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    The Year of the Troll

    The Year of the Troll

    In the same year that Reddit, 4chan and Anonymous all entered the mainstream lexicon, "trolling" had more of an effect online and offline than ever before. "Trolling," when used on the Internet, usually refers to when someone is a jerk for the sake of being a jerk, when someone does something simply because they can. Deadspin's Drew Magary has labeled 2011 "The Year We Became The United States of Trolling" and made a list of everything that happened this year that enraged and dumbfounded us, from Rebecca Black's "Friday" video, the Kardashians, Charlie Sheen, and even that awful show The Killing. They all make the cut. "You're not getting anywhere in this country anymore if you're a good person who wants to make a valuable contribution to society," Magary argues. And he's right! Jerks have always won, and they all work in finance. 

    RELATED: RIP Trolling as Social Critique


    Our most cynical bones want to agree with him, but we can't. Strike it up to leftover holiday cheer. We just released a list of the most important hacks of the year, and they all accomplished something positive or at least attacked institutions worthy of our ire. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement and everything in between, the hacks that mattered proved that "trolling" can actually enact change. They are one in the same. The origins of each of those hacks lies dangerously close to the parts of the Internet where the best rage comics and lol-worthy photos come from. 

    RELATED: The Trolls Laugh Last; A Moment for Bill O'Reilly and Ellen DeGeneres


    We can't predict how 2012 will shake out. If the Republican primaries are any indication, we'll likely get more of the same. We'll always have our New Year's resolutions though. Maybe we can all agree to be nicer people, and never say "winning" again. 

     

    24 comments

    • Pat Walsh  •  Gadsden, Alabama  •  4 mths ago
      Year of the troll.I thought you were talking about the Kardashians.
    • Internal Server Error  •  4 mths ago
      ‹^› ‹(•¿•)› ‹^›
      • ............ 4 mths ago
        Thats the best name I have seen yet !
      • abram 4 mths ago
        HA!!!
        I have no idea how people figure out how to make those... but that is funny!!!
      • Susan 4 mths ago
        (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻)
    • GARY  •  4 mths ago
      Humans are predatory by nature. We attack our prey in different ways, sometimes physical and sometimes verbal. As children we taunt, tease, ridicule, poke, and prod our victims. As we become adults we continue these behaviors within the confines of the law. Various forms of verbal abuse are used from gossip to slander. The Internet has provided an anonymous forum for the individual to post comments laced with sarcasm or arrogance to bigotry and slander to provide ego gratification and self-validation to fulfill aspects of our predatory nature.
      • Mary E. 4 mths ago
        I have to agree with you, at least in theory. Some comments I see are very obviously inappropriate by the poster's use of foul language, threatening language and outright lies.

        The rub come in when posters label as "trolling" anything that does not agree with their personal viewpoint! A comment you might class as "truth" might be judged slanderous or bigoted to me. And vice-versa.

        Any thoughts on this?
    • Colton  •  4 mths ago
      Looks like Yahoo has done some good reporting....NOPE!!!
      • Ken 4 mths ago
        Its just chuck testa writing another article.
    • R  •  4 mths ago
      me wood lyke to thank all yew morons who respond to my coments with the funy comebacks to make my job trolling easy an fun.
    • Rachel  •  4 mths ago
      Winner, winner... Chicken dinner!
    • dale  •  Cincinnati, Ohio  •  4 mths ago
      Wow! Didn't read the Troll post below before the comment. New Word or Title for you folk.
      Screwed-up.
    • dale  •  Cincinnati, Ohio  •  4 mths ago
      Wow! I seen Trolls and called them that back in the 90's. They came into AOL chatrooms then left after the room was in a mess. I saw them again in Yahoo comments, saying something that should have sent local law/ ATF, FBI, inforcement to their parents basements.
    • AlexC  •  Des Moines, Iowa  •  4 mths ago
      Wecome to Yahoo & Youtube !!! Theres a troll at every turn !!! Except i dont want your votes or your money !!! Cyber Beyyyachesss!!!!
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Tehran, Iran  •  4 mths ago
      I do not understand this fascination with the troll. In my country, we stone the people for being a troll. If it is woman, we stone her to death, twice.
      • Susan 4 mths ago
        Aw, but you're the best one on Yahoo!
      • Jilla Lamar 4 mths ago
        We not only have a fascination with Trolls, Kourosh, we also have a very extreme fascination with people who stone women.

        *looks at you intently*
      • A Yahoo! User 4 mths ago
        Thank you Susan, that makes me smile =)
    • accepting applications  •  Mililani Town, Hawaii  •  4 mths ago
      this bored me to the point of multiple snoregasms,zzzzz.......
    • Joyce  •  4 mths ago
      Troll
    • brad  •  St Louis, Missouri  •  4 mths ago
      Q: How do you get 100 babies into a bucket?
      A: With a blender!

      Q: How do you get them out again?
      A: With tortilla chips!!!
    • Ari  •  Irvine, California  •  4 mths ago
        ▲
      ▲ ▲
    • あきら  •  4 mths ago
      ­
    • Jilla Lamar  •  Anchorage, Alaska  •  4 mths ago
      Can you hear this? ‹ᵥ› ‹(•¿•)›

      No?

      Let me turn it up. ‹^› ‹(•¿•)›
    • Breeze  •  4 mths ago
      Ron Paul's ugly face should posted here. His supporters and he are the most laughable trolls.
    • Pat  •  4 mths ago
      Only GEEKS would come up for such a word as "TROLL". Seriously, average loosers who think they can get over on people online are known as GEEKS. 20 years ago, GEEKS would get their butts kicked for being what they are today.
      • Orca 4 mths ago
        Shut up and get that furniture moved into the big house that "geek" bought that you used to beat up in High School. Without "geeks" you wouldn't even have a computer, let alone be able to post online.
      • Edward Faust 4 mths ago
        I think you mean nerd.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Tehran, Iran  •  4 mths ago
      You may call me what you wish, I am an internet troll. It is done in fun, and also to make you think, wonder, laugh, smile, or just plain ol get pizzed off. But all in the name of fun...
    • Paul  •  Miami, Florida  •  4 mths ago
      trolls unite!
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