Why the Trolls Will Always Win

[Blue_Tires]

This month is the 10-year anniversary of my first online threat. I thought it was a one-off, then. Just one angry guy. And it wasn’t really THAT bad. But looking back, it was the canary in the coal mine… the first hint that if I kept on this path, it would not end well. And what was that path? We’ll get to that in a minute.

Later I learned that the first threat had nothing to do with what I actually made or said in my books, blog posts, articles, and conference presentations. The real problem — as my first harasser described — was that others were beginning to pay attention to me. He wrote as if mere exposure to my work was harming his world.

But here’s the key: it turned out he wasn’t outraged about my work. His rage was because, in his mind, my work didn’t deserve the attention. Spoiler alert: “deserve” and “attention” are at the heart.

A year later, I wrote a light-hearted article about “haters” (the quotes matter) and something I called The Koolaid Point. It wasn’t about harassment, abuse, or threats against people but about the kind of brand “trolls” you find in, say, Apple discussion forums. My wildly non-scientific theory was this: the most vocal trolling and “hate” for a brand kicks in HARD once a critical mass of brand fans/users are thought to have “drunk the Koolaid”. In other words, the hate wasn’t so much about the product/brand but that other people were falling for it.

I was delighted, a few weeks’ later, to see my little “Koolaid Point” in Wired’s Jargon Watch column.

The me of 2005 had no idea what was coming.

Less than two years later, I’d learn that my festive take on harmless brand trolling also applied to people. And it wasn’t festive. Or harmless. Especially for women...

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/trolls-will-always-win/

I'm not trying to deflect your attention away from this incredibly wonderful essay, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the person in question is buddy-buddy with you guessed it, Glenn Greenwald (he certainly does keep some odd company, if I may be so bold...)

[Blue_Tires]

1. kick

[freshwest]

2. OMG.

[bemildred]

3. Yeah, I read that a while back.

She is correct of course, on the internet attention is the coin of the realm, and people fight over it. Even on the money internet it is the coin of the realm, as one can easily see by the desperate attempts to get and keep your attention.

And she is also correct that if you pay attention to them, the trolls win (see point #1.) The only way to win is to not play. If you get mad, you lose.