What is an Internet Troll?

By Timothy Campbell

July 13, 2001 

Here are a few excerpts from Timothy Campbell's article on Internet trolls: An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. He (and it is usually he) tries to start arguments and upset people. Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don't "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their 'achievement' (as they see it). At the moment, the relative anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish. Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of courtesy or social responsibility. Perhaps this sounds inconceivable. You may think, "Surely there is something I can write that will change them." But a true troll can not be changed by mere words.

Why does it Matter? Some people -- particularly those who have been online for years -- are not upset by trolls and consider them an inevitable hazard of using the net. As the saying goes, "You can't have a picnic without ants." It would be nice if everybody was so easy-going, but the sad fact is that trolls do discourage people. Established posters may leave a message board because of the arguments that trolls ignite, and lurkers (people who read but do not post) may decide that they do not want to expose themselves to abuse and thus never get involved. Another problem is that the negative emotions stirred up by trolls leak over into other discussions. Normally affable people can become bitter after reading an angry interchange between a troll and his victims, and this can poison previously friendly interactions between long-time users. Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash. The Internet is a wonderful resource which is breaking down barriers and stripping away prejudice. Trolls threaten our continued enjoyment of this beautiful forum for ideas. The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction to reminding others not to respond to trolls. When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you insult a troll, he wins. When you scream at a troll, he wins. The only thing that trolls can't handle is being ignored.

What about Free Speech? When trolls find that their efforts are being successfully resisted, they often complain that their right to free speech is being infringed. Let us examine that claim. While most people on the Internet are ardent defenders of free speech, it is not an absolute right; there are practical limitations. For example, you may not scream out "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, and you may not make jokes about bombs while waiting to board an airplane. We accept these limitations because we recognize that they serve a greater good. When a troll attacks a message board, he generally posts a lot of messages. Even if his messages are not particularly inflammatory, they can be so numerous that they drown out the regular conversations (this is known as 'flooding'). Needless to say, no one person's opinions can be allowed to monopolize a channel. The ultimate response to the 'free speech' argument is this: while we may have the right to say more or less whatever we want, we do not have the right to say it wherever we want. You may feel strongly about the fact that your neighbor has not mowed his lawn for two months, but you do not have the right to berate him in his own living room. Similarly, if a webmaster tells a troll that he is not welcome, the troll has no "right" to remain. This is particularly true on the numerous free communications services offered on the net.

Conclusion Next time you are on a message board and you see a post by somebody whom you think is a troll, and you feel you must reply, simply write a follow-up message entitled "Troll Alert" and type only this: The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction to reminding others not to respond to trolls. By posting such a message, you let the troll know that you know what he is, and that you are not going to get dragged into his twisted little hobby.

members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm#WIA

Hate Speech Online and Off

Rumi Chunara, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the School of Global Public Health (GPH) and computer science and engineering at the Tandon School of Engineering, is studying the increasingly porous border between the real and virtual worlds. Chunara and her colleagues compared FBI records of racial, ethnic, and national-origin hate crimes in 100 US cities between 2011 and 2016 with hate speech on Twitter during the same time frame. “We found that the cities that had the greatest amount of hate crimes correlated with the greatest number of online discriminatory tweets,” says Stephanie Cook, a GPH assistant professor of biostatistics and social and behavioral sciences. Cook and Chunara emphasize that correlation is not causation. However, “this study contributes to showing that what’s online has implications,” says Chunara. “When there are nefarious things in the real world, we should consider the virtual world as a potential factor.” —Lindsy Van Gelder • Illustration by John W. Tomac

B2 Advertising Techniques

Different ways to advertise a product:

Avant garde: the suggestion that using this product puts the user ahead of the times, e.g. a toy manufacturer encourages kids to be the first on the block to have a new toy.

Bandwagon: the suggestion that everybody is using the product and that you should too in order to be part of the group, e.g. a credit card company quotes the number of millions of people who use their card.

Facts and figures: statistics and objective factual information is used to prove the superiority of the product, e.g. a car manufacturer quotes the amount of time it takes their car to get from 0 to 100 kph.

Hidden fears: the suggestion that this product will protect the user from some danger, e.g. a laundry detergent manufacturer suggests that you will be embarrassed when strangers see “ring around the collar” of your shirts or blouses.

Magic ingredients: the suggestion that some almost miraculous discovery makes the product exceptionally effective, e.g. a pharmaceutical manufacturer describes a special coating that makes their pain reliever less irritating to the stomach than a competitor’s.

Patriotism: the suggestion that by purchasing this product you show your love for your country, e.g. a company brags about its product being made in Canada and employing Canadian workers.

Plain folks: the suggestion that the product is a practical product of good value for ordinary people, e.g. a cereal manufacturer shows an ordinary family sitting down to breakfast and enjoying their product.

Snob appeal: suggesting that the use of this product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous life style, e.g. a coffee manufacturer shows people dressed in formal gowns and tuxedos drinking their brand at an art gallery.

Transfer: words and ideas with positive connotations are used to suggest that the positive qualities should be associated with the product and the user, e.g. a textile manufacturer wanting people to wear their product to stay cool during the summer shows people wearing fashions made from their cloth at a sunny seaside setting where there is a cool breeze.

Testimonial: a famous personality is used to endorse the product, e.g. a famous basketball player recommends a particular brand of trainers.

Wit and humour: customers are attracted to products that divert the audience by giving viewers a reason to laugh or to be entertained by clever use of visuals or language.

Viral marketing: trying to get the customers themselves to advertise the product by telling all their friends about it on the internet.

Follow-up Exercises:

1. Can you think of one example of some of these techniques in real life? Here are three examples: ING Direct uses the bandwagon technique to get new clients. The Alimentos de Andalucía campaign appeals to consumers’ patriotism. Ferrero Rocher is a textbook case of snob appeal.

2. Look at the following ads and describe them with some of these adjectives: amusing, attractive, awful, boring, brilliant, clever, colourful, consciousness-raising, controversial, cool, dull, imaginative, offensive, ridiculous, serious, sexist, shocking, silly, tasteless, thought-provoking, unusual, weird, etc. What do they advertise? What do these advertising campaigns try to make the public aware of?

Studio 54: 'The Best Party of Your Life'

By Vincent Dowd

BBC World Service

26 April 2012

It's 35 years since Studio 54 opened in New York. It quickly became the best known nightclub in America, riding the wave of 1970s dance music and newly found personal freedom. It made vast amounts of money for its two young owners. But after three years the party came crashing to a halt.

"On a good night Studio 54 was the best party of your life," says Anthony Haden-Guest, who reported on the club as a journalist throughout its short existence. He says Studio 54 was the right club in the right city at the right time.

Women were thriving in terms of their sexuality and it was also a great time to be gay. There was no stigma inside Studio 54. "Everything was happening at the same moment: there was the woman's movement, the gay movement, ethnic movements of all kinds. The whole place was combustible with energy."

Studio 54 opened just off Broadway in April 1977. The building had originally been a theatre and later a CBS studio.

Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager already had a club in Queens called Enchanted Garden. But 1977 was the year of Saturday Night Fever and disco reigned supreme. The young men were certain that what worked in an outer borough of New York could work in central Manhattan too.

Celebrities by the dozen flocked to Studio 54 and long lines of would-be clubbers queued outside hoping to be admitted. Most would-be clubbers never got past the doormen at Studio 54 who were looking for the right mix of people - especially those with high energy. Celebrities from every walk of life could be found at this legendary nightclub, including the former first lady of Canada Margaret Trudeau.

"There was always a ton of people outside waiting to get in - people from all walks of life," says Myra Scheer, an early fan who later became Rubell's assistant. "Most never got in, but if you caught the eye of Steve or of (doorman) Marc Benecke suddenly a path opened up. "Beyond the velvet rope was what I used to call the Corridor of Joy. It had ornate chandeliers and everybody there was screaming with joy that they got in. You could hear the pulsating music as you walked through and then you turned left and there was this dance floor. Everybody on that floor had the energy of being a radiant star."

Benecke can still recall how desperate people were to enter the club. "At one point you could buy maps which claimed to show how to get in through tunnels up from the subway system. It was crazy. Naturally people tried good old-fashioned bribery but that didn't work. Then I'd say to them they should go and buy the exact same jacket I was wearing - forgive me but I was only a teen at the time. And they'd go to Bloomingdale's and buy it and still they wouldn't get in."

"But if you were just dressing up in costume to get through the door, it showed you probably weren't the right person. We were looking for people with high energy," he says.

Looking great did not guarantee entry. "What we really wanted was the mix."

Haden-Guest says owner Steve Rubell had a sense for who ought to be on the dance floor on a specific night. "Every time was different. It was like a salad bowl - they might let in some straight-looking kids from Harvard, but then they'd also want a bunch of drag queens or whatever. Often it was surprisingly relaxed."

He said it would be impossible to run the club's VIP room today when a photo taken on phone can be spread around the world in an instant. But the VIPs were photographed and often. The list is long and included Calvin Klein, Truman Capote, Liza Minnelli, Robert Mapplethorpe, Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Warhol. Other regulars are perhaps more surprising: Benecke recalls the classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz turning up regularly with his wife Wanda. "He always wore ear-plugs. He hated the music but he loved watching the people."

Scheer recalls Andy Warhol saying the club was a dictatorship at the door but a democracy inside. "There was no A-List or B-List or C-List. We came after the pill arrived and before Aids had a name. Women were thriving in terms of their sexuality and it was also a great time to be gay. There was no stigma inside Studio 54."

The club soon had a reputation as a place where physical intimacy needn't be limited to the dance floor. Benecke insists the sexual free-for-all has been exaggerated.

"They had a place called the Rubber Room upstairs. You would go up there and sure there might be couples having sex - but only one or two."

Haden-Guest was a regular visitor to what some assumed was a non-stop Bacchanalia of sex and drugs. But he thinks the amount of drugs taken has been overstated. "I had a wonderful time in disco culture but drugs played an extremely minor part. I think most people were just there to dance and have a good time."

The club's sudden end had less to do with public morality than with the fact that huge amounts of cash had gone undeclared for tax purposes. In 1980 Rubell and Schrager were sentenced to jail.

Attempts were made to revive the Studio 54 brand but the party was over. Steve Rubell died in 1989 and today, at 65, Ian Schrager is a successful hotel owner.

Looking back, Benecke wonders if the club's heyday had already passed when it closed. "The tax problems certainly speeded up the demise. But as a society we were changing into Punk and New Wave right after that. So Studio 54 would have had to change a lot to carry on at the same level of success."

Last year Studio 54 Radio launched on satellite in the US. It plays the hits of the disco era and Benecke and Scheer have a show discussing the old days. "It's like we have Class of 54 Reunions," says Scheer. "Because we went to the coolest high school. Modern kids spend so much time texting or tweeting or getting on YouTube. But we were in the moment. We were really there."

The Death of Conversation

By Damon Beres, 

The Huffington Post 

2 August, 2015

It looks like smartphones really have killed the concept of "idle time." Last year, photographer Babycakes Romero captured an array of images showing people glued to their mobile devices when they could otherwise be having a conversation, enjoying dinner or simply staring into space. The series, titled "The Death of Conversation," was published on Bored Panda and ultimately led to a TEDx Talk.

In the time that's passed since he first published the photo series, Romero says the smartphone problem -- as he sees it -- has only gotten worse.

"As smartphones encompass more and more of people's lives, everyone is turning to them more and more as every aspect of their existence has been digitized and made accessible to them 24/7," Romero told The Huffington Post via email.

You've probably noticed something like this in your own life: You're at dinner with someone, there's a lull in the conversation, and suddenly both of you are checking your smartphones. Romero says the devices become an excuse to hide a "lost connection" between people.

"It is sad that this technology which was supposed to connect people is making them disconnect from each other in person," Romero told HuffPost.

Agree or not, his photos offer pretty striking evidence that people everywhere are hooked on their smartphones. Take a look for yourself by clicking on the Bored Panda link above.

Sense8_series

• 
• Sense8 tells the story of eight strangers played by an impressive cast of international actors and actresses: Will (Smith), Riley (Middleton), Capheus (Ameen), Sun (Bae), Lito (Silvestre), Kala (Desai), Wolfgang (Riemelt), and Nomi (Clayton). Each individual is from a different culture and part of the world. In the aftermath of a tragic death which they all experience through what they perceive as dreams or visions, they suddenly find themselves growing mentally and emotionally connected. While trying to figure how and why this connection happened and what it means, a mysterious man named Jonas tries to help the eight. Meanwhile, another stranger called Whispers attempts to hunt them down, using the same sensate power to gain full access to a sensate's mind (thoughts/sight) after looking into their eyes. Each episode reflects the views of the characters interacting with each other while delving deeper into their backgrounds and what sets them apart and brings them together with the others.

  
  

  This group of strangers are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order. They all experience a rebirth which inexplicably links them intellectually, emotionally and sensually. We are taken along their journey to discover exactly what they are going through, witnessing their interactions from face-to-face conversations from opposite sides of the world without the use of any devices, simply using each other's skills and abilities, learning about each other, all the while being pursued by a secretive group that wish to lobotomize them in order to prevent an evolutionary path they do not wish to become humanity's future. Written and directed by the Wachowski sisters, this is an un unmissable science-fiction drama series! A total visual treat. I recommend watching it with English subtitles on.
• 
  
• 
  

Quoting Groucho Marx :)

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."

"Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

"Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy."

"My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had been one."

"She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."

"I don't have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They're upstairs in my socks."

"Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough."

"Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

A Letter Home

Aisling Brennan, a 12-year-old Irish primary school girl, is the winner of the Young Travel Writers Competition at this year's Lismore Immrama Festival of Travel Writing, sponsored by Aer Lingus. Here is her winning "Postcard to Home", a delightful read:

Español en inglés, inglés en español

Por CARLOS MARTÍN GAEBLER
Instituto de Idiomas, Universidad de Sevilla

He desarrollado mi carrera profesional enseñando inglés y español como segunda lengua. Mi experiencia me ha permitido identificar los vasos comunicantes (y muchas veces también contaminantes) entre ambas lenguas. Por ello, considero necesario divulgar estas interferencias, aunque no desde una posición purista, sino con el propósito de reivindicar un español bien usado y un inglés bien hablado. Esta reflexión filológica pretende ser un instrumento útil, entre otros, para educadores y enseñantes, periodistas de prensa, radio, televisión o internet, blogueros, redactores de libros de estilo, traductores simultáneos o de textos, publicistas, o emprendedores/as que se aprestan a nombrar su nueva empresa. En definitiva, va dirigida a quienes aspiran a hablar y escribir español con propiedad, y/o a aquellos hispanohablantes que aspiran a mejorar su dominio del latín de nuestro tiempo, sin interferencias.

Ejemplo de uso incorrecto de la ortografía inglesa

1. Español en inglés. Si bien los hablantes de español somos capaces de adoptar palabras del inglés españolizándolas (gol, pádel, cúter, selfi) y de producir híbridos imaginativos (puenting, balconing), por regla general, somos poco respetuosos con nuestro propio idioma. A menudo se anuncia o denomina un producto o servicio en inglés (pero pronunciado en español) con el propósito de abrillantarlo, porque así los consumidores lo percibirán como más moderno o innovador, y, de paso, se reduce el sistema de fonemas de los hablantes, pues se fosilizan pronunciaciones erróneas muy difíciles de erradicar después. Denominar un producto en inglés parece otorgarle un cierto valor añadido a los oídos de los consumidores. El complejo de inferioridad funciona así: al no percibir el hablante la lengua materna como algo propio, como parte de su patrimonio, ni sabe ni puede usarla con propiedad. Quienes abusan de anglicismos parecen querer disimular su rudimentario nivel de inglés. Alex Grijelmo confirma que muchos anglicismos superfluos se usan por este complejo de inferioridad, al creer que mencionar algo por su nombre en inglés es más prestigioso, lo que, en su opinión, supone una derrota intelectual de la lengua española.

Ejemplo de interferencia léxica

El léxico se anglicaniza (SE REPARAN TABLES [Se reparan tabletas], un talent [o concurso de talentos] en TVE, un torneo Pádel Promise [o de promesas del pádel], un kit de picoteo, la Málaga Education Week, o el Sevilla Bike Center). De repente, resulta pedante pedir que no te desentrañen una historia, y has de hacerte entender con un no me hagas espóiler, en un claro ejemplo de empobrecimiento idiomático. En español no se capturan imágenes sino que se captan, ni se implementan medidas, sino que se implantan, ni hablamos de  compilación de canciones sino de recopilación. Si el español ha sido capaz de generar el compuesto micromecenazgo para denominar el concepto de "crowdfunding", usémoslo pues. 

¿Por qué no denominarlo también Centro de Bicicletas de Sevilla?

Por otro lado, se adopta a veces la sintaxis inglesa (Mineralia’s, Leyendo Lorca, NO VIOLENCIA MACHISTA [Violencia machista NO], ¿Es usted un nomófobo? [¿Es usted nomófobo?]). A veces, llevada al extremo para conseguir nuevos usuarios de un servicio: “Genial. Pide tu taxi por la app. Mytaxi. La Taxi App,” con el posesivo inglés pronunciado en español /mitaksi/, y la sintaxis inglesa (taxi app) en lugar de “la aplicación del taxi”. Con todo, el español ha demostrado tener una cierta capacidad generativa de nuevo léxico: rapero, grafitero, bloguero, ochentero, armarizado, conspiranoico, guglear, y pronto diremos instagrameros y yutuberos, y se escribirán así, y sin cursiva.

Ejemplo de interferencia sintáctica

El grupo hotelero español Nuevos Hoteles o Grupo NH, como se denominaba en un principio, ha pasado a pronunciarse /ene ache ótels grup/, en el más puro espanglish, al transformarse en una empresa global. En sus mensajes grabados, la palabra hotels la pronuncian mal, sin h y la hacen llana, pronunciando con mayor intensidad la primera sílaba, cuando es aguda, tanto en inglés como en español, que la acentúan ambos prosódicamente en la última sílaba. Esta es una de las palabras que más les cuesta pronunciar a los estudiantes españoles de inglés, que cometen una y otra vez el mismo doble error. Seguro que a ninguna cadena francesa de hoteles se le ocurriría denominarse en inglés. Igualmente, la veterana empresa valenciana de muebles de diseño Andreu, ha pasado a llamarse Andreu World para competir en el mercado global. Todo por la pasta.

Ejemplo de interferencia léxica y fonética

2. Inglés en español. Si tenemos en cuenta que el inglés crece a un ritmo de diez nuevos vocablos diarios, esto nos puede dar una idea de cuánto debemos aplicarnos nosotros para hacer crecer también nuestra lengua y generar nuevos términos adecuados para denominar las nuevas realidades. Sostiene Javier Marías que Internet provoca pereza mental a la hora de usar la lengua con propiedad, y que tendemos a usar el primer término que se nos ocurre, sin mayor procesamiento ni discriminación léxica. Tal es el caso de bullying (cuya segunda sílaba algunos pronuncian como bullicio) o running (cuya primera sílaba otros pronuncian como rulo). Siempre se ha dicho matonismo, y siempre se ha salido a correr. Si ya nuestras abuelas decían ponible, nosotros no necesitamos decir wearable. Esta contaminación léxica se da, además, porque en la sociedad digital el número de lectores disminuye inexorablemente conforme aumenta el número de espectadores audiovisuales.

¿Por qué no mejor "Valencia, ciudad para correr"?

Por un lado, el calco literal de la sintaxis española provoca un uso incorrecto de la inglesa. Se trata de errores de ida y vuelta. Ejemplo de esta sintaxis españolizada es deducir que, porque se omita el artículo en español, debe omitirse también en inglés: al escribir “en USA” en lugar de “en EEUU”, algunos hablantes españoles de inglés acaban diciendo “in USA” en lugar de “in the USA”. Hay eslóganes erróneos por doquier que calcan literalmente la sintaxis española: Everybody Should Be Feminist (Everybody Should Be a Feminist), BECAUSE I AM DEMOCRAT (Because I Am a Democrat), BECAUSE IS MY RIGHT (Because It Is My Right).

Ejemplo de sintaxis espanglish

Un caso revelador de contaminación sintáctica espanglish es el siguiente: en inglés parking y camping son gerundios, pero no sustantivos. Sin embargo, ambos verbos se usan como sustantivos en español aunque no lo sean en inglés. El error de ida y vuelta se produce cuando el usuario español los usa como sustantivos en inglés, ignorando que esta lengua usa las expresiones car park/parking lot y campsite para referirse respectivamente a aparcamiento o cámping, provocando un error constante: finding a *parking/camping [finding a car park/ a campsite].

Por otro lado, la pronunciación españolizada de palabras inglesas hace que algunos hablantes utilicen fonemas ajenos al inglés al utilizar esta lengua, que, a la hora de aprender a hablarla, son muy difíciles de corregir (celebrity, city, walker). Se tiende a pronunciar el inglés en español debido al reducido abanico fonético del castellano, circunstancia agravada por no subtitular las ficciones fílmicas, ni las declaraciones orales en los noticieros, pues el locutor traduce simultáneamente impidiendo escuchar el audio original. Durante años los españoles se perdieron la oportunidad de disfrutar de la brillante oratoria de los Obama. Javier Marías tilda de pedantes a quienes “abrazan con papanatismo cualquier término inglés como si fuera una novedad absoluta, y como si antes de que ellos descubrieran el vocablo en esa lengua, lo denominado por él jamás hubiera existido en ningún sitio. La mitad de las veces estos inglesajos están mal utilizados (o pronunciados)”.

¿Por qué no mejor "Disfrute del Mercado de San Bernardo", o un rótulo bilingüe?

Los publicistas españoles, los periodistas deportivos, los traductores de manuales de instrucciones o los divulgadores de modas estéticas, estos últimos personas harto influyentes (ven cómo no hay por qué designarlas en inglés) prestan un flaco servicio al idioma y nos lo ponen difícil a los profesores de inglés, ya que en dichos ámbitos se abusa de términos prestados. Alex Grijelmo abunda en esta idea al señalar que “a los periodistas y a los empresarios [españoles] de hoy les gusta más el gregarismo de repetir una fórmula en inglés [el anglicismo] que el vanguardismo de inventar un término en español que se comprenda a la primera. Dejemos en manos de los psicólogos la tarea de estudiar si eso tendrá algo que ver con la falta de personalidad, con una actitud conformista a favor de la corriente o con el miedo a imaginar, a crear, a rebelarse”.

Lo correcto sería NO AL CONTRABANDO, o CONTRABANDO NO.

En resumen, leer poco equivale a desconocer la riqueza léxica del español, y a ser proclive a usar términos del inglés por la pereza para crear nuevos vocablos en español. Sin embargo, se hace más país usando la lengua como es debido que colgando banderas de los balcones. Por la misma razón, introducir españoladas cuando nos expresamos en inglés denota una pobreza idiomática que debemos evitar como hablantes en la sociedad global. cmg2018

PD: Anexo en construcción: Español en español