/lit/ - Literature

Tao Lin.

I do it because it's funny

I troll for attention, mostly. Being a comedian of any kind is bound to get you more attention than being a good guy, and being a comedian is 1000 times easier than being a good guy, especially on 4chan.

Bumping for deep explanations as to why I act the way I do on the internet and completely different in real life.

>>2070181
The conventional wisdom is that anonymity and lack of observable consequences dissolves your sense of identity and allows you to act in accordance with parts of your personality that are ordinarily suppressed by social convention.
What do you think?

>>2070189
FREUD REINCARNATE. on the real though i agree with that

In real life, if you suddenly expressed an opinion that caused someone else to react with rage towards you, then you would most likely be horrified.

Online, you quickly discover that people still manage to have the same reaction. In other words, the kind of person who is likely to react with rage can still have his or her "buttons pushed" completely anonymously.

Trolling is about the disjunction between whether any of this online shit actually matters or means anything, and whether or not it's all just Debord's Spectacle on a much smaller screen.

Trolling is a reminder that, dans l'adversité des nos meilleurs amis, c'est quelque-chose qui ne nous desplaist pas.

Trolling only works if the person trolled can summon emotion about the topic, or feels more emotion about the fact that his/her favorite online forum is being sullied by the discussion of this topic.

What trolls never realize is that those trolled are frequently having a good time. They are fighting in defense of something they truly believe. What could provide more meaning to the life of a person who is otherwise sitting at a computer screen most of the time? That is why the classic situation has the troll as a callow adolescent, the trolled as a middle-aged lady who doesn't know how to use a computer very well. But what the callow adolescent does not know is that the trolled person is not just like a high school math teacher getting pissed and throwing chalk at the class----the trolled person gets something out of it. Getting trolled is a force that gives, or reinforces, meanings for individuals within a context that is otherwise antiseptically emotion-free.

It is always worth remembering, in terms of trolling, that it takes two to tango (so to speak).

>>2070189
lolwtf you need to get laid BIG TIME. Fuck the police.

Well in most cases trolling has become a bit of a social game. Most of the time both troll and trolled are aware of the rules and simply act out their roles. Troll posts an obvious troll-post, somebody responds with "0/10" etc.

But the "true troll", the person who purposefully seeks negative attention on a forum strikes me as a bit of a neurotic. He wants attention but cannot seek it out in real life because neurotics dislike seeking out any kind of REAL stimulation or attention even though they secretly desire it. They compensate with phantasms. So trolling is rather like a phantasm. it's truly perfect for the neurotic. He gets his attention (albeit a very sterile form, no real human contact) and does so in a controlled environment. Along with that, he manages to dump out a fraction of his aggression.

I admire anyone that's brave enough to be a real life Larry David, but I don't like confrontation so I enjoy making fun of people on the internet instead.

>>2070189
Why did you direct it at others, saying your, instead of our?
>implying you are not a troll yourself, Good Sir.

Fairly well written and relevant to my interests tho, so thanks.

>>2070200
Git laid.

Well, in a lot of cases, what we call trolling really seems to be a misinterpretation of some other intention. Studies on email communication show that text alone is often misinterpreted in terms of tone and content, so it's very easy on the internet to take a divergent or uninformed opinion, a joke, or a sarcastic remark in entirely the wrong way. Once that's done, confirmation biases enforce the interpretation even when the original poster tries to explain the intention. It's assumed that he's backtracking to cover his own ass. That tendency has spiraled even more out of control here on 4chan, where trolling is a big part of the public consciousness, and we're even seeing people claiming to be trolling as a rhetorical device or even as a way of genuinely trolling more effectively. That bothers me a little, and I think it's the single greatest barrier to communication here.

In cases of what I think of as "real" trolling, which is to say trolling which isn't a misinterpretation, intended to be funny or used to cover up some other intention entirely, the intention is usually to make people feel stupid, small, sad, frustrated and angry. The motivation behind that intention generally seems to be a desire for attention, self-reinforcement and brash pride. Obviously there are different styles of trolling, though and it's probably a bit more complicated than a simple plea for attention. The trouble is, you can't just ask a troll when he's trolling and expect a straight answer.

>>2070208

OMG SHADDAP I HAVE LIKE A HAREM. 2 HAREMS

>>2070213
Dude. Git laid. Seriously.

I do it because people's responses often make me laugh out loud. I guess you can call that trolling for attention, but if people don't pay attention to me I kind of just move on. No need to get ass pained about it, you know?

boredom. which also explains all the explanations as well.

>>2070219

i do this is as well. peoples responses whether they are serious or counter trolling (t vs ct counterstrike references all day) makes me laugh and brings me joy.

>>2070200

3/10

The troll isn't looking for "attention". How can an anonymous person expressing an insincere opinion be seeking attention? The troll is fascinated by the instinctive emotional reaction that some people have to certain topics.

For example, there are parts of the brain that instinctively fire off when we hear "taboo" words. (Google "Swearing and the Brain"). Trolling is partly like pressing that button on somebody who's never had it pressed....like screaming a monologue from Glengarry Glen Ross in the Mormon Tabernacle.

The only point I would agree about is that there are clearly some trolls who believe, roughly, what they're saying. These are like Ann Coulter. If you're familiar with Ann Coulter, she IS seeking attention. But she's not actually making any coherent arguments (despite the specious trappings of scholarship in some of her books).

What Ann Coulter is about is complicated----but it's related to satire, and it's related to trolling. Ann Coulter talks/writes because her fans enjoy imagining how angry her enemies must be getting at hearing the things she is permitted to say, glibly and in a miniskirt, in public. The rhetoric *appears* like it's directed to her own audience---obviously no liberal would buy an Ann Coulter book---but they are reading it and imagining what all those left-leaning intelleckshuls would be saying if they were listening to this!

So then they go to their college-educated cousin at a family reunion and say "So, you ever read any a that Ann Coulter? Smart lady, huh?" and the college-educated cousin gets enraged.

That's the dynamic behind the trolls who believe in what they're trolling about......the ressentiment of the intellectually inferior.

Oh, and the final category is blueberry inflation fetishists. They are, in fact, not trolls at all.

>>2070227

>>2070200
I resist the notion that internet interactions are somehow unreal. Admittedly, there is no face-to-face contact, but I think we get the same thing out of internet socialization that we do from conversation. It is certainly a different social situation than, for example, hanging out with friends, and it has its own rules and conventions, but there are tons of other unique social situations which are outside of the domain of the internet. There are very different standards of action when talking on the phone, attending a concert, talking to a potential romantic partner or going to work than there are for hanging out with friends, for example, and we valorize these social situations as real or valid. I know that I consider my interactions on the internet important, and so do a lot of other people.

>>2070231

The irony of this will only become apparent when my secret sex diary is published.

I only troll when I myself have been trolled. Quite often, I adopt a trip when doing this. The feeling I get is mainly a combination of rage, boredom, and cynicism.

>>2070227

I think we need to parse out a definition of "true troll". While I've done my fair share of trolling, I consider myself without any truly bad intentions for the trollee. I don't actively seek to hurt the trollee.

Would a true troll actively seek to hurt the opposite party, or not? What is a true troll's motivation?

I like telling fucking retarded lies that no one would believe in real life, and that also wouldn't make a very good short story.

Therefore I troll.

I also really like impersonating sexists or racists just because reactions amuse me.

Okay, let's turn from theory to praxis.

Tell me which of the posts, from the original down to the bottom, in this current /lit/ thread are troll-posts:

>2070185

I troll for the fun of it, I wouldn't say its insecurity, I just get bored on the internet and resort to being a silly billy.
I also like to troll in subtle ways, like meta trolling and stuff. Most of you probaby didn't spot the fairly obvious trolling in this post.

Pizza does it when he's bored

the final solution is this:

trolling gives us all a sense of unique identity. it distinguishes us from other trolls.

in conclusion i troll therefore i am.

when I was a newfag I was SO nice. I defended someone and it turned into this gigantic fiasco and anons started a new thread elsewhere discussing me. it was out there.
Then slowly over time I read a lot of troll and started to behave troll once in a while, and while doing daily life things in my nice nice way i would think of that evil troll thing I said on 4chan and shiver.

I can't say I'm a troll but sometimes troll things come out. It's tough because I like people so much.

Argh you can't define trolling on an anonymous imageboard like this without mixing troll/truth and becoming confused by other people's definitions.

>>2070281
meta/10

>>2070231
oh it's my favorite tripfag online again! I'm going to fap so hard to this thread now. I can't wait to get you tied up in my basement so i can fuck you from behind and rub my beard on the back of your neck. God I love you.

>>2070323
>>2070323
>>2070323
>>2070231
>>2070231
>>2070231
i'm sure i know who you are and val was right, your a sick girl. That hasn't changed me though, i'm more me than i ever was.

>>2070373
why would you be changed by what?

>>2070323=
>>2070231=
>>2070218=
>>2070208=
>>2070199=

all the same chic. , talk to real people. be nice and let people be nice to you. you know how i feel.

most trolls do it because they live empty lives so they attempt to fill the void by posting on a japanese imageboard and giving good posters like me a hard time

>>2070381
fuckingveiltonight =/= veil

>>2070381
... :( I know. I am sorry.

>>2070388
you need help. what would happen to your life if you stopped taking all drugs, prescription and non prescription and started talking to lets say a life coach or a psychologist or a psychiatrist? Does that sound frightening and why would it?

I troll because I'm a fat, stupid, socially inept coward. I hate that there are so many people who are better than me at pretty much everything, so I act like an asshole in an attempt to bring them down and feel better about myself. But it never really works out that way. In the past few years following my high school graduation and my transition into adulthood, I've looked back on all that time I spent being unnecessarily rude and feel bad about it. I feel bad that I didn't put all that time and energy towards becoming a better person.

I've never really believed in karma but it's probably no coincidence that, ever since I started trolling online, I have fallen out of touch with all of my friends. Now I spend most of my time posting on 4chan and trying to figure out what I can do to get my life back on track.

k.t. if it's really you then please email me. i can be that friend now.

I'm attractive and articulate, so I troll in real life pretty awesome. They rage and hate me and then I laugh and all of a sudden they have no clue what's serious and what's not, but they like me. I have this abrasive charm that only true and deep alphas can have.

To do so you must be EXTREMELY intelligent and usually accredited by an institution that says so. For instance, I have an Ivy League degree, am highly physically fit, and sleep with extremely attractive women (often in multiples). So most people can't do it IRL. But on the internet it's easy to pretend to be everything I am, even when you're a pathethic neckbeard living in a basement who can barely read and write.

>>2070395

For real? I'm super gullible and I can't tell if you're being honest.

This thread is a testament to the variegated species of trolls present in the wild.

>>2070393

oh veil you're so cute and you're so funny. Are you M or F?

>>2070407
get help k.t. if you want help email me at bassetsquirel@gmail.com . i won't be back.

>>2070422
Don't say you won't be back. Why not?

>>2070422
Who's KT?

>>2070427
Just shut up and mind your business.

>>2070431
?????

I'm not thrilled with the fact that several tripfags have derailed my thread with their trivial personal bullshit. Take that shit to MSN you retarded queers.

More like what I originally posted and >>2070189
Short and sweet anecdotes