Trolls

Ok so let’s talk about internet trolls.  I like to browse reddit.  I lurk, because posting comments doesn’t seem necessary most of the time.  Whenever I post a comment on reddit, I look it over a lot and make sure it is polite and won’t be interpreted incorrectly.  I wish that other people did that too.  Reddit has policies that try to protect their users.  “Witch hunts” which is a term that describes trying to look up a user’s personal information, are banned on all subreddits, and posting personal information is heavily discouraged.  Even so, Reddit is a breeding ground for trolls.  It is hard for moderators of subreddits to catch everything that goes wrong, and once something goes online it is easy for it to be picked up by almost anyone.  Even still, the rules that reddit has help protect users better than websites like 4chan.  I don’t like the fact that 4chan exists, because it allows redditors to say, “well we aren’t as bad as them, so we’re okay”.  Which isn’t true.  Gamergate sucks, but it isn’t the only serious problem that the internet has caused.  If you look around, you can find lots of people who’s lives have been ruined because they posted too much information on the internet, and people didn’t like it.  I think that the problem with the internet is that there is a blend of anonymity and real names.  If everyone were anonymous, harassment would stop where the account stopped.  Unfortunately, many accounts are linked to personal information.  If all accounts had real names attached to them, it would possibly help to curb trolls, since people could be held accountable for their words. After listening to the the podcast with Lindsey West, I realized just how threatening trolls can be.  People who’s opinions differ from yours can lead to a lot of hatred.  I think a lot of the problem of hatred is the general internet argument culture, that quickly leads to ad hominem attacks when logical arguments fail.

I am not a troll, and I hate how so many of the culture’s I am interested in being a part of can be so toxic.  There are a lot of games that I play, which I would love to discuss with other people, but I feel like if I interact with the community it will only leave a negative impression.  Take League of Legends for example.  I like to play with my friends, and my friends are good people, but they’re complete a**holes to the randos we play with.  Their excuse is that “That’s what the culture is, and everyone is doing it, but it just makes the game less fun, which sucks when I’m playing it in order to have fun with my friends.  I don’t get why trolling appeals to people when it’s way more fun to be nice and friendly with people.