If you use the internet, you probably already know all about trolls. I keep meaning to write something a bit longer about them, becasue it is a pretty interesting phenomenon. You can see some (arguably very bad) trolls talking amongst themselves here (warning: lots of stupid, juvenille, possibly offensive stuff mixed in with a couple of interesting bits.) Anyway, the longer discourse will have to wait, but I'm bringing this up because I'm wondering if a whole web site can be a troll? I'm thinking of this one in particular. It's perfect troll material (at least for slashdot.) Here are a few of my favorite quotes."The settlement in the Cyber Patrol case reported yesterday is in danger since it was learned that the hackers who created the 'cphack' virus are part of a neo-Socialistic cult that renounces individual ownership of software. Neo-Socialistic cult, eh? Well, how about this one:"This new medium of the Information Superhighway--created by brave Cold Warriors in the struggle against Communist aggression..." Yeah, I know about DARPA, but saying it was...oh nevermind (IHBT)...The insanity continues:"According to the Rutherford Institute, the number of sites with anti-Christian content has risen by over 350 percent during the period from 1997 to 1999. Most of these sites are created by self-styled Satanists or 'free thinkers'." Isn't there a law against that free thinking stuff? Anyway, my point is (you knew I had a point, right?) if you can't tell the difference between a seriously raving lunatic, and a troll, isn't it better just to consider it a troll? All those politicians aren't really serious (come on, how could they be,) they're just trolling. Once you see things this way, the solution is easy: don't feed the trolls. Don't pay any attention. They are trying to get that predictable rise out of you. I think I like this outlook. Now I can just forget about politics and get back to mastering regular expressions.
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- jim 8-26-2000 5:58 pm