Met a user on here who was "educating other users, that not everyone was nice". They were convinced they were doing people a service and enjoyed watching their reactions. If they were long or short, kind, explanatory or angry.
this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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Fuck knows, but there are people on social media defending X and resorting to whataboutery (with conspiracy bullshit as well) when you point out its a tool for paedos
It's like a small unattended child, lashing out or causing a disturbance because it's the only way they know how to get attention. Mommy and Daddy are mad now but at least they are talking to me.
Attention
yeah were gonna need a source for this one buddy sure sounds a lot like projection
Attention seeking. Saw it on usenet back in the day, then later on Reddit when people would get into contests for downvote farming.
It's a ton of loneliness, pain, rage and boredom.
I think there’s a part of human nature that’s drawn to actions that produce a disproportionate response, regardless of what the actions and responses actually are.
For the lulz
So 4chan is ubiquitous? I had thought it was a self-reinforcing effect caused by completely degenerate people gathering on the same platform.
I mean the complete lack of sense of responsibility when dicking around just for laughs is the same
Please don't get me wrong: I'm up for a laugh, but not for most of the stuff that 4chan finds funny because it's at the expense of others (exceptions are, of course, those people who are quite rightly targeted, such as Nazis or TV priests who only enrich themselves at the expense of their clientele).
Yeah same. It might be the unhealthiest place on the interwebs.
Sometimes over the years I've been accused of trolling where I'd consider it an obvious joke. But I tend to have a very dry and weird sense of humor that often includes, "what would be the worst possible thing to say right now?" So I sorta get the confusion/overlap. Anyway, that's pretty mild on the internet trolling spectrum overall.
That’s textbook trolling.
Agree to disagree.
:)
Yes, yes, please don't misunderstand: a certain amount of trolling seems perfectly appropriate to me. I even believe that there are people who can hardly be dealt with in any other way. But I'm talking about trolling on this platform, where, in my opinion, there are relatively few absurd opinions that cannot be countered with arguments. Of course, there are also views here that run counter to rational thinking, but after more than two years here, it seems to me that most users, despite perhaps destructive views, are still somewhat reasonably willing to accept arguments (if not, in my opinion, it's best to simply ignore them).
I mean, fortunately, we're still quite a long way from reddit or even X or Truth Social here. So it seems to me that there is at least a willingness to discuss things here, which is why I can't really understand why anyone would want to undermine that. I'm not referring to you at all, of course, and I very much appreciate your answer - I completely agree.
I'm just trying to understand why even here there are apparently people who are bent on pointless confrontation. I just don't get that.
Probably they're just miserable. I know plenty of miserable people and they just can't help themselves.
Distortion and Chaos.
Nothing more and nothing less.
Some social media trolls as we know, are fueling propaganda for a representative state as we've seen with Russian trolls before in the past. But a lot of the time, there do exist people who have way too much time on their hands to be going around and just practically shit on everything. It's for their own amusement, I believe and whatever arbitrary belief system they have with themselves that we don't know about.
I assume that trolls try to provoke erratic and disproportionate reactions from others, becoming a part of their own miniature sitcom for their own entertainment. It could be because of a sense of victory upon watching others break down (assuming a zero sum point of view). It could be the viewpoint that trolls are at their own higher level compared to others and understand each other while making fun of the lower levels (a false sense of superiority). Maybe it's a [case of] holding onto their own beliefs and assuming that they needn't change themselves if they disrupt all conversations that may cause harm to their own beliefs. It might be attention seeking or an escape mechanism. It could also be a desire to avoid fitting in with everyone else and remaining separate.
(edit: grammar)
Dopamine
It's the same place the "made my life worse to own the libs" energy comes from.
They have fucked up reward systems and are seeking the brain chemicals they get from thinking they have succeeded in winding someone up
"Don't feed the trolls" is because that's literally what they want. They don't care about winning anything, the goal is to get you to reply
If you get it done to you, you want to get someone back. That is true for the first few times it happens. Later if it happens to you - espwcially if its in a more serious or dsngerous context - it tends to actually make you empathise more and feel discouraged from engaging in that behaviour.
Spending time on a space like modern twitter or 4chan can make you pick up their habits, and also desensitise you to their way of doing things.
Dopamine
Please explain.
Every response is like winning at a video game. They get a little brain rush that encourages them to do it more to get more/bigger responses.
But a response doesn't mean they've won in any way...
It just means that someone has responded, nothing more. How can that be considered a victory?
Edit: Not me with the downvote btw - I don't get why ppl feel the need for that either, but that is a different topic.
dopamine is literally the only reason we do anything, it's the reason you made this post and responded to any of the comments, it's given to you in little spurts every time you scroll down to read a new reply. this social media shit is digital cocaine.
The response is the win. It means they've been heard/seen. Think of it like catcalls. They just want a reaction.
I think the single downvotes that pop up on most posts is a bot or something. I've seen people complain about it. No worries. Or maybe it's a troll. 🤷
I troll people regularly, like I troll my hubby (fooling someone with a ridiculous story). I do it for fun, gives me a bit of a laugh. I haven’t been able to monetize it yet, but who knows.
Sure, it's just fun, and good fun at that. But I'm more concerned about people who are destructive. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a little teasing - quite the contrary, in fact. Harmless fun in particular should be monetizable because it is so entertaining for all involved.
As the old saying goes, some people just want to watch the world burn. This can be for completely different reasons, but one of them is most definitely trolling.
The idea that the person who has the most upvotes, likes, friends, etc. will win the internet
90% of trolls are professionals, and they usually target people with low self-esteem, from what I'm aware at least.