Trolling Ethics Debate Thread

[P-Logic]

idk, what have you said and done? I think you wanted recognition as an ebin weenlord and when that didn't work out you got kinda bitter about it, tbh. But I haven't been paying much attention to you so idk maybe I'm wrong. Not that I believe you or anything, but why would anyone 'sting' sonichu irc by bragging about such obviously fake weenery?

Recognition? Nah. That was one of very few times I've ever been in #sonichu, and at that point I wasn't even registered on this forum. Back then the Chris trolling situation was pretty different. He was very, very quiet. I was curious as to whether PVCC were still in contact with him and how close it was, and whether anyone was trolling him. I'd previously, using a different pseudonym, asked Canine straight up but he didn't give me a straight answer. So I thought I'd try a different tactic.

I also kinda wanted to have a bit of fun by inflaming Canine. He derives a lot of his self-esteem from being more knowledgable about Chris than anyone else, so I knew I'd wind him up a bit by claiming to know something that he didn't, and he'd be desperate to try to shoot me down. It wasn't a sting, I just wanted to have a chat with him in a different context.

But in any case it doesn't matter if you believe me, I just wanted to explain the log, and to make it clear that I wasn't actually trolling Chris. As long as you believe me about that part then I don't really see how you can call me a hypocrite, which is what I think you were implying.

 

[Holdek]

idk, what have you said and done? I think you wanted recognition as an ebin weenlord and when that didn't work out you got kinda bitter about it, tbh. But I haven't been paying much attention to you so idk maybe I'm wrong. Not that I believe you or anything, but why would anyone 'sting' sonichu irc by bragging about such obviously fake weenery?

Ultimately it comes down to him wanting attention for being edgy, whether that's by pretending to be a troll on IRC or "calling out" real trolls on these forums.

 

[Xarpho]

There's a gray area.

First off, Chris reveals way too much about himself. From the start, he doxed himself (no intrepid ED troll to look him up), he was the one that talked about his incontinence, and years later took pictures of his own genital piercings. But there are other problems. I don't believe rationales that are behind "punishing" Chris because he's a bad person, nor the parade of fake gal-pals to fuck with him. BlueSpike was a bully and a scumbag, while Kacey was an attention whore, but I think that the idea of the latest attempt was not for the lulz but an actual attempt to help him. After all, Chris started identifying as LGBT (by himself), it's logical he should try to make friends in that department, and they'll probably be more accepting of his general weirdness. They also wanted to protect the former HS classmates from Chris stalking them, but then again, other things from that attempt (like scanning stolen trash) seemed a bit out of line.

I guess it depends on the motivation.

 

[P-Logic]

Alright dude this has been a while coming, but yes, you really do crave attention and you've come here to get it. You actually do seem legitimately desperate to gain acceptance and approval. There's no need to act coy about it, because at least from where I'm standing it's pretty obvious.

Haha what a bizarre analysis. How would I gain acceptance and approval by openly attacking the most loved and respected people on the forum, and having a viewpoint that is counter to 90% of the people here?

Attention, sure, I can see why you'd think that that. And yeah, I enjoy being a contrarian antagonist on here. But acceptance and approval isn't really the name of the game.

 

[OtterParty]

Trolling "ethics"

lol

 

[Cotton Puddings]

@P-Logic: you're embarrassing yourself with that "master tactician antagonist" stuff, please stop

 

[Trickie]

I don't necessarily think the act of trolling itself is bad, considering the fact that you can not only troll someone by simply minding your own business and doing your own thing (in the case of Alec making his Asperchu comics) but you can also troll someone unintentionally, without even knowing that you're doing it (in the case of Adam Stackhouse).

It's a lot like stealing. Sure, stealing is bad on principle, but if you eat a grape from the produce section at the grocery store, I'm not going to give you a hard time. If you steal food because you're hungry, I might say "you probably shouldn't do that" and try to find a way for you to eat without stealing, but I'm not going to call the cops on you.

I feel that trolling is only as bad or good as the methods you use to get the trolling done. Minding your own business? Perfectly fine. Harassing the trollee? Pretty dickish, but not the worst thing you could do. Stalking? Okay, now you're getting creepy, and I'm getting rather uncomfortable.

I joined this forum under the impression that, while there are trolls here, that intentional trolling isn't directly hosted here. If my being here means I support trolling in all forms just because Christine sees us all as trolls, then Adam Stackhouse supports trolling just by breathing and not immediately relinquishing his first place prize and title to Christine.

 

[The I Scream Man]

Recognition? Nah. That was one of very few times I've ever been in #sonichu, and at that point I wasn't even registered on this forum. Back then the Chris trolling situation was pretty different. He was very, very quiet. I was curious as to whether PVCC were still in contact with him and how close it was, and whether anyone was trolling him. I'd previously, using a different pseudonym, asked Canine straight up but he didn't give me a straight answer. So I thought I'd try a different tactic.

I also kinda wanted to have a bit of fun by inflaming Canine. He derives a lot of his self-esteem from being more knowledgable about Chris than anyone else, so I knew I'd wind him up a bit by claiming to know something that he didn't, and he'd be desperate to try to shoot me down. It wasn't a sting, I just wanted to have a chat with him in a different context.

But in any case it doesn't matter if you believe me, I just wanted to explain the log, and to make it clear that I wasn't actually trolling Chris. As long as you believe me about that part then I don't really see how you can call me a hypocrite, which is what I think you were implying.

Lol no one thinks you were actually trolling Chris, they all think you were being a ween, which you were. I'm confident that any rational observer of that chatlog wouldn't think you had Marvin wound up at all, actually, because you didn't have him wound up at all. And Holdek wasn't calling you a hypocrite, he was calling you an autist that wanted to run with the big dogs. Because thats really what it boiled down to: you had to know for sure whether or not Chris was being trolled, and instead of just asking politely you had this big charade about how you were an epic troll.

Haha what a bizarre analysis. How would I gain acceptance and approval by openly attacking the most loved and respected people on the forum, and having a viewpoint that is counter to 90% of the people here?

Attention, sure, I can see why you'd think that that. And yeah, I enjoy being a contrarian antagonist on here. But acceptance and approval isn't really the name of the game.

Thats exactly my point, you are attempting to gain this acceptance and approval from the "rebel" element that runs through the cow community, the ones who also don't like Marvin and the rest because they want to be on top instead, or they could do it better, or a million other reasons. But in reality no one cares and you look extremely autistic. Trying to be some kind of master of puppets pulling our strings just makes you look bad and demeans us all by demanding that we eat your shit sandwich and think it's tuna fish.

 

[Tragi-Chan]

They also wanted to protect the former HS classmates from Chris stalking them,

See, this is one that I'm uncomfortable with. Chris' high school gal pals are all grown up now, and I honestly think the chances of Chris doing them any harm by stalking them are minimal. We're not talking teenage misfit Megan here, we're talking adults with their own lives and concerns. If they don't want Chris hassling them, they can just ignore him. He's not going to hide in the bushes with a knife if they tell him to fuck off, and even if he was legitimately dangerous, he's probably the easiest man to find in the whole of Virginia. In their position, I'd be a lot angrier about someone pretending to be me in order to fuck with some retard I knew back in high school than I would about the possibility of Chris finding my email address and trying to hit on me.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

As for you, you have allowed your hatred (and yes, lets call a spade a spade here) of Thetan and Skyraider to warp and twist any actual intent your arguments have because in most of the posts related to them you legitimately come off as seething with rage about it. You've allowed it to become personal for you.

Please provide warrant to your claims. As far as I recall, I've just been consistent on calling them out without resorting to P-Logic's passive aggressive behavior.

 

[P-Logic]

Thats exactly my point, you are attempting to gain this acceptance and approval from the "rebel" element that runs through the cow community, the ones who also don't like Marvin and the rest because they want to be on top instead, or they could do it better, or a million other reasons.

These people don't exist. So you're correct that no one cares. I'm just here to amuse myself.

 

[The I Scream Man]

These people don't exist. So you're correct that no one cares. I'm just here to amuse myself.

Well we've seen evidence of them existing in the past, so I think my point stands.

Please provide warrant to your claims. As far as I recall, I've just been consistent on calling them out without resorting to P-Logic's passive aggressive behavior.

You know, I actually admire that about you: that you're willing to keep them honest. It just seems like you're taking it really personally a lot. I don't have examples, because I'm not rooting around your posting history before I go to work, but thats the general jist I've gotten from your interactions with them.

 

[Holdek]

There's no ethics in trolling. Anyone who tries to justify it with either A-Loggish reasons (he deserves it!) or white knight reasons (I'm actually trying to help him!) is just making excuses for doing something that they know is morally wrong, yet also enjoyable (for a variety of reasons).

I think the only standard that's useful when evaluating the trolling is: "Is it funny or ween?"

 

[P-Logic]

Well we've seen evidence of them existing in the past, so I think my point stands.

I don't have a clue who they would be. If by "the cow community" you mean /cow/, I can't think of anyone other than some random anons.

I don't think anyone takes this board, or /cow/, as seriously as you imagine I take it. We're all here for the same reason: to amuse ourselves. I just amuse myself in a different way from you. Try not to take it personally.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

You know, I actually admire that about you: that you're willing to keep them honest. It just seems like you're taking it really personally a lot. I don't have examples, because I'm not rooting around your posting history before I go to work, but thats the general jist I've gotten from your interactions with them.

Sorry, but "general jist" doesn't hold up well in my world unless you provide receipts. I'll provide my own: I once made a snarky reply to garbageraider's ramping a-logging about Chris being a terrible person with something along the lines of at least Chris doesn't stalk people because I feel like he's chucking rocks from a glass house. I made a post comparing Thetan to one of those dumb ass western girls who goes to Africa to "save the children" and then takes a bunch of selfies while making poorly constructed hovels that won't last the winter. That's not posting out of anger or spite, that's just calling it as I see it.

ALSO: Calling these people out on their shitty behavior establishes the notion that it's not okay to troll Chris directly. It lets other people on these forums think it's okay that if they do it JUST THE RIGHT WAY that they can get some smidgeon of information out of them so they can hoard likes out of the spergs here. I honestly think that a large part of people on this forum legitimately resent this guy on the same level as Skyraider and want to harm him and that's really pathetic.

 

[Tragi-Chan]

I can't believe that a thread devised to prevent other threads from going off-topic went off-topic so quickly.

 

[champthom]

See, this is one that I'm uncomfortable with. Chris' high school gal pals are all grown up now, and I honestly think the chances of Chris doing them any harm by stalking them are minimal. We're not talking teenage misfit Megan here, we're talking adults with their own lives and concerns. If they don't want Chris hassling them, they can just ignore him. He's not going to hide in the bushes with a knife if they tell him to fuck off, and even if he was legitimately dangerous, he's probably the easiest man to find in the whole of Virginia. In their position, I'd be a lot angrier about someone pretending to be me in order to fuck with some exceptional individual I knew back in high school than I would about the possibility of Chris finding my email address and trying to hit on me.

I don't think Chris would hide in the bushes with a knife, but I think he would think it's a good idea to find out where some of these people worked and then hunt them down. Imagine going into work and your boss being like "Uh, there's this guy who needs to see you, he must be a homeless person because he smells awful." Or imagine if Chris went to your place of work and loitered until you acknowledged him. Or if he found out where you lived and thought it would be a good idea to invite himself over to reminisce.

But yeah, that's why I feel like impersonating people Chris knows IRL is bad, because most of these people want nothing to do with Chris or in some cases, actively avoid being connected to Chris because they just want to live their lives.

I don't think anyone takes this board, or /cow/, as seriously as you imagine I take it. We're all here for the same reason: to amuse ourselves. I just amuse myself in a different way from you. Try not to take it personally.

So you're admitting that you're taking a contrarian position to amuse yourself?

 

[Le Bateleur]

Firstly, it is necessary to define "trolling". The original term is a fishing one, describing a method of using a baited line to catch fish.

Thus it follows that trolling is a deliberate attempt to bait another, usually involving deception.

Sending an apprentice to buy stripey paint or headlamp fluid is time-honoured #TradesmanHumour, and a good example of trolling.

Abusing someone through posts or phone calls isn't trolling, it's flaming. Provoking someone by calling them gay isn't trolling, it's raging. Parodying someone's work is...parodying them - not trolling.

The ethics of trolling, to me, centre on the nature and scale of the deception, the troll's motives, the relative power/status of troll and trollee, and the consequences of the trolling for the trollee.

 

[The I Scream Man]

Sorry, but "general jist" doesn't hold up well. I once made a snarky reply to garbageraider's ramping a-logging about at least Chris doesn't stalk people or something, but I feel that it's true because he's chucking rocks from a glass house. I made a post comparing Thetan to one of those dumb ass western girls who goes to Africa to "save the children" and then takes a bunch of selfies while making poorly constructed hovels that won't last the winter. That's not posting out of anger or spite, that's just calling it as I see it.

Lol this is exactly what I'm talking about, you've become personally invested in calling them out. You lack objectivity, and it makes you sound really mad when you post shit just like this. I mean who calls him garbageraider? What are you, 8? Come on man, have some respect for your fellow posters if nothing else.

I don't have a clue who they would be. If by "the cow community" you mean /cow/, I can't think of anyone other than some random anons.

I don't think anyone takes this board, or /cow/, as seriously as you imagine I take it. We're all here for the same reason: to amuse ourselves. I just amuse myself in a different way from you. Try not to take it personally.

It sure doesn't look that way from the outside looking in. I mean even telling me not to take it personally (and lets face it, I am a little bit or else I wouldn't be posting) is indicative of this desire you seem to possess to be a real troll. I'm not even calling you out because that stretches beyond the limits of my Care, I'm just letting you know that no one believes for one second that you aren't trying to gain acceptance in here, from us and anyone else watching.

 

[KingofManga420]

These people don't exist. So you're correct that no one cares. I'm just here to amuse myself.

You're certainly amusing all of us, at least.