

Why We Need Trolls - mrvc
http://nerdr.com/why-we-need-trolls/

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mooism2
It does hurt people. It means that people who want to discuss something calmly
and rationally can't, because the troll keeps derailing the conversation.

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mrvc
Do trolls really derail a conversation or encourage it along? Particularly on
sites like Reddit, i've found them to be vilified, yet the way they can
instantly cause a change of perspective to counter groupthink is vastly under
appreciated. They're useful, else they wouldn't have existed for so long.

~~~
mooism2
Trolling is the art of winding people up. Offering a different perspective is
not trolling. Offering the same different perspective repeatedly and refusing
to take it to a thread where it's already been discussed to death is an
example of trolling; it derails and does not encourage.

Trolls exist because some people enjoy winding people up. Being useful isn't a
motive.

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tobylane
You're welcome :P

As long as the people who don't see it all as a joke are sufficiently
contained, then yes, it adds breadth to a conversations of comments. Someone
mentions Hitler, someone else is reminded of something clever the Germans do.

