"Trolls differ primarily in their for-the-sake-of-which."

May 6, 2016 12:25 PM

Aristotle's "On Trolling" (pdf; html), translation by Rachel Barney: One might wonder whether there is an art of trolling and an excellence; and indeed some say that Socrates was a troll, and so that the good man also trolls. And this is in fact what the troll claims: that he is a gadfly and beneficial, and without him to ‘stir up’ the thread it would become dull and unintelligent. But this is incorrect. For Socrates was speaking frankly when he told the Athenians to care for their souls, rather than money and honors, and showed that they lacked knowledge. And this is not trolling but the contrary, exhortation and truth-telling—even if the citizens get very annoyed. (via)
posted by sapagan (23 comments total)

There can indeed be artful, excellent trolling. Case in point, Dr. Chuck Tingle and the Hugo Awards.
posted by happyroach at 12:30 PM on May 6, 2016 [9 favorites]

Sorry, but the pdf link seems not to work. Here's the main link from which the pdf is accessible.
posted by sapagan at 12:30 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

happyroach: "There can indeed be artful, excellent trolling. Case in point, Dr. Chuck Tingle and the Hugo Awards."

What are you talking about.
posted by boo_radley at 12:33 PM on May 6, 2016

Trolling Done Right: 5 Ways To Ruin Video Games For Fun

The whole reason Weregonnalose started trolling is a series of incidents that happened years ago. He and a friend joined an online game of ... actually, I don't remember which game he told me. We'll say Barbie Super Sports. His friend wasn't very good at it, but what the hell. It's all about having fun, right? No matter how bad a person is, they have as much of a right to play as everyone else.

Not really, according to the people in that game. They acted like he had walked into their living rooms and pissed on their TVs while giving them the finger and never breaking eye contact. They screamed every racial and homophobic slur in the book. You know ... normal online gaming behavior. And it happened over and over again, no matter how many different lobbies they joined. After a while, he finally hit a breaking point and figured that if these people were going to be ridiculous fucknuts, he might as well have some fun with them.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:38 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

This.

I mean seriously, nominating Zoe Quinn as his stand-in? That is brilliance.
posted by happyroach at 12:39 PM on May 6, 2016 [19 favorites]

Chuck Tingle has suddenly improved his standing in my personal estimation by about five hundred percent.
posted by Scattercat at 1:07 PM on May 6, 2016 [15 favorites]

To read the article, one might say, is an absolute good; yet many, all may observe, do not read the article before commenting. Consider carefully, lest into error you be led by derail without intending to act viciously.
posted by RogerB at 1:10 PM on May 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

May all the gods bless and keep Chuck Tingle. Wow.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:36 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Speaking as someone who has read a lot of Aristotle, this is spot on perfect. It's not satire. This is exactly how Aristotle dissects phenomena, in tone and method. In everything but subject matter it could be a lost work.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:17 PM on May 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

This is masterful. And the author (sorry, translator) is from U of T! Hometown pride!
posted by saturday_morning at 2:37 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Does the article provide a way to distinguish between Socrates and a troll without either knowing or assuming facts about intention? I can't see any.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:38 PM on May 6, 2016

Prior art.
posted by languagehat at 2:53 PM on May 6, 2016 [6 favorites]

Oh, this is wonderful. I've written some Plato parodies, but he's so much easier because he's so much crazier. This really nails it: not just Aristotle's style but his way of thinking.
posted by grimmelm at 3:00 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

May all the gods bless and keep pound Chuck Tingle in the butt.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:04 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

Arthur Schopenhauer Art of Controversy.

Schopenhauer really did write that.

One can infer from Aristotle's Rhetoric he would have flagged any and all trolls.
posted by bukvich at 3:28 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

One of the best trolls I can recall in recent memory was when I was playing Team Fortress 2. This guy logged on playing a Heavy and spent the game chatting cheerfully in a bad fake Russian accent. At one point he stopped playing the game and played a clarinet over voice chat. One of the other players finally got him kicked from our match by vote. I was enjoying his performance, so I voted to keep him on.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:03 PM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]

Does the article provide a way to distinguish between Socrates and a troll without either knowing or assuming facts about intention? I can't see any.

It's almost as if it's written from an Aristotelian perspective.
posted by kenko at 5:50 PM on May 6, 2016

You're going to have to explain to me what that means here.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:24 PM on May 6, 2016

The best part of reading Schopenhauer is when (as Brian Magee puts it) a "geyser of rage" against Fichte, Schelling, and especially Hegel erupts, which happens fairly randomly .
posted by thelonius at 6:58 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is brilliant. You could translate it back into Greek practically word for word (well, except for the word "troll") and get a totally convincing Aristotelian treatise.

ὅτι μὲν αίσχρὸν τὸ τρωλεῖν, καὶ ὅτι οὐδεὶς σώφρων ὢν τρῶλος καλεῖσθαι δέχοιτ' ἄν, πάντες ὁμολογοῦσιν· τί δέ ἐστι τὸ τρωλεῖν καὶ ὁπόσα ἔχει εἴδη, καὶ εἰ ἀρετή ἐστι τοῦ τρώλου, ἄδηλον...
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 7:06 PM on May 6, 2016 [6 favorites]

At one point he stopped playing the game and played a clarinet over voice chat. One of the other players finally got him kicked from our match by vote. I was enjoying his performance, so I voted to keep him on.

Just like that scene in the film 'Zardoz' when Friend votes to keep on George Saden.
posted by ovvl at 7:31 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm going to come back to the original article when I've perhaps accomplished some actual work this week, but holy crap Chuck Tingle pulled off some god-tier trolling: that's not only hilarious, it's an excellent response to the racist nonsense being slung around.

Also: "Vox Day" perhaps should have considered that a guy who writes books with titles like Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt miiiiight just have +15 trolling ability, and a better sense of humor.
posted by iffthen at 11:55 PM on May 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

You could translate it back into Greek practically word for word (well, except for the word "troll")

Κύκλωψ (Cyclops) would be a fairly faithful translation. We are, after all, talking about people who are incapable of civilised behaviour, dwell in dank caves and hate humanity.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:00 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]