One of the best parts about blogging and debating with people on-line is that a person isn’t measured by where they’re from, the color of their skin, their background, even their accent. That’s because in the blogosphere, all that you know about someone, at least initially, is their choice in avatars. Once you get past the avatar, the only thing that can be measured is the depth of a person’s ideas and opinions. And those are reflected in whatever comments they choose to leave to a post, news article—any place where the owner turns on the “Comment” functionality to their web site as TOE has done here.
The vast majority of people I’ve met since I started my own blog have been superb. Occasionally, though, like a gooey maraschino cherry in the middle of a perfectly fine piece of chocolate, a troll breaks through.
Sure, I’ve had my share of trolls who’ve posted insipid comments on THE 100 MOST ANNOYING THINGS. Usually their comments feel the wrath of my Delete key, especially when they don’t rise above to at least a first-grade intelligence level and only use exclamation points to express anger and frustration.
Example: You are so stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate your blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! &8%$*&#!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s not so easy out there on the blogosphere on other sites. The Delete key is someone else’s responsibility, and trolls flood the comments sections with their venom as easily and effortlessly as one of Joe Biden’s gaffes.
So, try this experiment at home: Just type the words “Global Warming is a hoax” on a political blog like the HuffingtonPost and sit back and watch the blood pressure rise on the computer collective. It’s quite amusing.
Trolls, to be clear, are bloggers who get hysterical as soon as their view of the world is challenged. They go ballistic with their comments to the point where nothing they type makes sense. You can almost see the fire raging beneath each keystroke as their fingertips pound away on their Apple computers.
And don’t forget that a troll is the equivalent of a 10-year old bully on a playground but not nearly as clever. The bright side is that when trolls get hysterical, you know that you’ve pretty much won the debate, whatever it might be, and there is much satisfaction in that.
My point in writing about them today? Trolls are annoying, to be sure, but they make for interesting blogging.
::Writer X also writes at The 100 Most Annoying Things::
