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"They need us. We don't need them:" The fall of Twitter is making the trolls and grifters desperate (www.salon.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 49 points 3 years ago (3 children)

Always remember to never feed the trolls. It's a very basic Internet rule that we should have continued to follow. Block and move on

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  • [–] 33 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    i think in this case we also want to consider...

    do not click a twitter link

    ... as the article states, it is the traffic, itself, that they want.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago*

    It's not just block and move on though, I can't find the article that explains a study of it. If the person is a simple troll, then yeah, do it that way. But if they're a nuanced, giving false info, and sound convincing troll, give one response and then stop engaging and downvote. That gives a person who doesn't understand that the troll is full of bs a counterpoint to at least not take it as fact. It's a counter to the "get there first" strategy of trolling.

    You have to stop though, if you're explaining then everyone is losing.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Sounds like a surefire way to get Donald Trump elected again.

    Ignoring the trolls caused 2016 to happen. At that point, it became clear that the trolls have gathered in power, have organized politically and have explicitly made their methodology into the leading political force for the Republican party.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    Ehhh… more like the opposite. The mainstream media engaged the trolls on a mass scale and the golden turd won.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago*

    All the ignoring you or I did does nothing.

    Why do you think the media will ignore Donald Trump in the next election? We all know what's happened and where things will go for round 2. But if you stick your head in the sand and yell "don't feed the trolls" whenever that orange buffoon is mouthing off, you'll only cause them to grow in power.

    Martin Luther King Jr. didn't inspire civil rights by ignoring his opponent's arguments. Ignoring others is probably the worst possible move you could do on a political level, because they'll just catch the attention of the media and monopolize upon the attention.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    That concept isn't what got Trump elected.

    Cambridge Analytica got him elected. The superior data they had got him elected. He went out and promised the rust belt, among others) exactly what they wanted, and they took a chance on him after decades of being lied to by the Democratic party. Then combine that with the blatant gerrymandering, and you have a win for the greedy morons.

    While that was happening the Democratic party was on a fools errand to try and flip Texas blue.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago*

    Good theories. But it doesn't match the present reality. Why is Donald Trump still the frontrunner today for the Republican Party?

    Koch backs others. DeSantis has plenty of backers. Etc. etc. Its certainly not money or data anymore.

    Donald Trump IS a troll. He's a master troll. You can't ignore him because he sucks in the world and with his discussion style convinces plenty of people to follow him. "Ignore the troll" is the stupidest piece of advice you can give for someone like Donald Trump. He doesn't give a shit about you, his allies or anyone else. And people LIKE him because of that, because people like asshole leaders in practice.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    There are probably ways to counter misinformation without giving the bad actors involved any additional platform.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    They already have a platform. Its called Twitter.

    They'll have that platform whether or not you post a reply.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    But posting a direct reply will give them additional attention, from your own followers and from algorithmic boosting.

    If simply replying to bad actors with facts and demanding decency helped in any way, they wouldn't have gotten as relevant as they are.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago* (1 child)

    That's all good theory or whatever, but you ain't gonna stop Donald Trump (or DeSantis) from getting boosted to the top. Certainly not when Elon is in charge of Twitter.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    Of course, because these already have a whole established follower base. But it can prevent upcoming reactionary outrage mongers from gaining momentum.

    Keep in mind that I didn't say to ignore them entirely, I said that replying directly is a bad approach. Because the people who already follow them likely won't listen to reason, and it might only highlight it to potential targets to be radicalized. But bad rhetoric can be countered and refuted without direct attribution. You could instead reply to a screenshot with the handle cut out or just speak on the topic without bringing up who is stirring shit this time around.

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