I get called a troll by people all the time for the simple crime of making an argument they can't refute.
The guy on reddit wasn't a troll, near as I can tell, he was a guy who started a lot of subreddits and provided content for them. Seems to be the opposite of a troll, even if the subreddits were in content areas we might not like, the people who went to them apparently did. Yet The Atlantic writes an article about him?
A real troll, in my understanding, is someone whose goal is to disrupt conversation.
But these seem very rare.
"Troll" has become the catch all excuse to ignore and attack people you disagree with, near as I can tell.
1 part 'crosspost alt.os.linux and alt.os.windows with a "Mac is superior" post'
1 part 'I destroy your life for the fun of it'
1 part 'I make the people who do despicable things suffer as much as I can'
1 part 'its funny as a group cause we all laugh in unison'
1 part 'Who cares'
And yet 1 part really is serious critique. I know, because I am one.
The guy on reddit wasn't a troll, near as I can tell, he was a guy who started a lot of subreddits and provided content for them. Seems to be the opposite of a troll, even if the subreddits were in content areas we might not like, the people who went to them apparently did. Yet The Atlantic writes an article about him?
A real troll, in my understanding, is someone whose goal is to disrupt conversation.
But these seem very rare.
"Troll" has become the catch all excuse to ignore and attack people you disagree with, near as I can tell.