What is a hacker? The term obviously has a negative connotation, however, the average Joe has a skewed perception of what a hacker is. While hackers, trolls, and even programmers have a lot in common, such as a dire love for computers and the Internet. The actions of these individuals clearly depict their motives, which is ample reason to differentiate trolls and hackers. Hackers can be and generally are, good people. Hackers pursue an unimpeded free culture on the web. They want the Internet to reach its potential through different vehicles. For instance, some hackers write open source software so users have a free and open alternate (known as Linux) to costly software. Trolls, on the other hand, do not have any sort of agenda and do not care about a free and open Internet for everyone. Trolls “do it for the lulz”.
Gabriella Coleman illustrates the history and progression of hackers. Her research includes origins and motives. Coleman also discusses Internet trolling in the broader context of hacker and its growing prevalence. Coleman doesn’t approach either side with a bias and makes no claims about the moral fiber of trolling and hacking. She simply tells the story of trolls and why they exist. She illustrates numerous examples of online trolling, including the infamous case surround the Church of Scientology. A member of the group “Anonymous”, which hacked the Church of Scientology releasing secret information and videos of Tom Cruise, described the actions as “Ultra coordination motherfuckary”. This perfectly describes troll’s motives. They troll at someone’s expense and embrace a “for shits and giggles” type of humor where a superior party clearly exists. Essentially “Trolls fuck shit up”. While these pranks are often harmless some are not (even though they can still be hilarious ie; Rick Rolling). Obviously the intentions of trolls are vastly differentiate from those of hackers. Hence, the need to differentiate the two is a necessity.
Trolls exist in Second Life, World of Warcraft, eHarmony, 4chan, and more. Trolls are all over the Internet. Trolls often use extremely derogatory language and embrace counter culture. Some of the best examples of trolling occur in gaming networks and applications such as Ventrilo. Not every troll is malicious; some actually play harmless pranks that turn out to be hilarious such as the infamous Duke Nukem voice on Ventrilo. A user annoys another player by repeating famous Duke Nukem lines, simply to get a rise out of opponents.
*******THIS VIDEO CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE (A LOT OF ADULT LANGUAGE) PLEASE WATCH WITH CAUTION********
Coleman, Gabriella "Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls and the Politics of Transgression and Spectacle"
I totally agree with you about the fact that trolls do everything that they do for the lulz. I do know a good number of trolls who are perfectly nice people but troll the hell out of people on the internet just because they can. And that Duke Nukem video was hilarious. People need to know when to ignore trolls because they look ridiculous when they react.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, nice post and great video to help depict what trolls are capable of doing and usually do. Although it may be for "shits and giggles", I dislike trolls. To have fun for yourself at someone else's expense I feel is very immature. Yes, the victims of trolling could save themselves a lot of grief by learning that these people are only trying to entertain themselves and probably aren't don't mean to hurt those feelings of the users, but the facts are a lot of people just don't know. But should they be expected to know? I don't think so. To do that, you'd have to teach kids in elementary school about this because that is when they are expected to start using the Internet. And I don't feel that is appropriate at all for a kid to have to learn about that and how to ignore it. Chances are they probably won't be able to anyways. If a kid is on video games and uses the Internet that puts them at risk of being trolled, then it's on the parents-and you still can't expect that to happen. I myself may be being abrasive about this, but that's just how I feel about it.
ReplyDeletehahaha this is a very good blog. I like the video. There is this website called Wayne's World and there are audio board prank calls from many famous quotes from many actors. I dont know if they are hacking, perhaps jus pranking people. I believe that is what a troll is, someone that is trying to entertain themselves not considering others feelings.
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