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You've undoubtedly heard the old Lord Acton quote, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Apparently, it doesn't really matter how that power is derived, and Internet trolls are drunk with it -- "it" being the power of anonymity. According to a study by the Northwestern University, anonymity affects the judgment of people similarly to alcohol intoxication and excessive power.
"Although these pathways appear to be unrelated on the surface, they all lead to disinhibited states through a common psychological and neurological mechanism," said Jacob Hirsh of the university's Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Hirsh's colleague, Professor Adam Galinsky, said the loss of inhibition causes "significant behavioral consequences" -- though, that's not necessarily good or bad in itself.
When a person is operating behind a mask such as the Internet, they're more likely to make decisions that align with their true motives or character -- be that heroism or hedonism. "This is why intoxicated individuals can be aggressive in one instant and altruistic in another," said Hirsh, and it could help explain why people tend to express such extreme views when they get behind a keyboard.
People often feel there are no repercussions for their actions online because they're not visually confronted with another person. Dr. Darryl Cross, a psychologist at Crossways Consulting, believes the anonymity of the Internet encourages split personalities. He noted that people have two personas: one driven by raw animal instinct, and another that's more conservative. The former kicks in online.
"What you've got [online] is people who are prepared to let their instinctual personality out rather than really taking a second perspective, looking at it in a different way, and then saying the second thing that comes into their mind instead of the first." Naturally, this occurs more frequently when you have an open system like ours that encourages "guest" posters, versus strictly registered commenters.
"Anything that requires personal responsibility has got to be a plus," Cross said. "Once they have to register and they're held accountable, then that's really going to be a major step forward." Worried that you're a troll? Cross suggests that you establish a method to determine the demeanor of your comment. For instance, consider what your grandparents might say about your post before submitting it.
User Comments: 65
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They forgot one thing - they should have put the word "Guest" on the guy's shirt. ;-)
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Agreed. That's why I logged in to post this. On the topic its not hard to find someone or recall a situation that involved being mocked or ridiculed for little to no reason. Sometimes for as little as question someones advice can result in a vicious bashing, this never ends well. Also there's times you just have to recognize the actions of a troll and drive them into insanity (or so you would hope) by egging them on repeatedly. Fighting a troll by being a troll, its the only way sometimes.
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I have always said that the warm snugly anonymity of the internet brings out the best in people. Good to see there are actually people studying this :-)
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Trolls can be funny at times, some of their comments can be good for a laugh
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Well, this is hardly "new business". The human psyche has been at the mercy of its machines for decades. The most salient example of this type of behaviour, is when people get behind the wheel of a car. A 100 lb woman is now the equal of a 250 pound man, and both are 20 times as big as they were before they slammed the SUV door. Latent aggression becomes salient and can escalate all the way to "road rage. It's like the car is now doing the thinking, and using its reptile brain to do it.
Theories like this have been around for decades, and this is a retread applied to internet behaviour.
What does impress me, is how people can still manage to obtain grant money to facilitate lounging around, puffing weed, and thinking they're onto something.
The way to deal with trolls is to remove their posts.(1*) That squelches their voice. End of influence, end of visibility, end of trolling. If the individual is too profoundly affected by this setback, another outlet could be found. My suggestion would be either masturbating or blowing one's brains out. A truly disturbed troll might try blowing his brains out while masturbating.
I actually do have a question about this, are "internet trolls" more likely to be male or female. Wait! I think I know this one, male! Send me a check.
(*1) You've been doing that for years, you savvy devils.
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^^^^ Who do you think you are??? Trolls are people too.
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A full on article about forum/internet trolls?
Guess it was going to happen sometime.
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^^^^ Who do you think you are??? Trolls are people too.Thanks for stopping by to point out the patently obvious. Unless of course, this was posted by a typing chimpanzee.
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it's like looking in a mirror
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it's like looking in a mirrorAnd Narcissus shares his thoughts with us.
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Adhmuz said:
Agreed. That's why I logged in to post this. On the topic its not hard to find someone or recall a situation that involved being mocked or ridiculed for little to no reason. Sometimes for as little as question someones advice can result in a vicious bashing, this never ends well. [...]
+1/thumbs up/agree
Trolls have no sense of social anything, meaning that even trying to end an argument is impossible and Trolls will start an argument over absolutely nothing.
I enjoy the internet except on days I cross paths with Trolls.
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Now what do u call a person who logs in to post extreme views instead of doing it anonymously.....
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Now what do u call a person who logs in to post extreme views instead of doing it anonymously.....Oh goody, a quiz to go along with the study....
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You call them an extremist... For they wish for everyone to see their name and join some sort of crazy internet clan to be extremists together.
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stewi0001 said:
They forgot the mention that most of them are under the age of 16
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You call them an extremist... For they wish for everyone to see their name and join some sort of crazy internet clan to be extremists together.Now see, this post could have been much improved in impact and credibility by inserting the word, "verily". To wit, "For verily they wish that everyone would seest their name, and wouldst joinest together, to celebrate the coming rapture of the troll mothership.
That's a week from today. Be there or be square!
See, told ya. It's almost biblical, isn't it?
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supportme said:
Now what do u call a person who logs in to post extreme views instead of doing it anonymously.....
A B**ch. Forum ***** is acceptable also.
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The most attitude i see here come from the people with accounts, not the guests.
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Five posts already cranky? Damn.
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stewi0001 said:
They forgot the mention that most of them are under the age of 16
explains allot
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Guest said:
The most attitude i see here come from the people with accounts, not the guests.
When you constantly deal with trolls it becomes very annoying, as this is a forum about trolls we are simply expressing our discontent for them.
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TROLL NEEDZ FOOOOOOD!
Yes, it becomes annoying to reply to guests when you have no idea which is who =/ And well... haters will always hate cof cof wontsaynamebutyouknowwho cof cof (Normally comes out whenever A_D is mentioned).
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Post 6
Five posts already cranky? Damn.If this was about Apple troll it would have been ten, I know. I'll try to do better.BTW, is my posting frequency actually any of your business?
The most attitude i see here come from the people with accounts, not the guests.You've apparently only been reading the guest comments you choose to. Besides, the real meaty "guest" comments usually get pulled down within minutes.TROLL NEEDZ FOOOOOOD!How many times am I going to have to tell you, nobody here speaks "Kibaruk" as a second language.Yes, it becomes annoying to reply to guests when you have no idea which is who =/ And well... haters will always hate cof cof wontsaynamebutyouknowwho cof cof (Normally comes out whenever A_D is mentioned).
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Come one captaincranky, this article resembles a little part of your heart. It shows in the frequency of your posts and interest in this particular article.
Come on, just say "IM A TROLL"!!!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! -
Come one captaincranky, this article resembles a little part of your heart. It shows in the frequency of your posts and interest in this particular article.Let's just go with, "takes one to know one", shall we? Come on, just say "IM A TROLL"!!!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
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