Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
This is why we can’t have nice things : mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream culture
Phillips W., The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2015. 256 pp. Type: Book (978-0-262028-94-3)
Date Reviewed: Sep 15 2015

An Internet troll is a person who derives satisfaction from creating an unpleasant online experience for others. This includes a wide variety of behaviors carried out for a wide variety of reasons. Trolls appear in chat rooms, on bulletin boards, in virtual worlds, and in social media. Exactly what constitutes trolling behavior, and hence trolls, varies in different online communities, and the general sense of trolling has changed over time. But it is safe to say that trolling behaviors can range from annoying, to very unpleasant, to incomprehensibly disturbing and anti-social.

This book is an ethnographic study of the trolling phenomenon from the early 2000s to the present, broken into three distinct phases: origins, golden years, and transition. The phenomenon is well documented with lots of stories and detailed cases. This is a good ethnographic study, which means that it is rich in detail and short on sense-making conceptual frameworks and satisfying conclusions. So if one is interested in trolling for research, this is an excellent source book; for the average reader, it can be a bit tedious and unsatisfying.

At the end, the author does throw a bone to the reader:

Trolls may be destructive and callous; they may represent privilege gone berserk; they may be a significant reason why we can’t have nice things online. But the uncomfortable fact is that trolls replicate behaviors and attitudes that in other contexts are actively celebrated. … They are born of and fueled by the mainstream world--its behavioral norms, its corporate institutions, its political structures and leaders--however much the mainstream might rankle at that suggestion.

Yes, yes, now we are getting somewhere; please go on. But sadly the book ends there. And the reader is left hanging, disturbed, and unsatisfied.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads

Reviewer:  J. M. Artz Review #: CR143770 (1512-1036)
Bookmark and Share
  Featured Reviewer  
 
Social And Behavioral Sciences (J.4 )
 
 
Abuse And Crime Involving Computers (K.4.1 ... )
 
 
Web-Based Interaction (H.5.3 ... )
 
 
World Wide Web (WWW) (H.3.4 ... )
 
 
Group And Organization Interfaces (H.5.3 )
 
 
Systems And Software (H.3.4 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Social And Behavioral Sciences": Date
Computers and history
Adman P., Halsted Press, New York, NY, 1987. Type: Book (9789780470208526)
Aug 1 1988
A guide to SPSS/PC+
Frude N., Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., New York, NY, 1987. Type: Book (9789780387913124)
May 1 1988
Relational data base structures and concept formation in the social sciences
Edward E. J. Computers and the Social Sciences 1(1): 29-49, 1985. Type: Article
Dec 1 1985
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy