CNN did a story on Internet trolls and whether or not they are psychopaths. The story looked at what is behind the trolling and if there is pleasure gained in such activity.
From the article
— If you’ve ever complained that the trolls junking up online comment sections are a bunch of sadistic psychopaths, you might be onto something.
An online survey by a group of Canadian researchers suggests that Internet trolls are more likely than others to show signs of sadism, psychopathy and “Machiavellianism”: a disregard for morality and tendency to manipulate or exploit others.
“It was sadism, however, that had the most robust associations with trolling of any of the personality measures,” says an article by psychologists from the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and University of British Columbia. “In fact, the associations between sadism and … scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists.”
Commenters who said they enjoy trolling other users more than other options (which included debating topics and making new friends) consistently scored higher on the “tetrad” and displayed a tendency to enjoy trolling because it is pleasurable, the authors wrote.
The questions asked to determine sadistic tendencies included ”I enjoy physically hurting people,” “I enjoy making jokes at the expense of others” and “I enjoy playing the villain in games and torturing other characters.”
To be clear, the article is not based on a random sampling of respondents.
Needless to say the story has close to 2700 comments. Read the full story here
I was trolled once, in all seriousness, and it was serious, guess who it was ?. Yes that’s right a Police Force acting in revenge.
Researcher was tlolled too… 🙂
You talkin about me!
This survey sucks. But what do you expect on TheDomains.com, since it is the suckiest suck-site that has ever been produced. Morons abound here. Especially the so-called OLD DECREPIT people in-the-know, saying the gTLDs will fail, when it’s just the opposite. .COM is already dead, and people don’t even realize it. Probably because those who don’t think it’s dead, will be dead by their 94th birthday, which, on average, is just a week from now. You shall see. I know all. gTLDs already took the lead over a year ago. The rest of you losers who deny that are losers. OLD losers. Enjoy your Jello.
old and decrepit is a way of thinking, not necessarily an age. maybe gTLD’s shouldn’t have been approved.. it certainly would have kept things simple.
BUT some people look at reality and whats actually happening NOW and some people continue to “debate” this as if 1,000+ TLD’s arnt going to be released into the wild. we’re not talking “what if” anymore.. it actually is happening – trying to contain it at this point is stubborn.
adapt or be old and decrepit.
I think of the new gtlds as a bit like Myxomatosis and the .com like the Rabbit . They introduced Myxomatosis into the wild in the UK back in the 50’s I think, and then realised the massive error they had made in releasing it.
@ontheinterweb
I can’t believe you took something I said that was obviously over-the-top sarcasm and self-deprecating humor, meant to make me look like a ‘troll’, only to make it seem like something that should be discussed seriously. Well, after all your posts that basically repeat the same old boring thing over and over, maybe I do believe it.
@Grim
well, i got the sarcasm about “thedomains” being sucky but everything else seems aligned with your other posts, which, yeah…. repeat the same thing kinda like mine.
i guess theres not much to talk about at this point.
wanna play rock paper scissors?