NYTimes Article on Trolls

interesting read and it goes back thousands of years

Says I have to log in to read the article.

Damn troll tactics.

online disinhibition effect?

the more you know.

This is one of those annoying issues where people will argue whether or not sites should take steps to discourage anonymity, or whether that tramples on privacy, but isn’t this really a decision for site owners? If their user base values privacy, why should they discourage anonymity among their users? Similarly, if a site provides a service to users who would generally appreciate safe guards from harassment from other users, don’t use it if you’re afraid those safe guards will infringe on your privacy.

I understand people’s concerns on privacy. I wouldnt want to say XYZ on a gut reaction, regret what I said, and then a my boss finds it later etc etc. Free speech is free speech but people should have some accountability for what they put out there on the internet, and it looks like, it does endure out there forever. I am sure that email i sent back in 1998 is floating around in cyberpace somewhere.

On a podcast, Sabin did remark that 2ch, THE main Japanese forum, is anonymous. That was interesting. I also noticed that the eventhubs comments section still has trolls, but the sheer post count appears to be down noticeably.

Not a bad article. It advocated handling trolling in a proportional way and put the responsibility for it on the people who run their own respective sites. That’s a pretty fair call to action.

Anonymous speech is an important part of free speech and needs to be protected, but a general call for site operators to clean up trolling on their site is a reasonable request.

i agree with that as well. But i doubt sites will do that. How many less people would go to youtube if you had to give them your name/phone #/adress, and have it verified, before you were able to watch a video or type a comment? ALOT less i would imagine, they would lose so much money in advertising.

The amount would be so substantial that they won’t even consider it.

That was a pretty awesome read. Good shit man.

I personally think stream monsters/trollers at times TRY to inject humor and levity, but they go too far. I live in NYC an read the NYDaily news and the NYpost, I know, and some of the comments are absurd. This is especially true when they post a car accident or homicide story. It turns into a homophobic, insensitive and immature mess. Ultimately, though, there is no law against being a jerk in the US and on SRK and free speech is protected , even for those of us who are careless with it.

The argument that forcing people to reveal their identity when posting in a forum/blog/comment section is a privacy issue is utter nonsence.

Privacy laws do not apply when performing actions publicly. For example, you have a right to walk naked in the privacy of your own home, but if you do it out in public, you’re going to be arrested.

And the fact is that forums/blogs/comment sections are considered public. So people who think that this exposure is trampling on their constitutional rights do not have a legal leg to stand on.