[Ajescent]

So...Has anyone ever had a stint as an Internet Troll? (I'm listening to the show on an hour+ delay) I find it weird that people go out of their way just to annoy people. I've thought long and hard about it but can't even begin to force myself to comprehend doing such a thing or the need for it. Ones I find weirdest are the ones who listen to shows (e.g the Chris Moyles show) daily only to complain about it and send abusive texts...it makes no sense.

Does anyone remember the time Chris called up on air one of the listeners who did this? I remember it vaguely but not entirely, anyone remember the full thing?

[dimtimjim]

Yes. When I was just a silly child and the internet was a new fangled thingy.

Luckily I've grown up since. Now pish off, I'm watching Hana's helpline....

[The Deadly]

When celebrities draw attention to internet trolls it really irritates me. Just keep your mouths closed about it and hit the block/report button.

[SAV1OUR]

Ricky Gervais has the right idea, he says these trolls are always a welcome reminder to get better security.

Its a shame Bacon gets so uptight about it, as Chris said yesterday, he has only ever been 'bemused' by the whole thing.

If I was a celeb I would just think 'ah well, never a dull moment!'

[Nicola_Red]

I think people's definition of a troll varies. People who come here and say nasty things about Moyles or the show often get accused of trolling, but to me that's not what a troll is.

[chrysostom]

I think the idea of a troll is one that has fairly humourous connotations to me.

What the guys who the media are picking up on aren't trolls, they're just spiteful people targeting individuals. The masses being 'educated' about them, by people who haven't grown up, or at least used communities online regularly is laughable. Trolls target communities and then relish the backlash which they get from everyone, and deflect their comments with increasingly aggressive behaviour.

They're equating bullying to trolling, which just isn't right. I've been an active user of several forums for about 12 years now, and trolls can be funny, mean, spiteful, and at times nice!

There's nothing like a good troll coming on here every now and again, it stimulates debate and unites the forum against a common lazy viewpoint.

While we're at it, it's Troll as in Goal, not Troll as in Voll(ey)

[dimtimjim]

While we're at it, it's Troll as in Goal, not Troll as in Voll(ey)

[chrysostom]

...as in [Rudi] Voll(er)?

[Emmy]

Oh I love trolling. My speciality is posting overly antagonistic comments on forums.

[What]

I troll whenever I'm bored. But I do it on the various forums I frequent. If we're talking about The Anti Social Network, the program missed out a few details. I mean, posting on RIP pages is trolling. But what caused that poor lad to go and a few other cases were just plain bullying.

It shows how uninformed people are when they say things like "the internet should be able to stop it" Yeah, like "the internet" is an entity? The whole culture of RIP pages is tacky anyway and if you don't know how to set up basic protection then you have no business making one.

If you're being bullied on Facebook, why do you have that person as a friend? If you are allowing strangers to post on your wall then you're just asking for trouble.

The only point I agreed with was going to the police regarding the Bacon stalker, the rest could have been avoided very easily. RIP pages have no place on Facebook anyway.

[chrysostom]

Perhaps there's a gap in the market for a site appropriate to paying your respects online? (sounds too informal to me, but would lead to a brilliant link shortening opportunity of http://r.ip/)

[What]

Not bad.

[Bonanzoid]

[Yudster]

I've never understood or been attracted to the idea of RIP pages online any more than I understand or like those semi-permanent roadside "shrines" you see set up where people have been killed in accidents. But however little I understand why people do that (although I have some theories) I understand even less why anyone else would want to try to trash them. Whatever your (my) thoughts about the motivations of the people who set them up, fact is, its none of your (my) business.

[Nicola_Red]

I think hanging around the internet causing trouble is the modern equivalent of hanging around on street corners causing trouble. A girl tried to cyber-bully me on a social networking site the other day. She sent me a message calling me fat, and then when I didn't take offence at that she threw ugly into the mix as well. When I asked her why I should care what a stranger on the internet thought of my appearance, she strangely stopped replying. I thought it was kinda cute that someone would try to bully me at my age, but she should really try to choose her targets better. Or, y'know, just read a book or something more useful.

[Yudster]

I'm not sure I'd even call that bullying. Just hurling arbitrary insults at someone is abusive, but I tend to think of bullying as more sustained and convoluted, at least in terms of motivation. And as you demonstrated, you can't bully someone who won't be bullied.

[Travis Bickle]

I've never understood or been attracted to the idea of RIP pages online any more than I understand or like those semi-permanent roadside "shrines" you see set up where people have been killed in accidents. But however little I understand why people do that (although I have some theories) I understand even less why anyone else would want to try to trash them. Whatever your (my) thoughts about the motivations of the people who set them up, fact is, its none of your (my) business.

I agree with all of this except those roadside shrines. I think they are very much our business. If I don't want to look at an RIP page I don't have to, but those awful roadside shrines give me no choice. Fortunately nobody has been run over and killed in my road, but I wouldn't take to kindly to having a shrine set up outside my house or along the road I have to travel down each day.

I don't want to look at that for a number of reasons, and shouldn't be forced to do so.

[Nicola_Red]

I don't really have any strong feelings about them (except that a lot of dead and decaying flowers start to look a bit unsightly), but it has occured to me before that they might be pretty depressing to see every day if you had a loved one who had been killed in a road accident.

[bmstinton93]

I don't really have much of an opinion but somebody who went to my school in the year above died a couple of years back in a river. I only really met him a couple of times through a mate but his R.I.P. page on facebook is still holding strong and some really lovely messages get left in there. And his parents were blown away by the support shown in the page.