Finally a subject near and dear to my wrenched heart.Trolling is an art form. You may not see it that way if you've been hit, but if you negate the emotional aspect of your reaction you'll see it as a public service. It's not personal - it's reaching out to help.
Trolling is really about the need to help others - call me the good Samaritan. It's all about sharing an opinion, advice, or just to offer guidance. You're skeptical huh?
But as you know, bloggers being bloggers, something always seems to get in the way - ego, emotion, poor writing skills, or just plain stupidity (lots of that around Wusta). Geez... I could write a book it, but blogging is faster. Who'd buy it anyway?
Ya know. Folks just don't realize they need help - a little name calling may rattle their cage, but if ya really think about it, it's just reaching out and bonding. That's what blogging is all about. Am I right, or am I right?
To say ole Will has been called every name in the Encyclopedia of Blogging - and then some - is an understatement. Folks often misconstrue my actions. But hey you're only human. Ole Will forgives ya. So I want ya to remember Wusta, Will is your Bloggingbuddy. Will is always there for you!
Read the articles for a few tips. Personally I find the idea of using emoticons abhorrent. It's childish and reveals a serious deficiency in writing skills. But this is Wusta, whatcha expect?
Anger Management For Trolls from Wired.com: Browse through a few typical online comment threads, and the need for anger management quickly becomes clear, likely sending sane people scurrying off to more pleasant corners of the internet. Now scientists at Yahoo and their colleagues are devising ways to automatically flag inordinately irate commenters to keep them from ruining online conversations for others. To help curb so-called trolls who spew disruptive comments as a kind of sport, researchers developed techniques for automatically identifying negative posts that are off-topic while staying away from relevant ones. But rather than banishing hostile jerks or deleting their comments, the system could someday help steer them into more productive discussions. “We might want mechanisms where you can ask people to tone it down, or ‘take it outside’ to not disrupt others, or use humor to defuse situations,” said cognitive scientist Elizabeth Churchill of Yahoo Research, who presented the work Sept. 30 at the 2010 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Atlanta.
Suggest giving this one a read too: Clive Thompson on the Taming of Comment Trolls.
