Why are trolls online so mean?

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When it comes down to it, trolling is mischief. And it serves a function in society where people are a little too pro-social. Too agreeable. Too unwilling to engage in conflict. There's huge echo-chambers online where people lose their own ego to the herd when comes to their own opinions. It's subtle and people don't always notice it happening. People like me like to fuck with people like them. Shake up their world view a little and give them opportunity to reassess why they feel that way. You're a shrink and a tool of the man to maintain social order, so naturally trolls kinda don't sit well with you. But it's important to agitate groups of people, because like water... they go fucking stagnant.

Welllll, I work in BH but def not credentialed enough to call myself a shrink [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And I am def big on order and manners IRL, which is why that aspect of Japanese culture really resonates with me (although I am definitely not one of those…whatever the word is for huge fans of Japanese culture or anime)

But online, I can definitely engage in some “feud” type trolling too. Chortles and I used to go back and forth, and I even got into it with CD288 recently, which actually didn’t end that well for me due to him pulling out a very unexpected trump (meaning the term, not the person) card to my personal attacks [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don’t even have as good of a higher order thinking justification as you. I don’t tend to go after people, but when someone persistently goes at me, I take some sort of sick glee in thinking up creative ways to insult them back. And I assume that many people reading are entertained by the drama, even though many probably wouldn’t admit it

This is speaking for myself only obv