Trollology

Slate.com's Farhad Manjoo has taken people to task for calling him a 'troll' for writing an article that bashed iTunes. He complains that the word 'troll' used to mean something -- why debase the word now by using it on everyone you happen to disagree with?

I agree. I am old enough that I remember, back in the 1990s, when the word 'troll' had a very specific and useful meaning, which I shall explain in a moment.

But in the first decade of the new century, the definition of 'troll' expanded to include sociopaths who enjoyed using the Internet to make innocent people's lives miserable. I'm not defending that practice, of course, but every time you expand the definition of a word, it becomes less useful. That's why I was never happy calling those people 'trolls'.

And of course, as time passes it gets more common to call other people 'trolls' when all they've done is voice an opinion you didn't like hearing. Now the word means close to nothing anymore.

Here's the original meaning of 'troll', as I understood it. Imagine, for a moment, that the 2012 Presidential election is still going on.

SCENARIO ONE

I like to annoy people.

I find a thread that's full of fairly intelligent Obama supporters (and nobody knows me) and I write, 'Obama is a MUSLIM SOCIALIST EXTREMIST and all of you dumb liberals ARE RUINING THIS COUNTRY!!!!!'

Then I run away (figuratively speaking), giggling.

Of course I'm a troll. Nobody's going to dispute that.

SCENARIO TWO

I like Obama. I think Romney supporters are dumb and I wish to express that through trolling.

I find a thread that's full of fairly intelligent Obama supporters and I write, 'Obama is a MUSLIM SOCIALIST EXTREMIST and all of you dumb liberals ARE RUINING THIS COUNTRY!!!!!'

Then I run away (figuratively speaking), giggling all the while.

Am I a troll? Yes.

SCENARIO THREE

I like Romney. I think Obama is a Muslim socialist extremist and he's going to ruin the country. I think Obama supporters are dumb and I wish to annoy them through trolling.

I find a thread that's full of fairly intelligent Obama supporters. Just to piss them off, I write, 'Obama is a MUSLIM SOCIALIST EXTREMIST and all of you dumb liberals ARE RUINING THIS COUNTRY!!!!!'

Then I run away (figuratively speaking), laughing as I think about all of those stupid liberals gnashing their teeth at my having broken into their echo chamber and spoken truth to them.

Am I a troll? Yes. Even though I agreed with what I wrote, I had no intention of actually engaging with anybody in an authentic way. I just wanted to piss people off.

SCENARIO FOUR

I like Romney. I think Obama is ruining the country. I am very concerned about this. I don't understand why liberals are supporting a Muslim socialist extremist who wants to ruin the country.

I spend a great deal of time composing an eloquent appeal to Obama supporters to rethink their support for this man. And that's why, in the end, I find a thread that's full of fairly intelligent Obama supporters and post: 'Obama is a MUSLIM SOCIALIST EXTREMIST and all of your dumb liberals ARE RUINING THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!'

I never said I was good at crafting an argument.

Am I a troll? No. I have a sincerity that was lacking in the first three scenarios. However, thanks to my lack of eloquence, my non-trollness will not be obvious to anyone else. Whether I'm a troll or not is determined by my intention, not by how it looks to other people.

NOW THAT I CLEARED THAT UP...

When people started interacting online in large numbers in the 1990s, many people were entranced by the fact it was now possible to say dumb stuff without any negative social consequences. Loads of people got their giggles this way.

Loads of people still get their giggles this way. I'm not defending or advocating it. I am simply saying that it exists, and as long as it exists, let's acknowledge it by having a word for it.

As long as we remember that the determining factor is intentions, not appearances, I think calling these people 'trolls' will do nicely. Let's not dilute the word by using it on everybody who says stuff we don't like.