68 wrote:Oh joy. The whole 4Chan/Encyclopedia Dramatica/LJDrama crew is now getting validation via the New York Times.

I didn't really see that article as validation. I mean, I could do some dumbass shit and make the front cover of the NYT tomorrow.

IMO it was more of an expose. I have mentioned the fourchan lads and anonymous in casual conversation and been met with blank stares by folks I consider to be way more internet savvy than myself.

Regarding CP's comment about it being a bunch of nerds looking for a group I agree to a certain extent. The defining difference to me is that I have seen them target teens (who would appear to be their brethren) for making an innocent post on their myspace hoping for a chat with a girl.

Ugh. That was hard to type on a phone.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:32 pm
by Dave_Eksvplot_Archive
I think Lemur meant validation in the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" sense.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:38 pm
by pwalshj_Archive
Dave/Eksvplot wrote:I think Lemur meant validation in the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" sense.

I hear ya.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:46 pm
by that damned fly_Archive
ya know, i just don't give that much a fuck about internet geeks. as long as they stay in their microcosm, i'm fine. i do think what they did to the poor suicide's family is incredibly fucked and in desperate need of a severe beating. if anyone knows someone, i got the free time and the aggression.

you guys though, you guys are cool. sometimes. most times.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:18 pm
by pwalshj_Archive
that damned fly wrote:Pwalshj ,though, is mad cool all the time.

Heh.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:22 pm
by burun_Archive
that damned fly wrote:Pwalshj, though, is mad drunk all the time.

Not all the time. He sleeps a few hours a night. Or so I am told.

NYT Mag. article on Trolls-Trolling

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:35 pm
by Pasta_Archive
"As we walked through Fullerton's downtown, Weev told me about his day
— he'd lost $10,000 on the commodities market, he claimed — and
summarized his philosophy of "global ruin." "We are headed for a
Malthusian crisis," he said, with professorial confidence. "Plankton
levels are dropping. Bees are dying. There are tortilla riots in
Mexico, the highest wheat prices in 30-odd years." He paused. "The
question we have to answer is: How do we kill four of the world's six
billion people in the most just way possible?" He seemed excited to
have said this aloud."

I'm troubled admitting this, but in some ways this has been the brunt of some conversations I've had in the past 2 years. This internet thing, it's encouragement of De-sensitization, existential "Objectivity", narcissism, and nihilism, it's troubling.

I'm not smart enough to put all of this into word right now. It makes me realize I need to re-read "Snow Crash" soon.

It's Phillip K. Dick's world. we just live here.