7.2. Origins of trolling#

While the term “trolling” in the sense we are talking about in this chapter comes out of internet culture, the type of actions that we now call trolling have been happening as far back as we have historical records.

7.2.1. Pre-internet trolling#

Before the internet, there were many activities that we would probably now call “trolling”, such as:

  • Practical jokes / pranks

  • Hazing: Causing difficulty or suffering for people who are new to a group

  • Satire: (e.g., A Modest Proposal) which takes a known form, but does something unexpected or disruptive with it.

Additionally the enjoyment at causing others pain or distress (“lulz”) has also been part of the human experience for millennia:

“Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest.”

Additionally, the inauthentic arguments have long been observed, and were memorably explored by Jean-Paul Sartre as “Bad Faith”. “Bad faith” here means pretending to hold views or feelings, while not actually holding them (this may be intentional, or it may be through self-deception). Sartre particularly observed this in arguments made by antisemites while he lived in Nazi controlled Paris:

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

Jean-Paul Sartre, 1945 CE, Paris, France

7.2.2. Origins of Internet trolling#

We can trace Internet trolling to early social media in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in early online message boards and in early online video games.

In the early Internet message boards that were centered around different subjects, experienced users would “troll for newbies” by posting naive questions that all the experienced users were already familiar with. The “newbies” who didn’t realize this was a troll would try to engage and answer, and experienced users would feel superior and more part of the group knowing they didn’t fall for the troll like the “newbies” did. These message boards is where the word “troll” with this meaning comes from.

One set of the early Internet-based video games were Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), where you were given a text description of where you were and could say where to go (North, South, East, West) and text would tell you where you were next. In these games you would come across other players and could type messages or commands to attack them. These were the precursors to more modern Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGS). In these MUDs, players developed activities that we now consider trolling, such as “Griefing” where one player intentionally causes another player “grief” or distress (such as a powerful player finding a weak player and repeatedly killing the weak player the instant they respawn), and “Flaming” where a player intentionally starts a hostile or offensive conversation.

In the 2000s, trolling went from an activity done in some communities to the creation of communities that centered around trolling such as 4chan (2003), Encyclopedia Dramatica (2004), and some forums on reddit (2005).

These trolling communities eventually started compiling a half-joking set of internet “Rules of the Internet” that both outlined their trolling philosophy:

Rule 43. The more beautiful and pure a thing is - the more satisfying it is to corrupt it

and their misogyny:

Rule 30. There are no girls on the internet

Rule 31. [if you claim to be a girl, post a photo of your] TITS or GTFO [Get the Fuck Out] - the choice is yours

You can read more at: knowyourmeme and wikipedia