Liz
Forrest is a working mother with a familar problem: After working all
day in a real estate office, and participating heavily in her
daughter's swimming team, she struggles to connect with people socially.
And,
she says, it's her own fault. "It takes time to build lasting
relationships with people. And I don't have the kind of time I need to
go to bars or the library. That's why I'm glad I have the internet."
Forrest
is one of thousands of American women who participate in online message
forums. Users from all over the internet gather there to discuss such
topics as current events, fashion, cooking tips, and the latest movies.
But
recently, Forrest's forum came under attack by
internet trolls, hostile users attempting to decrease the
signal-to-noise ratio of the internet. "I posted a picture of my son,
Roy," she
said, "and someone took the picture and added pterodactyls to it using
MS Paint. The pterodactyls were eating my son!" Though the image was of
exceptionally low quality, the graphic still disturbed her.
Forrest isn't alone though. Internet Trolls have
been preying on helpless internet users since the early days of the
internet.
The good news is that not all of them are hostile.
Some internet trolls attempt to disrupt illegal or immoral activities
like child pornography and paganism. Many are just after "lulz", a
measurement
of status amongst trolls.
The bad news is that now they're banding together.
A group called HIMEOBS is responsible for sinking hundreds of harmless
internet forums. They specialize in turning their users against one
another and decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio until regular
communication cannot take place without suspicion and paranoia. HIMEOBS
is currently waging war against Facebook.com, a popular social
networking site.
As Facebook.com's spokesman Mark Zuckerberg told
USA
Today, "People are using the internet in terrifying ways. It used to be
about exchanging information and connecting with people. Now it's
becoming the battleground for a dangerous sort of game where the pieces
are human beings and their relationships to one another."
But it's not just restless teenagers anymore. The
Adam Weishaupt Society, a cabal of "Internet Infoterrorists", are
rumored to have roots in Freemasonry and Jewish Mysticism. Their
motivations for challenging the signal-to-noise ratio are related to an
ancient tradition possibly originating from pagan practices.
For Forrest, her
internet friends are more important than her real life friends. "I talk
to my friends on the message board more often than I talk to my other
friends. But then I found out that over half of them were just HIMEOBS
members posting from multiple accounts." Multiple users who Forrest
believed were her friends began to insult her and unanimously disagree
with her. Suddenly it seemed like the whole world was turned against
her. "HIMEOBS ruined my life," said Forrest. "And I'll make them pay."
For Forrest, maintaining social relationships on
the internet is important
because it makes her happy and makes her feel more popular. She doesn't
believe that the trolls who destroyed her message board were trying to
be mean, but that "like most internet users, they're oblivious. There's
a part of me that thinks they just don't know
better and there's a part of me that thinks they don't want to know
better."
Have you ever been the victim of internet trolling? Email your answers
to Tosh@Rep-Am.com.
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