Trolls?
Trolls!?
Where have all the trolls gone?
They are not under the bridge like they used to be, and from what I can tell, they have moved on again from the obvious places on the internet as well.
So where are all the trolls!?
It all began 2000 years ago when the first dial-up modem became affordable for the average household. I was there to see it happen, me, like so many others, was the beta tester of the internet, the pioneers of the world getting fully connected!
Forums! MSN! AOL chat rooms, welcoming family websites before Facebook was even a thing! You could even talk to another person on the other side of the planet for pennies!!
It was mind-blowing!
As the internet progressed, we all started making little nooks for ourselves, You could join a car group with maybe a 1000 people in it, or even an art group. or even a dedicated sonic group. thousands of small corners of the web you could join and feel welcomed.
Then.. the trolls came. And boy oh boy did they come in numbers. Their style was to be blatantly rude, saying things like "haha your mom's gay" or even faint-worthy stuff like "U MAD BRO!?" after getting a rise out of people. Back then, comments like that actually had some level of effect on us because it was a brand new concept of someone with no identity blatantly being offensive without consequence.
You would say nowadays, how can you be offended by something so trivial?
Welcome to the world of Troll evolution! An internet arms race, if you may.
So, where IS username xxXUSUKMYDIK4FUNXxx gone?
Nowhere! Right here among us, just with a different name, different tactic, but with the same level motive.
I'm not going to go into the reason why trolls exist and why they do what they do, that's for another day whilst I cling onto my last bit of relanvancy, I just want to show how to look out for them.
"Trolls" are advanced, dynamic, and adaptive.
"Trolls" these days are inherently friendly and work hard to get themselves into some level of status, and with the rise of so many people that have gotten popular over the years, they have flocked to individuals who are lonely, vulnerable and naive. And when they set up a nest, they tend to communicate with each other and start setting the foundations to take that individual down. Today, we call it 'cancelling'.
>>Misinformation<<
Is their most powerful tool. This can take any shape or form, and it can be so complex that it throws the smartest of us all off the scent, but the main method is usually what I call the "rabbit hole" method, setting up a chain of dialogue that goes down an infinite spiral of factual loops to adutate, demorilise and tire the victim.
Here is a crude sample of a rabbit hole troll;
a) I love pasta!
b) You mean noodle?
a) no, pasta, I really like pasta
b) noodle is technically a type of pasta
a) no, pasta isnt a noodle!
c) bro hates noodles!
b) But they are made of the same ingredients
a) yes! But they are a different shape from noodles!
c) bro, are you actually calling noodles "different"!?
b) That's harsh dude
a) It's just fucking pasta!
c) dudes a noodle hater.
You get the point, but this method gets used to an infinite level of detail to tire out the victim and make them lash out, making it easier and easier to paint this stark twisted image of the individual that is being targeted.
a) "The victim" Typing dumb shit on the internet
b) "The Instigator" will rally the first attack to probe for weakness
c) "The Recruiters" tries to rally a mob using trigger words just so it turns into a frenzy
This is just obvious surface-level stuff, but buckle up buckeroo and fetch your tin foil hats, baby! because these narsasistic scum bags are even smarter than you think.
>>cocoons and echo chambers<<
Some trolls have advanced beyond even instigating, and have gotten to a skill level where they make popular figures and even artists feed on themselves through emotional drip feeding. (Please don't ask me why people do this to each other) It's your usual "shoulder to cry on" type of person, I can't stress enough, these people are RISKY to say the least, and it's all about control. When you tell a random stranger on the internet your personal struggles, family problems, financial problems etc. you're literally handing over your firmware for someone to control you and use against you.
Their primary job is to keep you isolated and defenseless. They keep you believing that your only friends are on the internet, and they will work super hard to make sure you stay under their thumb, or at least keep you in the same situation. Now, I'm not saying "internet friends" are inherently bad people, I'm saying that if you have some level of mental baggage dumped on the internet and nothing has really changed over the years, then you may need to start looking for the enablers keeping you from getting past life hurdles, tramaus, etc.
Don't believe me? Just cut a single strand that binds an emotional enabler's control over you and watch the adverse reaction they have.
Look, I'm starting to ramble and I'm losing train of thought.
Cheers for reading. Please stay safe out there.
Edit: I could go on and on about the dynamics and complexities of people being barstards to each other,
But my dyslexia is catching up with me, and my head is getting tired.
