What is Trolling?

I think I’m a bit confused as to the example of the interviewer in the videos. I think the quality of the questions he asked were somewhat varied – some were interesting, others were rehashing of some topics that probably don’t need to be rehashed.

Still, it didn’t seem like he was ever asking anything particularly unfair, or backing the interviewees into a corner. It seemed like there was just a fundamental disagreement as to why they were there – he wanted to discuss larger themes, and they wanted to promote something – and that could be just as much the fault of the celebrities management as it is of the interviewer. I have tremendous respect for Tarantino, but I felt he was being a dick in that interview – I actually would have been really interested to hear his answers to some of the questions. I’ve read interviews in the past with him that were very thoughtful. I guess it’s valid that maybe he’s answered them in the past, but I haven’t heard those answers, and perhaps his views have changed since then (although: apparently not).

I think the questions towards RDJ were maybe a little bit over the line if it wasn’t clearly stated beforehand that he was going to ask about those things, but given that part of RDJ’s brand is a redemption story, I don’t think asking him to talk about that is absolutely awful (as long as it’s not served up as a surprise, which in this case perhaps it was).

I guess my overall point here is I’m not sure this an example of trolling so much as bad communication of expectations.

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I find it remarkable that Atwood can watch (the end of) that interview and still so completely misunderstand the Tarantino interview and so misunderstand Guru-Murthy … to me his take seems quite inconsistent with intellectual honesty.

And no, Guru-Murthy most certainly was not “trying to bait” Richard Ayoade.

“Look. I’m not new to the Internet. I know nobody has ever convinced anybody to change their mind about anything through mere online discussion before. It’s unpossible.”

Oh god, I’m stopping here, that’s bullshit, for one, unpossible isn’t even a fucking word, for two, people have changed their minds about PLENTY of things through “mere online discussion” -__-

Luckily trolling doesn’t happen that much in the web development world. You see it often on message boards though…

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion, often for their own amusement.

This sense of the word “troll” and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, but have been used more widely. Media attention in recent years has equated trolling with online harassment. For example, mass media has used troll to describe “a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families.” In addition, depictions of trolling have been included in popular fictional works such as the HBO television program The Newsroom, in which a main character encounters harassing individuals online and tries to infiltrate their circles by posting negative sexual comments himself.

I don’t understand people why they try to be on the “right” side about some argue. People must create something. This is humanity instinct. But people can’t do this, at least most of them. And they try to be “right” side. They start to believe something. They pen up them self in a faith. Then they lose their self-control and self-awareness. And they are not a human anymore. At least they are a just troll.