the hotter it is, the faster apples in a barrel spoil
it finally hit me. There is a living, breathing human being who is reading this shit. I am attacking someone who never harmed me in any way. —Lindy West’s cruelest troll
Culture
an apple in a rotting barrel is likely to go bad
so is someone in a rotten subreddit
Violentacrez
Personality
measures of sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism are positively correlated with trolling
strong relationship between “online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and trolling behavior and identity” (BuckelsTrapnellPaulhus (2014))
Luka Magnotta
Responses
media: assume good faith, the person may not appreciate they are being awful
culture: don’t feed the trolls and no chum for the haters; engage in responsible forums with pro-social norms and moderation
personality: avoid and report
Take it seriously, but don’t freak out. When I was partially DOXed, I didn’t expect anything, but I told campus police.
Limitations
I have not addressed issues specific to hate of women, persons of color, religions, sexuality and gender identity, etc.
