• From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 2,747
  • User Karma: 516

Topic: Trollin'

Something odd happened yesterday on my Twitter feed that makes me realize that I don't quite understand the world the way I thought I did. I follow GOPTeens, which I think is a pretty funny account that mocks conservative thinking and inept marketing by ineptly marketing conservative ideas to teens. Part of the genius of it, IMHO, is that you couldn't just mirror it with a DemTeen account and really have same effect. Regardless, I like to imagine that I would also laugh if someone could pull that off.

Now I've always thought of GOPTeens as "trolling" conservatives. Some people take the bait and respond positively to messages that are borderline demented, and that's funny.

But yesterday, comedian Paul F Tompkins stepped in when someone had attacked a female friend joking about how RotPotA fails the Bechdel test. The attack was ugly and unfunny and uncreative. But during the back-and-forth with PFT, the guy showed some humor, including claiming that he'd written a sequel to "Ann Rand's" The Fountainhead. He eventually claimed to just be trolling and didn't really believe all that stuff... but he kind of did. There were indications that he didn't really understand the value of the Bechdel Test or the OP's joke about it. PFT let him off easy and laughed it off. But I came away confused.

Like GOPTeens, the guy clearly didn't believe a lot of what he was saying (his timeline is pretty liberal otherwise), but what he was doing seems 180 degrees different from what GOPTeens does. He was being flippantly, crudely negative (especially at first), whereas GOPTeens is comically upbeat and satirical.

So are they both trolls? Is one a good troll and one just bad at it? Is the claim of being a troll disingenuous of the Bechdel guy? Was he really just a hater who got called on his BS? Am I wrong to think of GOPTeens as a troll?

If "trolling" is just being provocative, that doesn't seem to warrant a word of its own. Saying "You suck" solely to get a rise out of someone is just being an asshole, for one thing, but any word that covers both of what these accounts do seems unhelpful.

PFT's screen cap summary

The troll in question

GOPTeens account

Last edited by Zarban (2014-07-14 23:39:34)

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • From: Buffalo, NY
  • Registered: 2010-01-08
  • Posts: 2,037
  • User Karma: 202

Re: Trollin'

A troll is simply someone who wants a reaction. It could be someone saying what they truly believe in a hostel forum, or someone making stuff up. Hell, I was probably a troll when I was polite in a few very nasty message threads. I certainly did it just to see the reaction.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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  • From: Farmington, CT
  • Registered: 2010-05-08
  • Posts: 2,451
  • User Karma: 317

Re: Trollin'

Squiggly_P wrote:

I have no comment, except that Twitter as a thing needs to fucking die. It's like there's some group of people in a room, and they keep coming up with worse and worse ideas for social networking / social media bullshit, and people keep falling in love with them until the next thing they come up with , which is an even worse idea, but people still fucking love it.

Myspace sucked balls, Facebook sucks balls, G+ sucks balls, Twitter sucks balls. Is the goal to make things as impenetrable and disorganized as possible? Because, holy fucknuggets, they've won.

Counter-point: Twitter is the best social network of them all and it has improved my life immeasurably.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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  • Rob
  • Rob
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  • From: Chicago
  • Registered: 2013-03-18
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Re: Trollin'

My understanding is that a true troll is someone who says what he or she says specifically to fuck with people and, indeed, get a reaction. It seems to me such a person may or may not be saying something she actually believes.

Not really relevant here, but I've noticed people labeling someone else a troll simply because the person is saying something provacative that they disagree with. I've been called a "left wing troll" for defending the health care law in what were pretty mild terms. I wasn't trolling, but it was an easy out for the other guy to just pathologize me in that way--I was "just a troll" who could be therefore dismissed. The word itself became an excuse to bail on an argument the person was (if I may say so) not winning. Again, not really relevant to OP, but there ya go.

Ebert famously called Armond White a troll, which I didn't agree with not because it was mean but because I felt it was inaccurate.  (I think Armond's whole thing he does is far more complicated, and often way more fucked up and mean spirited, than your average everyday troll.)

@caravaggiorob

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  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 2,747
  • User Karma: 516

Re: Trollin'

I don't think it has anything to do with Twitter or social media in general. I'm not a social media lover, to be sure, but I find Twitter to have a good proportion of thoughtful commentary and genuine cleverness. Partly, its character limit makes arguments a bit like boxing in a phone booth.

I suspect what happened is that Sam Grady is kind of an asshole and reacted badly to the OP because he was tired of hearing about lady issues. When a professional comedian started paying attention to him, he got giddy and sharpened his repartee, then claimed that he was just messing with the OP to get out of looking like quite the asshole he was being.

On the other hand, GOPTeens really is quite deliberately provoking conservatives' reactions for humorous effect. That would suggest that GOPTeens is more of a genuine troll than Sam Grady, but it feels like the other way around is more accurate, and "trolling" is really just acting like an asshole, whether you mean it or not.

Not that it matters much. I'm reminded of reading engineers vainly trying to define the difference between an "engine" and "motor". Stick to wrenches, boys.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • From: Farmington, CT
  • Registered: 2010-05-08
  • Posts: 2,451
  • User Karma: 317

Re: Trollin'

Squiggly_P wrote:

I just don't get it. #confused #wtf #popularhashtagsopeoplewillseewhatisay #swag

Like any social network, Twitter is only as good as the people you follow. I happen to follow a lot of very smart/fun people, so I get a lot out of it. There's a whole other massive side of the website full of dumb people, but I don't go there because why would I?

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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