Somehow I got diverted to the Wikipedia (why so many fruity names for everything? aargh!), and a page on trolling. Specifically, a page on Slashdot trolling. I don't think I have laughed so hard in my life. Some of it obviously falls beyond the pale in terms of appropriateness, but I literally was on the floor laughing at some of this (including the vulgarism chosen as representative for it all in this summary.)

I don't read Slashdot much, and the prospect of doing so is repulsive. Technology is mind-numbingly boring to me. Perhaps that is why I found this stuff so funny. Just the word "crapflooding" sent me into convulsive fits. Because I am immature, I think shock site linking is quite good when done well, especially at Slashdot.

I think trolling is the natural outcome of sites that grow stale. Netizens continually pat themselves on the back for being democratic and inclusive; an idea laughable on its face. The internet has taken on all the social trappings of a high school boys locker room. There develops a hierarchy and party line within any given site in time, and more and more, that become the nexus of power for everything. Increasingly that demarcation of power starts with those who can pony up for a paid subscription.

Within any given site, you find there is a caste system that favors incumbency and punishes new visitors. I am not sure why sites, such as Slashdot, need to issue user numbers that convey how long someone has been using the site, but I have seen it on other community sites too, and it serves no purpose but to coronate first-responders. It is just one of the mechanisms that end up bestowing authenticity of opinion on some over others, though nothing does that more so than the simple social cliques that develop over time. If you don't believe me, look into any site where users can ping the moderator within the discussion. I bet you find that the mods are called in by the old guard 10 times as often as by a new or infrequent visitor.

Trolling makes total sense to me in this context, and to the degree it is used to thumb its nose at community site royalty, I am for it. I want the internet to be egalitarian and democratic as much (or more) than anyone, which is why I cringe when anyone suggests it already is, or is even close. To this day, heavy internet adoption corresponds to whiteness, affluence, and status as least as much as targeting desires of television advertisers do, though I would suggest it is likely even more so. "The system" can sleep well at night without any fear of being subverted by an army of cyber-egalitarians. The only thing more white and affluent than internet users are the workforces at internet and technology companies themselves.

This isn't to say it will always be this way. I think the internet is actually as powerful a tool as it has been billed to be, but that we haven't had so much as glimpse of what that power will look like when applied. Half of African-American young men are dropping out of school! What revolution has there been for them? What has it done for the illiterate? What has it done for the old? Ultimately, what has it done for the people of the third world? What has it done for people in repressive societies who see only that which is approved by their governments?

It is early days yet to be sure, but to my mind, the internet is an underachiever. Great for finding cheap vacations, updates on former lovers, arguing with Canadians about how shitty the United States is, seeing pictures of your relative's ugly children, and tweaking of the man...but less convincing on the bigger things. I am starting to think the barrier to entry, low as it is, is still far too high. The problems in the real world haven't changed sufficiently for this medium to hit its stride.

Do I think crapflooding Slashdot with Goatse shots will do the trick? No, but as someone who has long felt frustrated by the way a nasty social hierarchy seems to settle over everything, I do believe that being disruptive can have its place when things become too easy for the alphas doing the driving. I suppose I would be a bigger believer in the internet if, in total, it represented even that so far in the real world.