I was unaware that people trolled for any other reason than amusement. Is there an estimate of how frequently people troll for calculated (e.g. monetary) reasons?
So my take is that she says trolls act as a kind of solvent to the natural bonds of community, and she lists a few frequently used constructions. I suppose the only beneficial use of trolls and trolling is to destroy communities of little worth. If trolls successfully kill even one terrorist cell, can we really call them evil? (And I'm not trying to troll with that question, I'm serious!)
EDIT: I mean "let's blow up a school bus of infidel spawn" type terrorist, not the "I'd rather not repeal the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to feel more secure" type 'terrorist'.
This section from an essay I read recently [1] might be relavent here
>In the 1960s, feminists faced social ridicule, media approbation and violent hostility. Now, mirroring the incremental changes seen in technology, social progress all too often finds itself down the blind alleyways of political correctness. Student bodies used to be hotbeds of dissent, even revolution; today’s hyper-conformist youth is more interested in the policing of language and stifling debate when it counters the prevailing wisdom. Forty years ago a burgeoning media allowed dissent to flower. Today’s very different social media seems, despite democratic appearances, to be enforcing a climate of timidity and encouraging groupthink.
So we are conditioned by the social media to encourage groupthink, and so, we are conditioned to hate "trolls", when their behaviors threatens breaking groupthink.
I see this manifested here in HN in discussions involving Tesla/SpaceX. In those threads, if you are in a position where you are going against the rabid enthusiasm, moderators will step in with a ban threat, if you are even slightly combative or go out of the line. But the other side is given a lot more slack, when it comes to silencing dissenting opinion..
Swift is satire. People reading it weren't supposed to believe it was sincere.
People use the word differently, but to me a troll is someone who really wants people to think he has opinions that he doesn't have - for whatever reason.
So my take is that she says trolls act as a kind of solvent to the natural bonds of community, and she lists a few frequently used constructions. I suppose the only beneficial use of trolls and trolling is to destroy communities of little worth. If trolls successfully kill even one terrorist cell, can we really call them evil? (And I'm not trying to troll with that question, I'm serious!)
EDIT: I mean "let's blow up a school bus of infidel spawn" type terrorist, not the "I'd rather not repeal the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to feel more secure" type 'terrorist'.