Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevlar
I hate to admit it, but I have a history of reading Yahoo News, and usually for the comments. Over the years I have noticed a steady stream of professional trolls pretty much take over Yahoo. But compared to Twitter, Yahoo is fucking amateur hour. I'm amazed to watch these guys pop up on a fox news twit, zero followers, zero posts, then post something complete inane, and then they immediately get 100 likes and a thousand followers. A lot of the time, the English skills of the author are obviously wanting.
|
This is an interesting observation. Back around 2003-5 I'd go through the comments in Yahoo News with a guy in Norway. We'd be guessing at whether or not we were seeing sarcasm or hyperbole, of if we were seeing an actual crazy person. I suppose I could call them proto-Trumps now, but the overall 'ugly American' approach and attitude hasn't changed much.
Flash forward to today, the game has changed a bit. 'Deplorables' are as they've been but the game has been less of Is this person serious or sarcastic and more Is this a foreign agitator.
Also:
Watching bots switch over from automated mode to human operator once the bot starts getting replies to a post. (More grammatical errors.)
Watching a Deplorable start having a slow dawning realisation of horror at some bridge too far taken by the White House. (These people exist. Every last one of my American relatives fit this description. lolWisconsin)
As for satisfying trolling~