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Philip's avatar

Trolling is sometimes used not primarily to elicit a mockworthy reaction, but to launder one's sincere or semi-sincrere views into the public square through a protective layer of irony.

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Amos Wollen's avatar

The counterexample strikes. (Related: you might think trolling by states—e.g., Russian twitter trolling in the 2016 election—is (a) genuine trolling, and (b) has a similar primary intention, though perhaps w/out the sincerity or semi-sincerity.)

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Yosef's avatar

https://philarchive.org/archive/BARAOT-9

Aristotle on trolling.

Seemed relevant.

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I Like Things's avatar

I like this

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Sheluyang Peng's avatar

Online trollling is often used to vent ressentiment: people who feel powerless in real life decide to come online to troll others to feel a bit of power. Trolling is a sign of weakness, not strength.

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The Long Game's avatar

True, though it should be noted that some have a fabulous time trolling the trolls. Much of the time, the troll will respond with "gr8 b8, m8" or somesuch dismissal, to which the troll squared can reply that nothing baits a liar like the truth. Once the anchor drops, they can resort to name calling or "u r crazy" type stuff, but the ship has sailed.

One could probably say that the whitehat troll is the philosophical oppsosite of a regular troll.

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