I erased it for you bro
The Assholery of the Internet: The Birth of Trolls and Death of Common Decency
By Lisa Longo
What is it about the internet that brings out the worst in people? I’m not talking about the people who post pictures of their pets or food, I’m talking about that evil under the bridge dwelling cretin who creeps around the internet creeping the rest of us out.
No doubt you’ve done the unthinkable, gone ahead and read the comments on a certain article or commented innocently on a thread and without warning, and evidently without any realization that the internet is indeed also “real” life, there it is, that ugly, nasty, vicious, wart-covered, slimy turd of a troll.
You seldom see the actual real human trolls these days online. The newest fad among these freakish beings is the anonymous post and fake profile. So while they want to be horrible while in their online persona, they want to hide it so in “real” life people won’t think badly of them. Seriously, that is so messed up.
At first most of us activists heeded the “don’t feed the trolls” adage. The thought being if you engaged, then the troll would gain strength. Better to starve the little desperate buggers and they would go away.
We were so naïve.
The reality is, when you ignore some trolls, for example I have one I call Twatness, they simply can’t help themselves. I had this person blocked for months and she still felt the need to make a stupid post and use my name. Well, unlike cowards who hide behind fake or blocked profiles, I went right there and confronted this person. I mean seriously, what did she think was going to happen? And then of course she was “outraged” that I would confront her. Whatever, just keep amusing yourself by photo-shopping images of me and making fake profiles. I’m sure your parents are very proud.
Then there are those who fancy themselves so witty and clever they gave themselves a cute name and hide behind fake profiles and anonymous posts. One of these self-styled internet badasses decided he was going to “call me out”. Yes, his words, and indeed he did, call me out. He called me “big”. I was like, “I’m sorry, do you mean big, as in, larger than life?” Then it hit me, I had to laugh, oh, you’re trying to insult me! But I could see how hard he really was trying. And he obviously has some mommy issues. Speaking of, I’m sure his mother would be so proud of her 30-something son calling a woman of 50 “fat” and then running around town claiming some kind of victory. Seriously dude, that’s asinine.
But at least he had the balls to use his real name. The lowest form of the trolls are the fake profiles and the ones who are using anonymous poll options to bully and belittle anyone they don’t like, don’t agree with, or who has the misfortune of being their target that particular day.
And these aren’t just a little unkind or slightly snarky. These are full out nasty, very personal and hurtful comments. Maligning everything from people’s marriages to wishing that someone would get cancer. It is vile.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no pusher of the politically correct. I enjoy some dark humor and even a dank meme or two, but don’t bring up people’s children, wish them dead or make jokes about someone who tried to commit suicide being a failure even at that.
These comments and the stupid photo-shopped images don’t reflect on me, they reflect on you, troll poster. It is your character that is being revealed. So you photos-shop my head onto a porn photo hoping for I don’t know what, all you did was show yourself to be a low-life common scumbag without any common decency. But that’s okay, I know, that’s just how you roll. And good for you, obviously your parents are beyond ecstatic at your gross and disgusting aesthetic.
I’m sure the fact that I wrote this blog will bring about yet another round of juvenile memes and photo-shopped images. But with all the good we do on the internet, from fundraising for charities, to helping families in need, sharing information and impacting real and lasting change, if the price we have to pay for that is living with cowardly trolls among us, so be it.
With all the wonders the internet has brought us, the birth of the troll and death of common decency is like the dark side. Sure the costumes are great and the mask hides who you really are, but wow it must be exhausting to haul around all that baggage all day long. And truly, at the end of the day, you’re just being a dick for absolutely no reason. That doesn’t make you clever. It makes you pathetic.
Follow Lisa Longo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lisa_longo
Lisa Longo
Political activist and writer
Let's ask NeverBeenTimid about his last Racing Kings game. Played a member who signed up to lichess yesterday and played 1 bullet game and 6 blitz games. He then found himself in a correspondence game of Racing Kings. Had he ever heard of the game? Did he know the rules? Why correspondence? NeverBeenTimid did not post a challenge, as surely as he did not make such a challenge.
What did NBT offer in his private message to convince the new sign-up to play an obsure variant? Why did he resign after 1 move? Did you tell him of your 109 RK games ...100+ are vs new ratings of 1500? who time out or resign in less than 4 moves in correspondence games? Did you inform the new player you game the rating system to artificially inflate your rating ? Maybe you knew each other before hand?
And you all here call yourself chess players, condoning this behavior.
What did NBT offer in his private message to convince the new sign-up to play an obsure variant? Why did he resign after 1 move? Did you tell him of your 109 RK games ...100+ are vs new ratings of 1500? who time out or resign in less than 4 moves in correspondence games? Did you inform the new player you game the rating system to artificially inflate your rating ? Maybe you knew each other before hand?
And you all here call yourself chess players, condoning this behavior.
I for one have spent the better part of my day bemourning the erasure of #64.
@SHouseVive are you another supporter and believer of that disgusting bullshit?
No, I have simply observed what all the "Common Decency", mentioned in "The Birth of Trolls and Death of Common Decency" has brought to all the people facing REAL problems in this world. And here, in this very thread, there's some more armchair knights. And they sicken me to the core.
O yes, I thought post 64 was quite funny.
clearly written by someone who knows his stuff first and then gives us a little witty riff on that thing.
clearly written by someone who knows his stuff first and then gives us a little witty riff on that thing.
2Q1C’s humor was just like the rest of ours. Never did he make jokes about death, suicide, cancer, etc. Mdinnerspace, dude, you have to calm down. If you want to play chess, go play chess, and stop spending time searching up articles about trolling. Stop spending your time insulting 2Q. What do you think you try to accomplish by doing so?
Then you do not know 2Q's days of trolling by playing the"victim."
On the contrary, 2Q started several Clubs for victims of "internet abuse" and "suicide attempts" offering his advice. With several simultaneous accounts, he played the tormentor and the person who contemplated suicide, often with the excuse of losing a chess game provoked him wanting to commit suicide. Started 100's of threads over the topics of suicide, being the victim of homophobic insults, racism, you name it, he was a victim. This is all documented, not anything made up. In fact 2Q often boasts of these past activities in his team forums and has been made public by David, the head moderator at chesscom.
But then you know all this Rubbertoe, being a 2Q1C Wannabe Team member and frequent contributor to their forum of self proclaimed trolls banned from chesscom.
This issue is precisely the reason I became involved. After seeing repeated threads about being devastated by losing chess games, being called names in chat during his games, that 2Q was contemplating suicide. Then claimed he "survived" and started several Clubs for other such victims, offering his advice in preventing suicide. This is very DANGEROUS behavior, and needed speaking out against. This was not just run of the mill trolling.
I'm done. Over and out. Points have been made. I understand full well peoples perceptions will not change who already stand on one side of a fence. But those not familiar, have a perspective of someone who does not tolerate some of the truly egregious things that "trolls" are capable of.
Good luck and good chess.
added: Rubbertoe knows all too well all threads are deleted by chesscom when they permantly ban a member.
On the contrary, 2Q started several Clubs for victims of "internet abuse" and "suicide attempts" offering his advice. With several simultaneous accounts, he played the tormentor and the person who contemplated suicide, often with the excuse of losing a chess game provoked him wanting to commit suicide. Started 100's of threads over the topics of suicide, being the victim of homophobic insults, racism, you name it, he was a victim. This is all documented, not anything made up. In fact 2Q often boasts of these past activities in his team forums and has been made public by David, the head moderator at chesscom.
But then you know all this Rubbertoe, being a 2Q1C Wannabe Team member and frequent contributor to their forum of self proclaimed trolls banned from chesscom.
This issue is precisely the reason I became involved. After seeing repeated threads about being devastated by losing chess games, being called names in chat during his games, that 2Q was contemplating suicide. Then claimed he "survived" and started several Clubs for other such victims, offering his advice in preventing suicide. This is very DANGEROUS behavior, and needed speaking out against. This was not just run of the mill trolling.
I'm done. Over and out. Points have been made. I understand full well peoples perceptions will not change who already stand on one side of a fence. But those not familiar, have a perspective of someone who does not tolerate some of the truly egregious things that "trolls" are capable of.
Good luck and good chess.
added: Rubbertoe knows all too well all threads are deleted by chesscom when they permantly ban a member.
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