“Certainly it constitutes bad news when the people who agree with you are buggier than batsh*t.”
– Philip K. Dick
Since the war on trollerism seems to be a trendy topic, I’ve decided to cash in and give my two cents on the issue. Since back in March, when a gentleman decided to inform me that I was “f*cking gay,” I’ve been banning people from commenting.*
Early on I set up a sort of troll forecasting center. I’d make a note of both the type of post and the number of trolls it drew in. According to my data, the vast majority of perpetrators were attracted to my instructional articles. Correlating with this, the most common troll type is the denier troll. These guys leave comments such as “fraud” and “Tim Ferriss clone,” whenever I explain how I to do something.
After some careful contemplation, I’ve formed a theory as to where trolls come from and what makes the operate. My belief is that trolls aren’t as intentionally malicious, they’re simply mentally handicapped. Specifically, they suffer from varying degrees of Cognative Dissonance.
In the past I had always believed that haters were formed through a combination of jealousy and poor information. The guys who just stumbled on something so profound that their minds couldn’t wrap around it. Denial and outrage their natural responses. Now I’m certain that trolls understand the concept, it’s the execution they are incapable of. They tried, failed, and their fragile egos differed the blame elsewhere.
While I don’t want to be mean or insult a guy for trying, the following video contains all the ingredients for a future troll:
While the guy in this video “understands” the basic concepts for picking up girls, he’s completely oblivious as to his appearance. As long as he’s morbidly obese, poorly dressed, and duct taping a camera to his head; he’ll come off as a creepy rapist. Within a few months of having “stranger danger” shouted at him, he’ll give up. Burnt out and frustrated, he’ll spend his free time plastering “The Game Is A Lie!” on every blog he can find.
In the past trolls would make me angry. I’d grumble and complain as I cleaned up their spew of negative comments. Now I actually feel somewhat sorry fr them.
* Though it might seem “unfair,” this is my site. I pay to own it. Everyone else is my guest. If you want to criticize the host don’t expect to come back. Also, anyone with legitimate criticism or commentary can have their say. There are numerous posts where you can find readers who disagreed with me.