Slashdot Mirror
Trolling Will Get Worse Before it Gets Better, Study Says (mashable.com)
If you thought that the internet had a chance of becoming a nicer place at any point in the near future, it might be time to give up hope. From a report: "Harassment, trolls, and an overall tone of griping, distrust, and disgust" will stay the norm on the internet over the next decade, experts told the Pew Research Center in a new report. The Pew Research Center and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University surveyed about 1,500 technology experts, scholars, corporate practitioners and government leaders in July and August 2016 for the study, and the results are pretty demoralizing. Forty-two percent of respondents thought the internet would stay the same sometimes less-than-pleasant place over the next 10 years, while another 39 percent said they thought the internet would become a more negative environment. Just under 20 percent of experts thought the internet had any chance of getting better over the next decade when it comes to harassment and trolling.
This slashdot news story is clearly a troll.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I suspect the future of trolling is something like this: https://sonichu.com/
Entire wikis created on people, documenting every mistake they ever did on their life, allowing online collaborations between thousands in phishing/harassing. AI and data mining will probably make this much easier as they improve.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
I'd like to see how the left handles being the boogeyman everyone loves to hate.
... yeah, didn't think so.
Hell we just gave an internet troll the nuclear codes. Now all the other trolls online have something even greater to aspire to.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
This is what we currently have in Israel, with right wingers doxxing and arranging attacks on leftists. Currently it seems the favored solution is migrating to germany (yes, I know, jews running away to germany, ironic).
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
Trolling Will Get Worse; it Will Never Get Better.
FTFY...
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The left knows how to pass legislation (see ObamaCare). The right can't get past "no" (see their aborted healthcare bill).
Solution: Find sites that are moderated so trolls and the merely very uncivil are ejected.
Unfortunately, proper implementation requires identity verification which stifles discussion since few people worth talking to are willing to put their entire life on public record for all eternity.
There's a secondary problem in that most people will end up gravitating to echo chambers, which most often ends up reinforcing ignorance which is kind of the opposite of the Internet's optimal use - sharing information.
Social Media is what really ramped this up.
I will never forget in 2009 when a guy I knew years before messaged my wife asking if I was in FB. He wanted me to get on FB. She showed me his profile and it was rife with right wing, nationalistic, xenophobic blather, conspiracties, etc; I was instantly turned off by the whole thing. As the years went by and I have gotten the pressure to join social media(and haven't) I am glad in my decision.
Social Media, whether FB, Twitter or whatever, encourages Troll like behavior and political extremism. You would think that once people aren't anonymous anymore they would temper their "Yea, Cruz' dad killed Kennedy!" tweets, but they don't.
I have access to a FB account, that I jump onto every couple of months or so, just to see whats up, and everytime I get on there I'm disgusted by what I see and read.
The basic problem is that we have not realized that Internet's anonymity's lets people say anything they want to.
It is compounded by humanity's innate trust, and the misunderstanding of exactly how full of garbage the internet is.
The existence of valid news sources on the internet make it worse - they give the appearance of validity to the general internet.
To make it even worse, Pravda, the Soviet Union's old ministry of propaganda, changed it's name to RT, and hired a bunch of anonymous posters, making it one of the single most effective propaganda organizations the world has ever seen.
Their stated goals of disrupting the US, breaking the European Union up, and retaking the Ukraine are having an unprecedented success.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
You, doubtless, have already made up your mind about how the 'left' would handle it, so that's what you'd see. Pointless exercise.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Unless there is a universal identity source that can have a reputation tied to it, there is no incentive for people to play nice with others.You can get a good sense of how socialable people really are by looking at their anonymous behavior.
Things do seem to be going downhill. Even the AC posts on this site have gotten worse. This suggests a new wave of miscreants. I am curious as to the nature of these miscreants.
Are they simply children coming of age and venting their angst without fear of consequences from their parents or community?
Are they social rejects who eschewed the internet until social media compelled them to choose between engagement and isolation? (I.e., non-nerdy outcasts who are building themselves a home here now that everyone is on the internet.)
Are they idiots who are now present because the technical and social barriers have been lowered?
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
Oh he'll be alright. Popularity ratings will be highly suspect/fake news etc. until he's out of office in which case they might be golden again (depending on who is in charge of course).
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Modern 'trolling' is just abuse. The meaning of the word has changed, to the detriment of subtlety.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
It was very interesting to watch Reddit's administrators actively support Russian interference in the US elections through their support of bots, trolls, and repeated Reddit policy violations. It was here on Slashdot, too — but Reddit actively supported it — Slashdot merely tolerated it. And these are forums where we'd expect the audience to be the least tolerant of such behavior—and indeed there was much anger. But not enough to change anything.
Do you libtards actually think about nothing but Trump 24/7, or do you just pretend to?
I'm a moderate conservative. Trump is neither a conservative nor a Republican, and, until a few short years ago, was a Clinton Democrat. The Republicans inability to govern in the White House and Congress is a grave concern for every American.
You have a point. But don't mistake how it appears for how it really is. Most media and commenters have a vested interest in making things seem worse than they are.
It's obviously not all sweetness and light. But the likes of the anti-vax dickheads will come full circle, sadly only after they hurt and kill a lot of people. Watch how many of them claim to never have been a part of it after the fallout. I know this because vaccines work, and no amount of FUD can ever change that.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Popularity ratings will be highly suspect/fake news etc. until he's out of office in which case they might be golden again (depending on who is in charge of course).
Trump's popularity rating is in the toilet. I don't think he can't stop himself from hitting the flush over and over again. Unlike George W., I don't think history will look too kindly on Trump and rate him at the bottom of unsuccessful presidents.
One of my local papers has been publishing articles based on interviews with Trump readers.
"I know he's lying, but it's good and I'd vote for him again"
Today's was even better... "I have black lung and would die without Obamacare so I'm glad it didn't get scrapped, but I'd vote for Trump again even if he got rid of it".
Real people. Saying incredibly stupid things that actually go up to and including an expression of willingness to DIE in order to have the Republicans win.
If the left would have known how to pass legislation they would have been able to get the original one through [...]
I wouldn't blame the left for that. It took Obama a long time to figure out that the Republicans were never serious about negotiating anything in good faith on anything.
I'm inclined to believe that trolling is merely the outcome of removing consequences from bad behavior. The Stanford prison experiment showed how power can corrupt individuals and it seems like trolling is the internet equivalent outcome. Sadly, it may come down to needing to develop AI that can police internet forums for us if we want to keep things civil. It's a dangerous solution but it's the only way I foresee things drastically improving without radically overhauling how the internet functions.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Online bullies are the only variety where "just ignore them" actually works. If you don't like the internet, go the fuck outside.
We are likely to keep freedom of speech on the internet. All speech, including hate and abuse. And i'm happy with that.
One of my local papers has been publishing articles based on interviews with Trump readers.
My favorite — if you want to call it that — is people believing that Trump will bring back the 1980's manufacturing jobs that require a high school diploma or minimal education. The reality on the ground is that newer factories are automated, requires fewer workers and a college diploma. When John Deere opened a new factory, they got 10,000+ applications for 800 jobs.
> I don't think history will look too kindly on Trump
Given that the right didn't anticipate him taking the top spot in the party and the left didn't think of him as more than a joke candidate until the very end, given the way most of the world reacted to him... the PRESENT isn't looking too kindly on him.
However, partisan (mostly) support and weirdly dedicated voters who will vote against their own self-interest without even an altruistic reason... I don't think he's leaving any time soon.
I'm still waiting for the press to ask Spicer why they should bother reporting what he says when he's consistently lying to them and treating them like shit on Trump's behalf.
As far as I can tell, the only "solution" to trolling is the heavy-handed reddit-style safe-space morality police one where we trade trolls for the massively high and mighty self-righteous. I'll take trolls, actually, thanks.
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
The Republican party has been actively promoting ignorance because it gets them votes. It worked right up until Trump got elected.
Now they need to deal with an ignorant and irrational support base that is unpredictable and could turn on them at any time for any reason... though I think it's when they finally cripple the ACA and their voters start actually dying. It could also be when 4 years have passed and their kids haven't gotten black lung yet.
He will threaten to shoot me and then write a blog about how I am the one bullying him.
Have I Threatened To Shoot You Today? Read the blog post and thanks for the ad revenues!
https://www.kickingthebitbucket.com/2017/03/21/have-i-threatened-to-shoot-you-today/
You're problem is you're so biased it has turned you into a bumbling moron.
This is Slashdot. You must be new around here.
How hard can it be to set up an A.I. to dump all the troll posts in a bit bucket?
This. I know it's one we've almost certainly lost, like "hacker" meaning anything other than "cracker" or "computer criminal", but "trolling" was a fine distinction of taking a deliberately inflammatory position (whether you actually held it or not) in an attempt to goad others into taking completely unreasonably positions on the other extreme in response, and laughing at the nonsense that ensued.
Degrading and broadening it to a simple "someone who's mean on the Internet" is another little piece of our culture slipping away...
I know, kids on my lawn and all that.
Don't forget, the "approval ratings" you're reading are being determined by a media that absolutely hate Trump. They're fake news. Trump is extremely popular, despite the continued attempts to smear him by the left.
This line of delusional thinking is why I left the Republican Party.
Nice pun, whether you meant it or not.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
I'm not sure the change in population is the reason the Web can be such a nasty place. For example, Slashdot seems to skew to the same population (tech professionals and academics) and I wouldn't call it a bastion of civility. Neither would I just bellyache and whine that it's a snake pit.
Much more interesting to me than whether trolling/hostility is getting worse or better in general, is what are examples where it is better and what can we do to be like them.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
I think that eventually all this will self correct.
Watching monkeys fling poo or being one the monkeys flinging poo is only interesting for so long.
I would not be surprised to see a net decrease in the number of social media posts. I would also not be surprised to see Facebook, Twitter, etc. to all go the way of AOL.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I would argue that Slashdot has gotten less civil due to the same normalization of trolling/hostility as is happening on the web at large. The Libertarian/stupid mentality on Slashdot is no dumber than it is on Breitbart - except that now it has a whole new pool of unthinking trolls to quote from ;-)
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
The Republicans inability to govern in the White House and Congress is a grave concern for every American.
Inaction by the government when there is widespread disagreement is a feature not a bug.
There you go! You sure showed him! He will think twice before insulting your president again!
The political related comments discussions here look straight out of Breitbart these days. Hardly any "Libertarian" viewpoints in comparison, unless they're the ones the former are shouting down as SJW libtard globalist leftist cucks. Just look at the comments in the couple of political related articles posted here in the past 24 hours.
My take on this is that in general, republican voters don't care as much about politics and for that reason are less informed, not less intelligent. I've met my share of trump supporters and there's on thing they all had in common: They weren't aware of half of what is going on in the news (when it comes to politics) and they aren't willing to take what they hear against Trump at face value regardless of the sources.
Having said that, other than the blind follower, you need to find a common ground with a Trump supporter before you can't discuss politics. Once you do, you need to understand what they think about it without criticize their opinion. You can then get into a reasonable conversation because you didn't demonize them.
This past election is all the proof I need.
~Less think, more do
Maybe it's because you don't actually know which comment, because this troll never bothered to link it to you.
I really need to write a Python script to scrape out my comments from Slashdot and dump them into a database. Thanks to your request, I may have found the URL pattern to pull that off.
I am still curious about exactly how the comment that started this was worded, but if you don't know which comment that was, I can believe it.
Here's the comment. I'll update my blog post with the link when I get home from work.
https://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10280401&cid=53913793
I imagine it will continue to get worse.
Currently it seems the favored solution is migrating to germany (yes, I know, jews running away to germany, ironic).
Maybe, maybe not.
Germany really seems to be a good example of the saying about how sometimes you need to burn something down to create something much better. Nazi Germany obviously was a horrible place in many ways, especially for certain people. Modern Germany seems to be one of the best nations in the world to live in. But it also seems to show the sad truism that the only way to normally make a change for the better like that is through a lot of violence and destruction.
...and that's not fake irony, either.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
These voters will be *happy* to die because of GOP policies, as long as the GOP continues to blame some minority for all their problems.
Derp, go look at who voted on the bill. Tell me how many republicans voted for it.
Look at what went into the final ACA bill: 200+ amendments that were sponsored or cosponsored by Republicans. Since the Democrats had the votes to carry the bill, the Republicans sat on the sidelines while eating cake. The making of the final bill was a bipartisan affair.
I believe it is irrational to vote in ignorance and to willfully maintain that ignorance. That I'm applying the label 'stupid' to unshakable Trump voters isn't a partisan thing - I would say the same about anyone approaching voting for any political party (we have different ones up here in the Great White North) the same way.
I don't expect everyone to be an expert in politics (that's why we elect politicians - to be specialized experts in that field so we can do other things), but you have to learn enough to intelligently elect your representatives.
Anything less is just stupid. Blue or red.
Inaction by the government when there is widespread disagreement is a feature not a bug.
That's a serious flaw that needs to be fix in the 2018 elections. If politicians don't want to work, they can find another job.
Thanks to your request, I may have found the URL pattern to pull that off.
I have ~12,000 comments that go back to 2009. Looks like the comment history from 1999 to 2009 is not available. All I need to do is write a Python script to scrape those comments, put them into a CSV file and then import into FileMaker. This would be easier if Slashdot had an export function.
Depends on how you look at it. If you don't like the current politicians it would be a win if they find another job. If you elected that politician to obstruct then their job is to do nothing.
It doesn't need to be fixed any more than in prior elections.
". For example, Slashdot seems to skew to the same population (tech professionals and academics) and I wouldn't call it a bastion of civility."
You forget that young people lurking do the modding, so as new kids are born who are ignorant, they upvote all sorts of nonsense. Older people know mankind is generally full of shit and historical events happen because there is usually genuine grievances. The politics of the left was birth from the criminality and warlike hostility of the wealthy, aka left wing politics is the natural response to corporate aggression, a right wing response to corporate aggression means the population is stupid and ignorant of history. When criminal corporate types are getting bailouts and then getting elected afterwards, the population is too ignorant and indoctrinated to be political.
You threatening to shoot me IS assault with a deadly weapon.
Have I Threatened To Shoot You Today? Read my blog and thanks for the ad revenue!
https://www.kickingthebitbucket.com/2017/03/21/have-i-threatened-to-shoot-you-today/
I'm not saying you meant it as a threat, but I can at least understand why someone else would think it a threat.
Most people would say "Whatever?" and moved on. This asshat AC is still complaining that I threatened to shoot him even though he has enough information to file a police report, calling me liar and playing the victim game six weeks later. The best way to deal with bullies is to confront them at every opportunity because they're cowards at heart. Eventually they get the message to stop being an asshat and move on.
Didn't APK get banned by pimping his website multiple times in every story like this guy is?
Maybe he is APK come back.
I gave APK grief for hounding me for a month. He backed off. Since he had a named account, I generally avoid commenting on his comments unless he comment on mine (which haven't happened).
How would you even know who to go after? It was an AC. For all you know, I could be that same AC.
Write a blog post, hope that the asshat AC writes a comment with identical language as the Slashdot posts, and report the username and/or IP address to the FBI.
Thank you for not assuming that I am that same AC btw, and for taking the time to reply to me.
You're welcome!
Before deleting your account, fill it with spaces, tabs, numbers, or some irrelevant information. Because, you know, those profiles are never *really* deleted.
Way to spectacularly miss the point. Give yourself a gold star.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Yes this is slashdot. I've been around for a while. And you're one of the users that never really fit in anywhere and wanted to be "like the cool kids" and this is the only place you can do that. Well maybe your Social Media sites also since you get to choose who you interact with and who can talk to you.
And you're one of the users that never really fit in anywhere and wanted to be "like the cool kids" and this is the only place you can do that.
Seriously? Are you in high school or something?
Well maybe your Social Media sites also since you get to choose who you interact with and who can talk to you.
I have a Twitter account that I use to post announcements. That's for social media.
That doesn't make you not a piece of shit
That doesn't make you not a piece of shit
No, I'm an asshole. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in IT.
I'm not going to keep going back and forth. from what I've seen of your posting, you're not what you think you are. but you are something.
I'm not going to keep going back and forth.
Yet you can't resist putting in the last word.
from what I've seen of your posting, you're not what you think you are. but you are something.
Nope, 100% asshole. :P
Eli The Computer Guy: Being An "Asshole" As A Technology Professional
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_YaNGzplbE
I'm looking at that page and thinking "What am I supposed to be looking at here"?
My mistake was clicking the link without reading the full post of that Anonymous Coward.
I.e. Without reading the "rather than being irrelevant pro-leftist political submissions. A submission like this shitty one is nowhere to be found." bit.
Apparently the AC above doesn't realize that the "Troll" issue is not just an integral part of Slashdot - it's a fucking moderation category.
But I guess when all you have is a hate hard-on for "leftists" to get you through the day, all you see are leftist conspiracies.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens