What came first: the Internet or the troll?

kitty86 · 19/09/13 - 19:36

Watching an episode of catfish and seeing the lengths that the woman went to to convince someone she was really a man made me think about how often we hear stories like this.

Is it easier to do because of the accessibility of the internet?

Did people do this before the Internet?

Did the Internet create these personas?

I can't really imagine someone sending letters backwards and forwards pretending to be someone else, obviously it could happen same as people pretending to be someone else with phone calls, but is it more of an issue now the Internet is here?

cinnamon girl · 19/09/13 - 19:42

I think you did used to hear stories about pen pals and people who put personal ads in papers not being what they pretended to be. I think the internet's made it a lot easier.

Chris Frost · 19/09/13 - 19:42

Not sure what the program catfish is. But for sure the Troll came first. There was a story about it. It lived under a bridge and terrorised billy goats

TheTruth1983 · 19/09/13 - 19:43

Of course the troll came first. 'Trolls' have existed for as long as humanity has existed, the Internet has just given them a new method. Just like pornography, and copyright infringement, and bullying etc etc etc.

Blaming the Internet for all these things is lazy and stupid.

Pumping Iron · 19/09/13 - 19:53

C U next Tuesdays, or trolls, have existed way before the internet. Most of the time, sad little men with nothing better to do. In many ways I pity these lesser men, I'd hate to live the sad lives that they do.

sandydune · 19/09/13 - 20:13

kitty86 wrote:

Watching an episode of catfish and seeing the lengths that the woman went to to convince someone she was really a man made me think about how often we hear stories like this.

I've watched the programme and can't understand why some people would pretend to be someone else, what makes them do such a thing?

sandydune · 19/09/13 - 20:27

TheTruth1983 wrote:

'Trolls' have existed for as long as humanity has existed

Where did the trolls originate from?:D

agrainofsand · 19/09/13 - 20:29

TheTruth1983 wrote: »

Of course the troll came first. 'Trolls' have existed for as long as humanity has existed, the Internet has just given them a new method. Just like pornography, and copyright infringement, and bullying etc etc etc.

Blaming the Internet for all these things is lazy and stupid.

Exactamundo...

solenoid · 19/09/13 - 20:33

All trolls should be hanged. Yes or No?

MargMck · 19/09/13 - 20:34

Poison pen letter writers (not just to the victim, but also to officialdom - police, councils, local newspapers etc) - trolls long before the internet.

Asmo · 19/09/13 - 20:35

Their outlets used to be the letters pages of newspapers, TV comment shows like 'points of view' and the much more instant outlet of radio phone-ins. They've been ever-present.

agrainofsand · 19/09/13 - 20:35

solenoid wrote: »

All trolls should be hanged. Yes or No?

I'm against this...

exlordlucan · 19/09/13 - 20:35

I used to troll people with holiday postcards and that was way before the internet came to be.

cinnamon girl · 19/09/13 - 20:47

solenoid wrote: »

All trolls should be hanged. Yes or No?

Umm...more like pitied and perhaps given some form of counselling.

Bathsheba · 19/09/13 - 20:48

In the past they might have been the type of people to make dodgy anonymous phonecalls.

cinnamon girl · 19/09/13 - 20:56

cinnamon girl wrote: »

Umm...more like pitied and perhaps given some form of counselling.

After being put in the stocks for a while.

kitty86 · 19/09/13 - 21:03

I get what people are saying about trolls existing since forever but do you think it's always been to the level it is now?

kitty86 · 19/09/13 - 21:05

sandydune wrote: »

I've watched the programme and can't understand why some people would pretend to be someone else, what makes them do such a thing?

That is what puzzled me too, it's a lot of time and effort to keep up the pretence that you are somebody else. The one I watched had the woman pretending she was the man and pretending she was his ex girlfriend when they called her. So much deception and over 2 years! :eek:

Smokeychan1 · 19/09/13 - 21:06

kitty86 wrote: »

I get what people are saying about trolls existing since forever but do you think it's always been to the level it is now?

Knocking doors and doing a bunk was pretty common place. Do kids still do that now they have more sophisticated means of trolling people?

sandydune · 19/09/13 - 21:42

kitty86 wrote:

That is what puzzled me too, it's a lot of time and effort to keep up the pretence that you are somebody else. The one I watched had the woman pretending she was the man and pretending she was his ex girlfriend when they called her. So much deception and over 2 years! :eek:

It's strange, did she give a reason why she did so?

charger21 · 19/09/13 - 22:09

cinnamon girl wrote: »

Umm...more like pitied and perhaps given some form of counselling.

Simmer doon pet, its only the internet

Bedlam_maid · 19/09/13 - 22:14

I think the internet has created a different kind of troll. One who like to outrage and looks for quick gratification.

charger21 · 19/09/13 - 22:22

Bedlam_maid wrote: »

I think the internet has created a different kind of troll. One who like to outrage and looks for quick gratification.

I think the internet has created a different type of person altogether. One who gets their knickers in a knot over stuff posted on a message board, who thinks any of this actually matters, those who accuse people of trolling purely for having a different opinion.

IMO the sort of people who feel they've been trolled are far worse than those they accuse of trolling.

TheTruth1983 · 19/09/13 - 22:24

Bedlam_maid wrote: »

I think the internet has created a different kind of troll. One who like to outrage and looks for quick gratification.

charger21 wrote: »

I think the internet has created a different type of person altogether. One who gets their knickers in a knot over stuff posted on a message board, who thinks any of this actually matters, those who accuse people of trolling purely for having a different opinion.

IMO the sort of people who feel they've been trolled are far worse than those they accuse of trolling.

Both types of people existed long before the Internet came to be

TheMunch · 19/09/13 - 22:34

The Mayans were trolls. That 2012 thing they did tops anything a DS troll has ever done or will ever do.

I always liked the image with one holding the Mayan calender, running out of space, and another saying "Ha! That'll freak somebody out someday".

stud u like · 19/09/13 - 22:58

Poison pen letters were here long before the internet. Abusive phone calls were popular with lunatics when people did not have Caller ID.

Hey there!

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What came first: the Internet or the troll?

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