Conversation Hackers: How Trolls Work

"Apparently, the 'Flat-Earthers' who created the site were really Trolls who planned to attract Round-earthers, and confound them with silly arguments. Instead, other Trolls showed up and began arguing for both positions."

Wow... I've long been aware of trolls, and of websites frequently visited by trolls, and of subjects that only really serve to attract trolls, but I had never thought of the wheels-within-wheels situation of trolls creating a website on a trollbait topic specifically for the purpose of trolling it themselves.

Truly, the Internet is a monument to human perversity.

Was anyone else reminded of the ancient Greek philosopher Gorgias? Quote from the article:

"The conclusion of your argument is blatantly absurd, but every premise is correct, except one. The trick is to hide that wrong premise under an intricate discussion."

Gorgias on wikipedia: "“How can anyone communicate the idea of color by means of words since the ear does not hear colors but only sounds?” This quote, written by the Sicilian philosopher Gorgias, was used to show his theory that ‘there is nothing’, ‘if there were anything no one would know it’, ‘and if anyone did know it, no one could communicate it’."

I do not mean to say that Gorgias == Troll, but that I recognize in Gorgias's arguments the same love of the challenge of arguing an insane position that the article introduces as part of the motivation of Trolls.

From what I've seen, trolling is about power. Trolls act to make a mark on people similar to how graffiti artists make their mark on blank spaces.

If you suspect somebody is a troll, you shouldn't call them out on it. Trolling is about intent, and unless you're a mind-reader, nobody knows that but the troll themselves.

Trolls are not legitimate contributors to a conversation. You gain no information from them, so it's not worth engaging them. Suppress your desire to "correct" them, and suppress the urge to publicly inform the troll's victims that they are a troll. That's exactly what they're after.

I could be missing some subtleties, but these seem like the running themes.

This article is just begging to be trolled. Just sayin'.

If I ride down the street blowing a dog whistle and encouraging all the neighbors' dogs to bark, am I an X hacker, and if so for what value of X?

This article should be required reading for anyone creating a forum account anywhere.

i wonder how many comments on this page have been and will be written and then deleted as their author decided that they knew better

This article actually convinced me to start trolling sites to learn how to argue better and recognize bad arguments. (I will not do so here.)

Trolling can make an otherwise dull day, more.... entertaining.