Internet trolls: What to do about the scourge of the Web?

[Audley Strange]

Was it not Magnum Force?

[Seth]

Was it not Magnum Force?

That too...

[Brian Peacock]

If Rosa Parks had not put herself on the line, galvanisation of public opinion mentioned above may not have happened to the same extent.

It is possible, of course, that her actions were a manifestation of that tidal wave of opinion.

Of course, one wonders how overwhelming that "public opinion" was when one considers the enormous opposition.

Is Sister Parks like a troll then? Or is trolling like agitating for civil rights or something?

[pErvinalia]

I think she's a troll by OPey's standards.

[FBM]

I don't see how what she did was trolling. I think trolls just fuck with people because they get a sense of power by evoking unwanted emotions in others. I don't think Rosa Parks was doing what she did for shits and giggles. First of all, she was seated in the "colored" section in the first place. The white section filled up and the bus driver told her to give up her seat - again, in the black section - to a white guy. She said 'no' and was right in doing so. Trolls approach others and start shit. Parks was approached and didn't back down.

[Robert_S]

I don't see how what she did was trolling. I think trolls just fuck with people because they get a sense of power by evoking unwanted emotions in others. I don't think Rosa Parks was doing what she did for shits and giggles. First of all, she was seated in the "colored" section in the first place. The white section filled up and the bus driver told her to give up her seat - again, in the black section - to a white guy. She said 'no' and was right in doing so. Trolls approach others and start shit. Parks was approached and didn't back down.

That was planned. Rosa had prepared for that moment. It was an act of civil disobedience for the cause of human dignity.

If you're going to do such a thing and pull it off, you have to have a lot of discipline and be on a solid emotional ground.

I'd say anyone can troll from time to time for one reason or another, but to earn the title of "troll" one would have to do it a lot, like to the point where it is their primary reason for being in a certain place on a regular basis.

[pErvinalia]

To be clear, I certainly don't think she is a troll, and I don't think anyone other than a troll would say she is. But Audley seems to think she was just an attention whore or something like that.

[Audley Strange]

That's right rEv, something like that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Aren't the AttHos just a subset of trolls?

[Audley Strange]

What's AttHos?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

What's AttHos?

Attention Whores (Hos).

[FBM]

I don't see how what she did was trolling. I think trolls just fuck with people because they get a sense of power by evoking unwanted emotions in others. I don't think Rosa Parks was doing what she did for shits and giggles. First of all, she was seated in the "colored" section in the first place. The white section filled up and the bus driver told her to give up her seat - again, in the black section - to a white guy. She said 'no' and was right in doing so. Trolls approach others and start shit. Parks was approached and didn't back down.

That was planned. Rosa had prepared for that moment. It was an act of civil disobedience for the cause of human dignity.

If you're going to do such a thing and pull it off, you have to have a lot of discipline and be on a solid emotional ground.

I'd say anyone can troll from time to time for one reason or another, but to earn the title of "troll" one would have to do it a lot, like to the point where it is their primary reason for being in a certain place on a regular basis.

It could have been planned, but all the descriptions I find say otherwise. She did work for the NAACP informally. Her Wiki page says it was spontaneous. Here's something else I just found:

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality.
She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.

Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated, although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. "When I made that decision," she said later, “I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.”

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/ro ... /story.asp

[Audley Strange]

Well, I'm not sure that "attention whore" is a subset rather than rudiment of the phenomenon. People like attention. Some people don't get much of it and crave it they don't differentiate between "good" and "bad" attention. You see this with kids who hurt other kids because they realise it's one way for an adult to interact with them. You see it with their older siblings out on the street at night winding up the cops. What does a troll want?

A troll wants a reaction. Wants others to know it exists. A troll may well have other motivations besides that and while many may be nefarious some could be beneficial. Sometimes honesty from a stranger might be useful if you're in an echo-chamber of delusion.

I've looked at people's facebook accounts, much of the unbidden shit that people tolerate from each other on there seems exactly the same. "Look! Look at this! Look at Me!" The only difference I see is that everyone there tends to dance to the same tune because they know they'll get attention if they give it in turn.

So to me trolls are provocateurs, some crazy, some complicated, but fundamentally they do it to bring attention to themselves.

[Hermit]

So to me trolls are provocateurs, some crazy, some complicated, but fundamentally they do it to bring attention to themselves.

But not all people who bring attention to themselves are trolls, and contrary to your sweeping generalisation Rosa was neither a troll nor pity mongering. She stood up (or in this case one could say "refused to stand up") for what is right.

[Audley Strange]

So you say.