[Air-L] Is there any published research on "trolling"?

[Burcu Bakioglu]

Oh yes... most definitely! 4chan gave birth to lolAnons (trolls that hacked
and defaced 7000 MySpace profiles with gay porn) and Anonymous (the
hacktivist collective) at the same time. SL group The Wrong Hands have
conducted two hacktivist initiatives in SL against two other groups:
Justice League Unlimited (paper forthcoming) and Modular Systems (paper
will be written) and exposed major surveillance and datamining operations.
So yes, they are adorable that way :P (*joke*)

Also if you're one to get easily offended, I recommend not researching the
topic at all. The amount of racist, homophobic, and sexist language/slurs
that I encountered, along with porn I have consumed within the last decade
or so is insane. Generally, if it pisses you off and is sure to bring them
the media attention, they won't shy away from it. Think of Anshe Chung  who
was SL's first self-proclaimed millionaire back in the day and who made it
to the cover of the Business Week. In her in-world CNet interview, goons
plummeted her with flying penises and crashed the sim... Then posted the
recording on YouTube. Bunch DMCA complaints ensued, nothing came out of it,
of course. Good times :P

But, if your concern is to keep your blogs safe, you know all you need to
know by now :) There is nothing more to it, really. If there is, I am
willing to learn...

BsB

On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 12:59 PM, Kyle Kontour <kkontour at gmail.com> wrote:

> My two cents:  not only are trolls best dealt with by being ignored, there
> are times that they serve a useful function in disrupting groupthink,
> pile-ons, and so-called "epistemic closure".  By contrast, they can also
> foment the opposite, in group solidarity and re-affirmation of views (it
> depends on how other folks deal with the trolls).  I would count trolls as
> being an irritating, often awful, but nonetheless integral part of online
> ecology--a bit like mosquitoes or certain parasites.
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>



-- 
Thanks,

Burcu S. Bakioglu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow in New Media
Lawrence University

http://www.palefirer.com
http://palefirer.com/blog/

--
"Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
~Anonymous