Merrily We Troll Along

First!

How many times have you read an interesting and thought-provoking article online, only to see that as the first comment? It’s but one example of the downside of what happens when we have a true open forum for expression. When something of note is being discussed, and many eyes are following the conversation, it’s only natural that some self-serving attention-seeker will decide that he wants all those eyes on him and his words, even if he’s not actually saying anything.

At best, these comments are relatively innocuous, albeit slightly irritating. At worst, they can offend and steer a discussion into a new direction or ruin it altogether, causing it to degenerate into a flame war.

We ask for it every time we have open forums where people’s thoughts (or lack of thoughts) can be made public at the click of a button. These people crave the attention, regardless of if it is positive or negative, and online forums with thousands of followers, provide the ideal medium through which they can get their kicks. They can remain anonymous, say whatever they want, and see how much trouble they caused based on the responses they get.

Of course, that is what happens in a free marketplace of ideas. When everyone can have their say, anything can be said, and the hope is that the best content will rise to the top, and the excrement will settle at the bottom. Of course, that’s the hope. In the online comics community, where creators are in the mix with everyone else, the potential for intelligent, stimulating discourse is perhaps greater than in any other segment of the entertainment industry. On the other side of that coin, is the ability for trolls to annoy everyone participating in and observing said discourse.

The risk, unfortunately is that the vocal minority that thrives on upsetting people can end up ruining, or removing artists from wanting to participate and get closer to fans. It’s happened with several notable professionals who have in turn retreated to the relative safety of Facebook. This can have the unfortunate effect of creating an ’emperor with no clothes’ scenario, where like-mindedness can kill the validity of an opposing point of view. Sometimes, companies and creators do legitimately dumb things. An amplification tunnel doesn’t act as a check against it.

As far as people hijacking popular threads for their own agendas, that only works if people respond. As long as right-minded fans do not get sucked into pointless quarrels and flame wars, troll activity can be ignored and positive, productive speech will rule the day. [Editors Note: The ComicBloc was established on actively creating a troll-free, intelligence friendly, environment for sequential discourse. Arguing about comics is fun. One sided pushing about them is not. Help us keep it this way.]

The danger is when people are allowed to go too far – personal insults and slander. This is when trolls turn into something less innocent, and the understanding of humanity is lost. Regardless of feelings toward a book, a person still created it, and at that point, it’s something entirely else – bullying. And certainly, that has NO place, in comics, or anywhere else.

Why allow trolling at all though? It’s far easier to crack down hard on trolls. But the reality is, trolls (with few exceptions), are us. Some of the best, most loyal fans, can lose it over changes in beloved books or characters. Forums and other online mechanisms provide an instant feedback without waiting for change to sink in. If sites act too quickly, they can kill any sort of discourse or the feeling that dissent is welcomed, which further stifles discussion. It’s the balance that counts, and in letting the ends of the bell curves (sycophants to trolls) counterbalance each other allows for the happy middle of conversation. Trolls frankly, are a cost of crossing the bridge to where we want to be. Ignore them at your peril, but pushing them out can often lead to collapse.

When it all comes down to it though, open forums are absolutely worth it. The negatives from the occasional annoyance is overshadowed by the positives that come from stimulating discussion and the exchange of ideas. The beauty of many online forums is that the hot topics will be featured front and center, and the less popular ideas will fall by the wayside.