PCFormat Forum Archive

Cue the Bladerunner vs Katrynkat thing.

AlJazeera wrote:As the Klein video went viral, a spate of articles documented how "internet trolls" attack women primarily - even though recent news highlights that racism and generic cruelty are also popular. Also this summer Britain's Daily Mail published the saga of Nicola Brookes, whose "reputation has been systematically destroyed [by internet trolls]... Her age, appearance and illness all came under fire".

Earlier this summer, the Mail reported the suicide of another woman in response to troll attacks. A troll apologist summarised that case in a post on belch.com under the headline "Stupid Woman Lulzed to Death on Internets". The post reads: "The Daily Mail is blaming [her suicide] on 'Internet Trolls.' It is understood she suffered a barrage of abuse on email and social media."

Shortly before that, Helen Lewis blogged eloquently on the sexism of internet trolls in her collaborative piece for the New Statesman, "'You should have your tongue ripped out': the reality of sexist abuse online". Ten female bloggers agreed "there is something distinct, identifiable and near-universal about the misogynist hate directed at women online".

One of the internet trolls' most consistent slanders is that women who speak are "attention seekers" - which is the most obvious attribute of trolls themselves. The underlying logic of internet troll abuse is projection - and Klein's bullies imitated that.

Source.

So gender based trolling. Fact or fiction?

how R.Romero of April to note that the internets, populated as it is by a large proportion of dysfunctional shut-ins, is infested by tween hormone victims so desperately afraid to talk to a woman they resort to manly posturing in the safety and anonymity of the internet.

slow news day?

anyone committing suicide over something said by a slew of faceless strangers had far deeper issues than an inability to handle unfounded criticism. but let's point our finger at that - means we can avoid blaming the family...

I am not sure of the facts: all I can do is speak from personal experience as I have not read any theory etc on the subject to formulate an informed decision, however having said that I usually keep my sex to myself when playing online games and when I first sign up on most forums. I have noticed a shift when people do find out that I am actually female however it is also not always negative, sometimes a little insulting (especially in WoW when I am informed I cannot be a female because I play too well). So personally I have noticed a shift in attention - be it flattering or negative - when people realize I am a woman.

Also, as far as the facts are concerned, how many men have trolls ... what is the ratio? Statistically speaking: I am pretty sure that it is still a male-dominated area (forums and gaming) so while the thousands of men who are abused only make say 1% the thousands of women could make up 50% right?

This could well be an interesting research topic.

Let's face it: information technology, computer science, just about every discipline of engineering and so forth are still predominantly male-driven. One just doesn't see many females online, and most of them probably get the impression that we're primarily testosterone-driven rapists that will do whatever we can to screw them (one way or the other).

Thing is, there is an element in truth behind this. I've seen this before myself: I lurk in a few IRC channels and have noticed a tendency in some of them for any and every female in the channel to be treated like the sex toy of the day. I suppose it depends on the community though -- over here, with the rather glaring exception of Bladerunner/Sojourn vs. KatrynKat, I haven't noticed too much gender abuse/bias.

Personally, I really don't see the point behind victimising someone based on gender alone -- I value knowledge and competence, and anyone demonstrating these capabilities will be treated as an equal, regardless of gender, race or $random_difference; any gender/racial/ethinc/etc. prejudice tends to be met by me with extreme contempt. I guess that this is influenced mainly by the overwhelming majority of my communication and social interaction to be via text-only channels (which can be with absolutely anyone in the world in this day and age). Also, my interest in artificial intelligence and science fiction is another factor -- after all, if my imagination readily gives full human rights to extraterrestrials, artificial intelligence and dolphins, things such as colour and gender don't seem that important any more.

Also: the fact that it is often very hard to understand what someone means in a text, needs to be taken into account. While there are definite flames etc. it is also often easy to miss-read someones meaning or intention in text ... which is why I hate to SMS or E-mail etc about any 'sensitive' issues ... we 'hear' sarcasm where there is none and can miss genuine concern etc.

Ron2K wrote:I suppose it depends on the community though -- over here, with the rather glaring exception of Bladerunner/Sojourn vs. KatrynKat, I haven't noticed too much gender abuse/bias.

This suddenly makes one feel rather proud of our resident troll. jamin_aus is a 100% equal opportunist troll, no sexism involved.

*sheds a single tear of pride*

Lol ... What dose everyone have against him? I like Jamin ... then again I do not think I have ever been flamed or Troll'd by him so that probably helps ...

Maybe I missed something!

A note: I very seldom ever try troll/flame/irritate etc anyone online because I would not want it done to me. I even refrain from commenting on the shocking use of the English language in trade chat. Even the people that think they are smart correcting other people incorrectly!!

You should all be proud!

(I also do not have my VENT chat activate on speech I only use Push-to-talk to AVOID people hearing what I say on the other side )

All I am saying, as my name has popped up a few times, is that I agree with Stu...

I have met both Jamin and Rustypup and never on the forum or real life have I seen that their trolling remarks were directed at a female specific... their remarks were directed to the topic at hand no matter who was involved in the discussion... I applaud both of them as that is what trolling should be about... the topic, not the person...

This suddenly makes one feel rather proud of our resident troll. jamin_aus is a 100% equal opportunist troll, no sexism involved.

No sexism involved... unless I'm posting in a feminist thread

Women make terrible trolls because most of them don't derive any joy from humiliating and denigrating people anonymously.
They'd much prefer to humiliate and denigrate people in person. They are vicious creatures.
Terrible at WoW tho.

jamin_za wrote:most of them don't derive any joy from humiliating and denigrating people anonymously.

you really have no experience with woman. i can tell.

what they don't do well is confrontation, hence the less than effective trolling skills... that and they're so cute when they're angry.

trolling.trolling.trolling.got to keep on trolling.

lolz to you both ... and Jamin I agree btw ... "[t]hey are vicious creatures"

jamin_za wrote:No sexism involved... unless I'm posting in a feminist thread

Speaking about a feminin thread... I think we need the girls kissing back again, might liven the place up...

rustypup wrote: what they don't do well is confrontation, hence the less than effective trolling skills... that and they're so cute when they're angry.

I can never take them seriously when they are angry...

On a on topic note. There are far to few woman online for this research to be proved conclusively however in real life I get trolled by all the woman in my group often so personal experience says woman are evil trollers...

rustypup wrote:

jamin_za wrote:most of them don't derive any joy from humiliating and denigrating people anonymously.

you really have no experience with woman. i can tell.

From his comments, or his pictures in the members' photos thread?

I've never seen rustypup as a troll, but maybe that's why I'm always the one throwing the immature tantrums... I'm sorry, rusty.

Stuart wrote:From his comments, or his pictures in the members' photos thread?

his comments.. my work environment exposes me to a greater than average number of opportunities to hear the casual, everyday, conversations woman engage in about each other... and they can be far more vicious than any man i've ever met...

actually, outside of the juvenile delinquents infesting the internet, men couldn't be bothered... too much effort and it doesn't fall within the realm of FFDE..

rustypup wrote: actually, outside of the juvenile delinquents infesting the internet, men couldn't be bothered... too much effort and it doesn't fall within the realm of FFDE..

To be fair, I think a good number of said juvenile delinquents infesting the internet are not prone to "troll" in real life, so they may not be genuine exceptions. The relative guarantee of anonymity provided by the Internet appears to bring out the inner troll in people who are ordinarily quite normal otherwise.

Stuart wrote:The relative guarantee of anonymity provided by the Internet appears to bring out the inner troll in people who are ordinarily quite normal otherwise.

Did you just call hamin_sheep_aus normal?!?!

That wasn't supposed to be a blanket statement. I think we've already established that jamin is rather unique in the land of Trolldom.

rustypup wrote:

Stuart wrote:From his comments, or his pictures in the members' photos thread?

his comments.. my work environment exposes me to a greater than average number of opportunities to hear the casual, everyday, conversations woman engage in about each other... and they can be far more vicious than any man i've ever met...

How is what you have just said and what I have said earlier any different
Woman dont go after people on the internet because they prefer to do it in real life.

Also, Stuart, your insinuation that I am ugly and no woman would ever love me was very hurtful.

jamin_za wrote:Also, Stuart, your insinuation that I am ugly and no woman would ever love me was very hurtful.

I'm sure you will spend the better part of tonight crying yourself to sleep in the foetal position.

Eh? What are you talking about... I was just congratulating you on a successful troll

I'll be crying myself to sleep in the foetal position same as I do every night, but it wont be because of what you said.

awwaz