If you’ve ever read the comments after newspaper articles you know that there are too many people who have too much time on their hands. They’re called trolls and they always hide behind anonymity.
They troll around the Internet looking for something to find “stupid” or someone to call an idiot or a topic that they may know a little about so they can publicly berate the writer or the subject of the story. They’re mostly misinformed journalism wannabes, in my estimation, and they think they’re deep thinkers if they take issue with the way a story is written rather than the matter discussed in the story. They never, ever use a real name and sometimes they use vicious language that makes them appear that they’re having a breakdown right in front of you. They will make your blood pressure rise, your hair fall out and kill your optimism about the future of humanity so I try to avoid reading their missives.
The Huffington Post, one of the most popular news-dispersing websites in the Western world, has decided to put a ban on trolls. Starting next month, if you want to comment on a story on their website, you have to use a real identity. Whether one will have to register, as you do with CNN and other sites, remains to be seen. But as HP’s Arianna Huffington noted, trolls are becoming “more and more aggressive and uglier.”
Feedback is important. All media want to hear from readers, listeners and viewers. And registering them before they go online isn’t an ideal solution. Angry venom-spewers can still get through. The London Free Press stopped moderating their comments at one point but it appears they’re doing it again so they can remove the worst ones. It’s still a new way of sharing information and no one has perfected it yet but anything that cuts down on trolls is a good move in my books. They add nothing to the experience of reading reactions to an issue or story. All they do is make you shake your head at the stupidity. And you don’t dare attempt to publicly react because that’s what they feed off of. Cutting off their food supply may be the only effective way of reducing their number.
trolls are going to scream censorship and the right to freedom of speech. However what the trolls have never had explained to them, freedom of speech comes to an abrupt end when you cross the line into areas of liable, slander, assault, threats and those comments which constitute a hate crime.
As a periodic troll, I’ve always tried to stay on point and occasionally offer a different point of view. I always do my best to keep it neutral to the topic and not allow my comments to become personal. Damn, I’ve been caught, no more Blogs for me.
I can’t imagine that you have actually trolled, Allan. Commenting is a world away from trolling. Trolls are just looking to incite and provoke.