As someone who has been on the Internet for a very long time, I like to think I am very familiar with trolling. In the most basic sense, it’s making comments about or towards others in an effort to make fun of them in some fashion, usually based off of absolutely nothing that is grounded in reality. Recently, however, Internet trolling has taken a turn for the worse, as an increased sense of power (behind anonymity) has led to more directed and target abuse online, with much more time and resources being devoted to trolling someone. Internet trolling is now synonymous with online harassment, something people do out of a hateful spite instead of simple ribbing among peers. The fact that people will go to great lengths to find personal information about someone they come across online is deeply disturbing. This behavior manifests itself, I think, when someone with a genuine, differing opinion (or is a minority from a demographics standpoint) makes their voice heard. Every community on the Internet is, without a doubt, an “Old Boys Club,” with an emphasis on Boys. Most communities are dominated by white guys, so when someone different arrives and starts garnering more attention than the “established members,” there is always push-back. Always. Trolling can be dangerous, as people’s personal lives become affected sometimes, so there are definitely serious effects to trolling. It is not always innocent.
I certainly think that technology companies do have an ethical obligation to limit the reach of those who commit online harassment. As of late, as the articles on Twitter mentioned, Twitter has taken a more active role in stopping individuals from abusing their platform to spread hate, or to specifically attack an individual. I think that all of the social media giants have an obligation to its users to protect them from online harassment, be it personal attacks, threats of physical violence, or the spreading of personal information, such as photos, phone numbers, or addresses. Gamergate is a very depressing thing for me. I definitely consider myself a gamer, having been playing games online since at least 2005, it is disturbing to think that I share a community with some of these loathsome individuals; people who would dedicate large amounts of there time stalking, harassing, and threatening women in the gaming community, simply because they are woman. And while I don’t necessarily agree with all of the things that Anita Sarkeesian has advocated (although I don’t think there’s anyone on Earth that I agree with on everything, which is kind of the point), that doesn’t mean I think she should be completely shut out of the community. Nor do I think she, or anyone for that matter, should be subjected to the kinds of abuse she receives on an hourly basis. I honestly don’t know if I could handle receiving that kind of harassment for that long without completely going off the grid for the remainder of my life.
Gamergate definitely highlights the dangers that come with complete anonymity on the Internet. I definitely think that the Internet will always contain some form of trolling because trolling is a fun thing to do (when I say trolling, I mean the kind of trolling where you throw insults around that don’t even apply to the person you’re directing them at), but I think the kind of behavior that was on display, and continues today, during Gamergate needs to be eliminated. How to eliminate it is beyond me, but it is imperative that a solution be found because the Internet should and can be a wonderful place for ideas and people to come together, and allowing a small number of people to harass potential members so that they feel unwelcome and leave permanently is unacceptable. Internet anonymity is a double-edged sword. It allows us to freely access it without fear of the government knowing what you’re looking at at all times. It also allows people to say terrible things to people they have never met, simply because they can. The article “What happened when I confront my cruelest troll” gave me hope that, perhaps one day, these people will have the realization that there is a very clear line that differentiates harmless Internet trolling and blatant online harassment. It goes without saying that trolling is a problem on the Internet, but I think that we are moving in the right direction. Most of the trolls I run into are in online games, so my interaction with them is brief and ends once the game ends, at least for me. I would probably consider myself an Internet troll, but not a malicious one. I honestly cannot believe some of the things I see people writing on the Internet. I am certain there are times I have toed the line between acceptable and unacceptable trolling, but more often than not, I like to think I am one of the good guys.
Brian Mann 