If a Mudsucker doesmn't work, a bag of peanuts will.

For those in the know, /b/ is the internet's cesspool of humor and porn. Everything that makes the internet bad is there. Its a magical place.

On the contrary, I am not an “internet tough guy”.
lol at dubious disclaimer, similar to "Actually, I'm not a racist, but-"

Generally trolling is done for great justice, against those who deserve it. Anyone who cries or composes a 3-page baw-fest because of what someone they'll never know or see says on their myspace or worthless internet-disease-blog has just LOST THE GAME.

But have you read the article? Did you go to "Weev's" blog? He espouses a philosophy of extreme malevolence toward his fellow man, believes that suffering and mass death are a critical element of positive societal propulsion, and in many instances talks about making people "fear for their lives". He's a power hungry individual who believes it is a positive thing (even heroic) to take advantage of system flaws to create panic, disorder, and cause pain to individuals he feels are lesser in value than himself.

Perhaps I made my point with a little too much fervor. Please allow me to rephrase it - It is easy to wish pain or death upon others and spout anarchist doctrine while posting photos of the recent Pho meal that some other person worked to make for you. If it is chaos, pain, and anarchy that these childish minds want, I say we put them into a position where they really have to suffer the consequences of their ideologies.

That said... yes. If I were interviewing some punk-ass, frail pasty twerp who casually noted that he had stolen my banking information, deleting it in front of me to show how much "power" he had over tiny little me (as in the NYT article), I would be apt to beat him into oblivion and dump him in an alley for someone to victimize. And that's not tough talking, that's just what he's got coming for being a priggish little candy-ass.

TITS OR GTFO

Those guys who post angry pathos riddles comments on blogs generally aren't trolls, they are just internet tough guys. There is a big difference. Trolls do it for the lulz, where internet tough guys do it to stroke their own egos.

If you could accept a batman reference, Joker would be a real troll (he just wants to watch the world burn--why so serious?), where Harvey Dent aka Two Face is more analogous to an internet tough guy, where he was a good person, but he is pissed off for whatever reason, and resorts to INTERNET VIOLENCE aka CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, pathos, etc. Trolls make internet tough guys pretty effectively.

U rawk!!!

I don't remember that from Statistics class.

>This makes it seem very America-centric, like only dumbass kids from the states are in on it. Is that correct?

No, we're pretty spread out over the world, unless a lot of people are lying about their nations of origin. Actually I'm sure a lot of us are lying about their nations of origin, but in a spread out way where everyone lies equally and you get a good statistical representation anyway.

>I also missed the trolling of the interview; does that mean they were making up facts to make the interviewer (a brave soul) look like an ass? Kinda like reverse Daily Show interviews?

A little bit, though not as much as some cases. Here's the thing: traditional media is retarded when it comes to covering the internet. This is widely known. When someone from traditional media comes to someone from the internet and asks "hurf durf are you terrorists lol" it's really really really hard to not make fun of them by feeding them obvious lies to see what they believe. However, this article is less stupid than most, so I'm guessing they went light on the mockery. The guy they interviewed seems pretty lame though.

>This is a weird take on ”trolls”. As someone who has had a blog and dealt with trolls, it is not about them deliberately trying to gave a blogger a breakdown. It’s about being vulgar, intolerant, threatening even, because the troll cannot abide with the blogger’s pt of view.

Internet internet internet blarg blurf

>Good article and nice way to invite the troll to neatorama, dont be surprised when they pop in here

sup lol

Anything else I can clear up?

Being a troll is about stirring up stuff because they're insecure or immature.

You can't win. The only way to not lose is to not play. Ignore them. If they disrupt your comments, and you have administrative control, ban them. Do not - ever - respond to them publicly, or they win.

It is sometimes an easy out to avoid actually debating facts or logic.