109-408: The Gay Nigger Association of America ( GNAA ) was an internet trolling group. They targeted several prominent websites and internet personalities including Slashdot , Misplaced Pages , CNN , Barack Obama , Alex Jones , and prominent members of the blogosphere . They also released software products, and leaked screenshots and information about upcoming operating systems. In addition, they maintained
218-499: A Feminist Forum", point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature". Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality. Cyberbullying laws vary by state, as trolling
327-525: A G4 host or simply nominate their favorite personalities with the hashtag , #G4NeedsTalent. On November 16, 2020, G4 announced A Very Special G4 Holiday Reunion Special , a scripted special hosted by Ron Funches featuring interviews with Kevin Pereira , Olivia Munn, Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb , Kristin Adams , and Blair Herter . The special premiered on November 24 on Twitch and YouTube ; Syfy would also air
436-462: A certain cause, while subtly ridiculing it. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to their declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals , but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt within the group, sometimes by appealing to outrage culture . For example, a person who wishes to shame obese people , but disguises this impulse as concern for
545-436: A computer without authorization and one count of fraud. A co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, was released on bail. In June 2011, Spitler pleaded guilty on both counts after reaching a plea agreement with US attorneys. On November 20, 2012, Auernheimer was found guilty of one count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. These convictions were overturned on April 11, 2014, and Auernheimer
654-518: A concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community : Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroup's or forum's members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging
763-495: A form of deception-serving entertainment and its correlations to aggressive behaviour , katagelasticism , black humor , and the Dark tetrad . Trolling correlates positively with sadism , trait psychopathy , and Machiavellianism (see dark triad ). Trolls take pleasure from causing pain and emotional suffering . Their ability to upset or harm gives them a feeling of power. Psychological researches conducted in
872-537: A long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothings' method and effects: G4 (U.S. TV channel) G4 (also known as G4TV ) was an American pay television and digital network owned by NBCUniversal and later Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games . The network was originally owned by G4 Media , a joint venture between the NBCUniversal Cable division of NBCUniversal and Dish Network by
981-495: A marathon of Xplay , with segments from other G4 programs added during commercial breaks or between episodes. Similar to how the original network ended in 2014 with the first episode of Xplay from 2003, the final full episode to air was the first episode from the Xplay relaunch in 2021. This was followed by a zoomed-out photo of former Attack of the Show host Gina Darling's forehead, with
1090-562: A marathon of the original Ninja Warrior , occasionally featuring reruns of the Very Special G4 Holiday Reunion Special from the previous year. The Catastrophic Launch Special was broadcast on the network's Twitch and YouTube channels that same evening, before airing on the cable network on the next day. On March 7, 2022, G4 launched a FAST channel on Pluto TV called G4 Select, which carries most of G4's regular programming. As part of an exclusive partnership,
1199-547: A month prior, that NBCUniversal had plans to discontinue G4's operations as of the October 10 date, though only the discontinuation of carriage by Cablevision occurred. Late in October 2013, Charter Communications , which was one of the charter carriers of TechTV when it was a sister of that network under the ownership of Vulcan Ventures, announced its intention to drop G4 on December 17; sister network Cloo replaced G4 on its systems. On November 1, 2013, Dish Network removed it from
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#17328839394801308-511: A new competitive series hosted by Xavier "King" Woods / Austin Creed in partnership with WWE to air in the fall. On April 11, Esports shoutcaster, The Titan Games commentator and former AEW commentator Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez was announced to be joining the network as a new host. On April 14, 2021, G4 announced that Ninja Warrior , an English-dubbed version of the Japanese show SASUKE (itself
1417-607: A new host. On October 12, 2021, it was announced that G4's cable network would officially return on November 16, 2021. In November 2021, it was announced that airings of select episodes of the web series Scott the Woz would air on G4 in one-hour blocks. The show was scheduled to debut on December 7, 2021, at 6:30 pm EST but due to technical difficulties involving Amazon Web Services , it did not air in that timeslot. The show would officially debut at 10:30 pm EST . The network officially relaunched on November 16 at 6 a.m. EST, with
1526-458: A poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group. Whitney Phillips observes in This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping
1635-887: A pro-GNAA message. In January 2013, the GNAA collaborated with users on the imageboard 4chan to start a "#cut4bieber" trend on Twitter, encouraging fans of Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber to practice self-harm . From 2014 into 2015, GNAA members began playing an active role in the Gamergate controversy , sabotaging efforts made by pro-Gamergate parties. Several GNAA members were able to gain administrative access to 8chan 's (an imageboard associated with Gamergate) primary Gamergate board, which they disrupted and ultimately closed. The GNAA also claimed responsibility for releasing private information related to many pro-Gamergate activists. On October 13, 2016, GNAA member Meepsheep vandalized Misplaced Pages to cause
1744-524: A publicly available script with HTTP requests containing randomly generated ICC-IDs , which would then return the associated email address. The FBI soon investigated the incident. This investigation led to the arrest of then-GNAA President, Andrew 'weev' Auernheimer, on unrelated drug charges resulting from an FBI search of his home. In January 2011, the Department of Justice announced that Auernheimer would be charged with one count of conspiracy to access
1853-504: A round-table discussion regarding antisemitism and an interview with the father of a Jewish 9/11 victim. The GNAA-owned website said that "over 4,000" Jews were absent from work at the World Trade Center on 9/11. On February 11, 2007, an attack was launched on the website of US presidential candidate (and future US president) Barack Obama , where the group's name was caused to appear on the website's front page. In late January 2010,
1962-406: A satirical program focusing on current gaming-related news. In March, the network also began livestreaming on both Twitch and YouTube, where its hosts interact with the audience and do watch-alongs to new B4G4 videos. On April 2, 2021, G4 uploaded a video on their YouTube channel revealing the return of "Epic April", a month dedicated to new announcements. On April 5, G4 revealed the development of
2071-431: A series of modem-linked computers. CommuniTree was begun in 1978 but was closed in 1982 when accessed by high school teenagers, becoming a ground for trashing and abuse. Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals. Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling
2180-604: A single individual, but rather targets multiple members of a discussion. Trolling can be easily identified by its offensive content, intended to provoke an emotional reaction from an audience. Organizations and countries may utilize trolls to manipulate public opinion as part and parcel of an astroturfing initiative. When trolling is sponsored by the government, it is often called state-sponsored Internet propaganda or state-sponsored trolling. Teams of sponsored trolls are sometimes referred to as sockpuppet armies. A 2016 study by Harvard political scientist Gary King reported that
2289-459: A software repository and a wiki-based site dedicated to internet commentary. Members of the GNAA also founded Goatse Security , a grey hat information security group. Members of Goatse Security released information in June 2010 about email addresses on AT&T 's website from people who had subscribed to mobile data service using the iPad . After the vulnerability was disclosed, the then-president of
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#17328839394802398-676: A still game of Pong etched onto it and text reading, "G4" and "Thanks 4 watching!," along with Kassem G's deadpan voice saying "I'm at Comic-Con." referencing the first time the network stopped transmitting. A screen reading "THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!" was set to appear after midnight, however Fios cut their signal just seconds prior to midnight, ending in the middle of the sign-off. In addition to video game culture , G4's programming encompassed geek , fandom , genre , and general audience shows aimed at young adults. The network primarily livestreams its original programming on their Twitch and YouTube channels. These livestreams are edited to air on
2507-481: A troll used in mainland China is pēn zi ( Chinese : 噴子 ; lit. 'sprayer', 'spurter'). In Hebrew the word טרול refers both to internet trolls, who engage in disruptive behavior on social media and online platforms, or to the mythical creatures similar to trolls found in European mythology. The word is also inflected into a verb form, להטריל , which means to engage in trolling behavior on
2616-409: A vehicle for unconventional advertising. In 2002, G4 offered advertisers wide latitude to place their products on G4's programs, and even allowed their commercials to appear as if they were a part of the program . G4 offered what was called a "2 minute unit", which was an advertising package played as if it were part of a G4 program that was long enough to run an entire movie trailer. G4 offered to sell
2725-469: Is a significant predictor of trolling behaviour, alongside trait psychopathy and sadism to be significant positive predictors. Moreover, these studies have shown that people who enjoy trolling online tend to also enjoy hurting other people in everyday life, therefore corroborating a longstanding and persistent pattern of psychopathological sadism. A psychoanalytic and sexologic study on the phenomenon of Internet trolling asserts that anonymity increases
2834-537: Is considered a platform of good taste and professionalism, companies searching for personal information by promoting jobs that were not real and fake accounts posting political messages has caught the company off guard. Researcher Ben Radford wrote about the phenomenon of clowns in history and the modern day in his book Bad Clowns , and found that "bad clowns" have evolved into Internet trolls. They do not dress up as traditional clowns but, for their own amusement, they tease and exploit "human foibles" in order to speak
2943-421: Is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time . Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed repeatedly, but new subscribers to
3052-594: Is needed, according to the NATO report, because "they have relatively blind trust in Misplaced Pages sources and are not able to filter information that comes from platforms they consider authoritative." While Russian-language hybrid trolls use the Misplaced Pages troll message design to promote anti-Western sentiment in comments, they "mostly attack aggressively to maintain emotional attachment to issues covered in articles." Discussions about topics other than international sanctions during
3161-453: Is not a crime under U.S. federal law. In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. Reuters , Facebook , and Gizmodo ) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses. Trolling itself has become its own form of Internet subculture and has developed its own set of rituals, rules, specialized language, and dedicated spaces of practice. The appeal of trolling primarily comes from
3270-411: Is not always effective. Some argue that trolls may interpret a lack of response as a weakness and escalate their harassment. Reporting the troll to the platform administrators may be necessary in such cases. Most online platforms have guidelines against harassment and abuse, and reporting the troll can lead to their account being suspended or banned. There are competing theories of where and when "troll"
3379-449: Is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group. According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter, England, and Groningen, The Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group , who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to
Gay Nigger Association of America - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-692: Is the same as playing chess with a pigeon : it defecates on the table, drops the pieces and simply flies off, claiming victory." In Thai , the term krian ( เกรียน ) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. According to the Royal Institute of Thailand , the term, which literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by schoolboys in Thailand, is from the behaviour of these schoolboys who usually gather to play online games and, during which, make annoying, disruptive, impolite, or unreasonable expressions. Early incidents of trolling were considered to be
3597-423: Is true, but the way it is expressed gives it a completely different meaning to its readers." Unlike "classic trolls", Misplaced Pages trolls "have no emotional input, they just supply misinformation " and are one of "the most dangerous" as well as one of "the most effective trolling message designs." Even among people who are "emotionally immune to aggressive messages" and apolitical, "training in critical thinking "
3706-535: The G4 television show Attack of the Show . The ISO image released via BitTorrent merely booted a shock image instead of the leaked operating system. On February 3, 2007, the GNAA successfully managed to convince CNN reporter Paula Zahn that "one in three Americans" believe that the September 11, 2001, terror attacks were carried out by Israeli agents . CNN subsequently ran a story erroneously reporting this, involving
3815-527: The HBO television program The Newsroom , in which a main character encounters harassing persons online and tries to infiltrate their circles by posting negative sexual comments. Application of the term troll is subjective . Some readers may characterize a post as trolling , while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. More potent acts of trolling are blatant harassment or off-topic banter. However,
3924-473: The Hearst Corporation , owner of Esquire magazine, to relaunch G4 into Esquire Network which would air shows aimed at a metrosexual audience about travel, cooking, fashion and non-sports related male programming, including the addition of acquired and archive NBCU content such as Party Down , Parks and Recreation , and week-delayed episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon . The rebranding
4033-644: The NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence on hybrid warfare notes that the Russo-Ukrainian War "demonstrated how fake identities and accounts were used to disseminate narratives through social media, blogs, and web commentaries in order to manipulate, harass, or deceive opponents." The NATO report describes that a "Misplaced Pages troll" uses a type of message design where a troll does not add "emotional value" to reliable "essentially true" information in re-posts, but presents it "in
4142-471: The male genitalia , where genitalia that is pale white in color represents that someone is young, and thus foolish. Both terms originate from Taiwan , and are also used in Hong Kong and mainland China . Another term, xiǎo bái ( Chinese : 小白 ; lit. 'little white'), is a derogatory term for both bái mù and bái làn that is used on anonymous posting Internet forums. Another common term for
4251-403: The "G4techTV" branding and would retain the brand until 2009. In September 2005, Neal Tiles replaced Hirschhorn as the channel's president. Tiles had previously been a senior marketing executive at DirecTV , Fox Sports and ESPN . He announced that G4 would be retooled as a male-oriented channel, stating that "guys like to play games, but not necessarily watch a bunch of shows with games on
4360-466: The "truth" and gain a reaction. Like clowns in make-up, Internet trolls hide behind "anonymous accounts and fake usernames". In their eyes, they are the trickster and are performing for a nameless audience via the Internet. Studies conducted in the fields of human–computer interaction and cyberpsychology by other researchers have corroborated Radford's analysis on the phenomenon of Internet trolling as
4469-456: The Chinese government's 50 Cent Party creates 440 million pro-government social media posts per year. The report said that government employees were paid to create pro-government posts around the time of national holidays to avoid mass political protests. The Chinese Government ran an editorial in the state-funded Global Times defending censorship and 50 Cent Party trolls. A 2016 study for
Gay Nigger Association of America - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-544: The G4 website's program schedule was added to that particular episode saying "Thanks for watching G4." The network would cease broadcasting with a game of Pong on the screen, referencing the network's launch, gradually getting smaller and smaller before becoming just a small dot, followed by the sound of San Diego Comic-Con attendee Ramses to Kevin Pereira shouting " I'’M AT COMIC CON!! ", (possibly alluding to G4 dying and going to Comic-Con, occasionally nicknamed "nerd heaven"), as
4687-599: The GNAA as a group. In her 2017 book Troll Hunting, Australian journalist Ginger Gorman identified the president of the GNAA as an individual from Colorado known as "Meepsheep." Known former presidents of the GNAA were security researcher Jaime "asshurtmacfags" Cochran, who also co-founded the hacking group "Rustle League," and "timecop," founder of the anime fansub group "Dattebayo." Other members included former president Andrew " weev " Auernheimer, Daniel "JacksonBrown" Spitler, and former spokesman Leon Kaiser. GNAA has also been documented as having been loosely affiliated with
4796-529: The GNAA began a trolling campaign in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on the US East Coast, spreading fake photographs and tweets of alleged looters in action. After the GNAA published a press-release detailing the incident, mainstream media outlets began detailing how the prank was carried out. On December 3, the GNAA was identified as being responsible for a cross-site scripting attack on Tumblr that resulted in thousands of Tumblr blogs being defaced with
4905-572: The GNAA used a then-obscure phenomenon known as cross-protocol scripting (a combination of cross-site scripting and inter-protocol exploitation ) to cause users of the Freenode IRC network to unknowingly flood IRC channels after visiting websites containing inter-protocol exploits. They also have used a combination of inter-protocol, cross-site, and integer overflow bugs in both the Firefox and Safari web browsers to flood IRC channels. On October 30,
5014-508: The GNAA, weev , and a GNAA member, "JacksonBrown", were arrested. The group was run by a president. New media researcher Andrew Lih stated that it was unclear whether or not there was initially a clearly defined group of GNAA members, or if founding and early members of the GNAA were online troublemakers united under the name in order to disrupt websites. However, professor Jodi Dean and Ross Cisneros claimed that they were an organized group of anti-blogging trolls. Reporters also referred to
5123-508: The Internet has existed. In modern English usage, " trolling " may describe the fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat, whereas trawling describes the generally commercial act of dragging a fishing net. Early non-Internet slang use of "trolling" can be found in the military: by 1972 the term "trolling for MiGs " was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam . It referred to use of "...decoys, with
5232-572: The Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture that certain behaviors are consistent among different types of trolls. First, trolls of the subcultural variety self-identify as trolls. Trolls are also motivated by what is known as lulz , a type of unsympathetic, ambiguous laughter. The final behavior is the insistent need for anonymity. According to Phillips, anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviors they would not replicate in professional or public settings, with
5341-415: The Show ), though eventually those duties were taken over by the editorial staff of X-Play . G4's website previously featured game trailers and reviews, select video clips of its original shows, and web original programming. The website continued providing entertainment-related news articles until May 31, 2013, with the last article posted on G4's website as a replacement for the site's schedule section,
5450-436: The Show! and X-Play began, with Kevin Pereira and Adam Sessler returning to host their respective series; these involved humorous sketches for AOTS and Let's Plays with other gaming-based streamers and YouTubers alongside Sessler for X-Play . On the same day, it was announced that Esports shoutcasters Indiana "Froskurinn" Black and Ovilee May would be the network's new hosts, helming the series The Bleep Esports Show -
5559-514: The Show! and X-Play would be revived due to high demand from fans. They also gave a tentative date of Summer 2021 for the network's relaunch. The following day, the company launched the B4G4 brand, featuring short-form experimental content on YouTube and Twitter created to gain feedback from audiences that would help determine the shows for G4's relaunch. On February 12, 2021, the B4G4 iterations of Attack of
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#17328839394805668-487: The Show: Vibe Check , the network fully sunsetting operations on October 21, ending two minutes into Smosh ; G4 Select would later cease on Vizio. G4 in itself left Philo , YouTube TV , Xfinity , and Cox prior to the shutdown, with Fios being the last to carry the network until the true discontinuation date, November 18, 2022, two days after the first anniversary of the re-launch. The final programs aired were
5777-977: The Ukrainian crisis "attracted very aggressive trolling" and became polarized, according to the NATO report, which "suggests that in subjects in which there is little potential for re-educating audiences, emotional harm is considered more effective" for pro-Russian Latvian-language trolls. A 2016 study on fluoridation decision-making in Israel coined the term "Uncertainty Bias" to describe the efforts of power in government, public health and media to aggressively advance agendas by misrepresentation of historical and scientific fact. The authors noted that authorities tended to overlook or to deny situations that involve uncertainty while making unscientific arguments and disparaging comments in order to undermine opposing positions. The New York Times reported in late October 2018 that Saudi Arabia used an online army of Twitter trolls to harass
5886-458: The aforementioned providers continued airing the network until the alleged cutoff date (or when their contracts with G4 were fully exhausted), ending all carriage of the network from cable providers and cable television services. The final day of G4 in its previous iteration was a marathon of the Top 100 Video Games of All Time, followed by the last program being the debut episode of X-Play . A note on
5995-459: The book Interface Culture , and a paper by Judith Donath in 1999. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied " virtual community " such as Usenet : In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter. Donath provides
6104-535: The building's residents contacted GNAA to "fight back" against Bumble after multiple complaints regarding the company's activities were ignored. The dispute resulted in Bumble choosing to relocate from the building, which GNAA claimed credit for in a press release the group spammed across several websites via clickjacking . Several members of the GNAA with expertise in grey hat computer security research began releasing information about several software vulnerabilities under
6213-654: The channel would also feature new content catered to free, linear streaming audiences. The channel was later added to Vizio 's WatchFree platform on June 16, 2022. On October 16, 2022, it was announced that G4 would be ceasing operations after relaunching the previous year. Several factors that led to G4's discontinuation ranged from low viewership, a lack of audience strategy, ever-changing and absent leadership, competition with streaming content creators on YouTube and Twitch , cord-cutting , underpromotion, and high expenditures. G4 Select would be removed from Pluto TV on October 19, 2022, during an episode of Attack of
6322-470: The controversial views they claim. Farhad Manjoo criticises this view, noting that if the person is trolling, they are more intelligent than their critics would believe. One common strategy for dealing with online trolls is to ignore them. This approach, known as "don't feed the trolls," is based on the idea that trolls seek attention and reactions. By withholding these, the troll may lose interest and stop their disruptive behavior. However, ignoring trolls
6431-571: The dot shut off like an analog TV alongside the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong 's death sounds and the Game Boy start-up chime, thus symbolically ending the network with a "game over". On July 24, 2020, the Twitter accounts of G4, Attack of the Show! and X-Play were reactivated to post a teaser video announcing a revival of the network slated for 2021. The teaser was released during "Comic-Con@Home",
6540-415: The effectiveness of trolling often being dependent upon the target's lack of anonymity. This can include the disclosure of real-life attachments, interests, and vulnerabilities of the target. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup or online forum, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the online community. In a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where
6649-504: The entries for Bill and Hillary Clinton to be overlapped with pornographic images and a message endorsing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump . In August 2017, GNAA was named as having been involved in a feud between employees of the popular dating app Bumble , and tenants of the apartment building in Austin, Texas where the company was, at the time, illegally headquartered. Joseph Bernstein of BuzzFeed News reported that one of
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#17328839394806758-425: The eye cannot see, and trolling involves blindly talking nonsense over the Internet, having total disregard to sensitivities or being oblivious to the situation at hand, akin to having eyes without pupils. An alternative term is bái làn ( Chinese : 白爛 ; lit. 'white rot'), which describes a post completely nonsensical and full of folly made to upset others, and derives from a Taiwanese slang term for
6867-551: The fields of personality psychology and cyberpsychology report that trolling behaviour qualifies as an anti-social behaviour and is strongly correlated to sadistic personality disorder (SPD). Researches have shown that men , compared with women , are more likely to perpetrate trolling behaviour; these gender differences in online anti-social behaviour may be a reflection of gender stereotypes , where agentic characteristics such as competitiveness and dominance are encouraged in men . The results corroborated that gender (male)
6976-421: The first virtual streaming edition of San Diego Comic-Con . G4's website was reopened with a playable game of Pong which, if won, redirected to a mailing list to sign up for updates and a free shirt promo code. The campaign was in-reference to the network's original launch in 2002 and their shutdown in 2014. Comcast would transfer operations of G4 from NBCUniversal to its Spectacor division (former owners of
7085-615: The group created an article about the group, while adhering to Misplaced Pages's rules and policies, a process Andrew Lih says "essentially [used] the system against itself." Another method included attacking many Internet Relay Chat channels and networks using different IRC flooding techniques. The GNAA also produced shock sites containing malware . One such site, "Last Measure," contained embedded malware that opened up "an endless cascade of pop-up windows displaying pornography or horrific medical pictures." They also performed proof of concept demonstrations. These actions occasionally interrupted
7194-488: The group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution. One of the most notorious AFU trollers, David Mikkelson, went on to create the urban folklore website Snopes.com . By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort
7303-515: The health of overweight people, could be considered a concern troll. A verifiable example of concern trolling within politics occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a member of staff for then-Congressman Charles Bass ( R - N.H. ), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes , on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass
7412-436: The incidence of the trolling behaviour, and that "the internet is becoming a medium to invest our anxieties and not thinking about the repercussions of trolling and affecting the victims mentally and incite a sense of guilt and shame within them". Concern trolls pretend to be sympathetic to a certain point of view which they are actually critical of. A concern troll will often declare an interest in joining or allying with
7521-450: The intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception, thus acting as a bully or a provocateur . The behavior is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or purposefully causing confusion or harm to other people. Trolling behaviors involve tactical aggression to incite emotional responses, which can adversely affect
7630-626: The internet or social media. In Icelandic , þurs (a thurs ) or tröll (a troll ) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may be used. In Japanese , tsuri ( 釣り ) means "fishing" and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. Arashi ( 荒らし ) means "laying waste" and can also be used to refer to simple spamming . In Korean , nak-si (낚시) means "fishing" and refers to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposely misleading post titles. A person who recognizes
7739-496: The late Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other critics of the Saudi government. In October 2018, The Daily Telegraph reported that Facebook "banned hundreds of pages and accounts which it says were fraudulently flooding its site with partisan political content – although they came from the US instead of being associated with Russia." While corporate networking site LinkedIn
7848-435: The level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure." Someone who brings something off topic into the conversation in order to make that person mad is trolling. The practice of trolling has been documented by a number of academics since the 1990s. This included Steven Johnson in 1997 in
7957-460: The linear television channel and video on demand platforms the next day. The television channel's programming currently features reruns of past G4 shows, as well as other acquired programs. Pulse was a prerecorded weekly news show that focused on the gaming industry that aired on G4. In November 2004, along with other G4techTV programs, the show was cancelled. News segments were merged with revamped version of The Screen Savers (later Attack of
8066-459: The lineup with Esquire Network replacing G4, ending all carriage of the network from direct broadcast satellite services. Cox ceased carriage of G4 in all markets on December 31, 2013. Comcast removed G4 from all its cable and satellite systems nationwide on January 6, 2014; the network continued to be carried on other cable systems. Certain cable operators reported that the network would end all on-air operations on November 30, 2014, and
8175-625: The mission of drawing...fire away..." The contemporary use of the term is said to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s, but the earliest known attestation according to the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1992. The context of the quote cited in the Oxford English Dictionary sets the origin in Usenet in the early 1990s as in the phrase "trolling for newbies", as used in alt.folklore.urban (AFU). Commonly, what
8284-428: The name "Goatse Security." The group chose to publish their work under a separate name because they thought that they would not be taken seriously. In June 2010, Goatse Security attracted mainstream media attention for their discovery of at least 114,000 unsecured email addresses registered to Apple iPad devices for early adopters of Apple's 3G iPad service. The data was aggregated from AT&T's own servers by feeding
8393-415: The normal operation of popular websites. In July 2004, two GNAA members submitted leaked screenshots of the upcoming operating system Mac OS X v10.4 to the popular Macintosh news website MacRumors . In June 2005, the GNAA announced that it had created a Mac OS X Tiger release for Intel x86 processors which caught media attention from various sources. The next day, the supposed leak was mentioned on
8502-430: The now-defunct PRISM regional premium cable television channel). On August 12, 2020, Olivia Munn , the former co-host of Attack of the Show! , was reportedly in final talks for a multi-year deal with G4. On September 4, 2020, the official G4 YouTube channel uploaded a video featuring former X-Play host Adam Sessler as one of his fictional characters, Crazy Adam, asking for fans to submit applications to become
8611-447: The original Japanese version of American Ninja Warrior ), would be returning to the network with 3 new tournaments and a total of 167 episodes. On April 19, comedian and YouTuber Kassem G was announced to be joining the network as a new host. On April 28, Adam Sessler and Kassem G revealed during a livestream that cosplayer Jefferson "Jeffersawrus" Carvey was the network's first #G4NeedsTalent hire. Its final "Epic April" announcement
8720-549: The primary reason for dropping of the channel. DirecTV commented that it was "...unable to reach an agreement to continue carrying the G4 channel and it has been removed from the DirecTV channel lineup." It was reported that the UFC and WWE were in separate talks to buy G4 in 2011. The UFC eventually partnered with Fox , while WWE launched its own network on February 24, 2014. On January 5, 2012, Neal Tiles stepped down as CEO. He
8829-427: The rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trolling. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusations are unfounded, being branded a troll may be damaging to one's online reputation. Susan Herring and colleagues, in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in
8938-435: The right to have a game showcased on the show Pulse . On March 25, 2004, Vulcan Inc. announced that G4 Media would acquire TechTV and merge the two networks. The combined network was rebranded as G4techTV . On February 15, 2005, less than a year after the merger, the "TechTV" brand was dropped from the channel's name. A Canadian version of TechTV, originally launched on September 7, 2001, would also be relaunched under
9047-464: The same as flaming , but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary, NetLingo, suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling. The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on
9156-401: The satirical wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica . The group's name incited controversy and was described as "causing immediate alarm in anyone with a semblance of good taste," "intentionally offensive," and "spectacularly offensive." The group denied allegations of racism and homophobia, explaining that the name was intended to sow disruption on the internet and challenge social norms (claiming it
9265-601: The screen". Comcast announced on October 12, 2006, that it would consolidate its west coast entertainment operations, including G4, E! and Style Network into a new group headed by Ted Harbert , who had formerly run E!. It was announced that the upper management of the G4 channel would relocate to E!'s Los Angeles office. Harbert gave his opinion at the time that the focus of the channel on "gaming has been demonstrated as being too narrow." In April 2007, G4, in association with Earth911, launched an electronic-waste -recycling campaign called Gcycle. On February 17, 2009, it
9374-494: The special on November 27. At the special's end, wrestler Xavier "King" Woods / Austin Creed would be the first newly announced host for G4's relaunch, after beginning a campaign on Twitter to become a G4 personality in August 2020. On the same day of the special's premiere, G4 launched Gravython , a charity drive that would be raising funds for a variety of community partners. On January 28, 2021, G4 announced that both Attack of
9483-475: The summer. In May 2013, the launch date was pushed to September 23, 2013, with its first program being an 80th anniversary special for Esquire . On September 9, 2013, news broke that NBCUniversal would instead replace the Style Network with Esquire Network, leaving G4 "as is for the foreseeable future, though it's highly unlikely the company will invest in more original programming". On September 23, 2013, G4
9592-461: The target's well-being. In this context, the noun and the verb forms of "troll" are frequently associated with Internet discourse. Recently, media attention has equated trolling with online harassment . The Courier-Mail and The Today Show have used "troll" to mean "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families". In addition, depictions of trolling have been included in popular fictional works, such as
9701-598: The term Internet troll has also been applied to information warfare, hate speech, and even political activism . The " Trollface " is an image occasionally used to indicate trolling in Internet culture. The word is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to anyone with controversial or differing opinions. Such usage goes against the ordinary meaning of troll in multiple ways. While psychologists have determined that psychopathological sadism , dark triad , and dark tetrad personality traits are common among Internet trolls, some observers claim that trolls do not believe
9810-509: The thrill of how long one can keep the ruse going before getting caught, and exposed as a troll. When understood this way, Internet trolls are less like vulgar, indiscriminate bullies, and closer to countercultural respondents to a (so called) overly sensitive public. The main elements of why people troll are interactions; trolling exists in the interactive communications between Internet users, influencing people's views both from objective and emotional standpoints. Further, trolling does not target
9919-489: The time of the channel's initial closure, and first launched on April 24, 2002. In late 2012, G4's studio programming ceased in preparation for a planned relaunch as Esquire Network , as part of a licensing deal with Hearst Corporation , owner of Esquire magazine. Esquire Network would ultimately replace Style Network instead, on September 23, 2013. G4 announced in November 2014 that it would end all operations. The network
10028-427: The troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title, nak-si , having read the actual post) would often refer to themselves as a caught fish. In Portuguese , more commonly in its Brazilian variant, troll (pronounced [ˈtɾɔw] in most of Brazil as spelling pronunciation ) is the usual term to denote Internet trolls (examples of common derivate terms are trollismo or trollagem , "trolling", and
10137-428: The verb trollar , "to troll", which entered popular use), but an older expression, used by those which want to avoid anglicisms or slangs , is complexo do pombo enxadrista to denote trolling behavior, and pombos enxadristas (literally, "chessplayer pigeons") or simply pombos are the terms used to name the trolls. The terms are explained by an adage or popular saying: "Arguing with fulano (i.e., John Doe )
10246-399: The word troll to describe those that deliberately harass or provoke other Internet users, similar to the modern sense of the word. In Chinese , trolling is referred to as bái mù ( Chinese : 白目 ; lit. 'white eye'), which can be straightforwardly explained as "eyes without pupils", in the sense that while the pupil of the eye is used for vision, the white section of
10355-509: The wrong context, intending the audience to draw false conclusions." For example, information, without context, from Misplaced Pages about the military history of the United States "becomes value-laden if it is posted in the comment section of an article criticizing Russia for its military actions and interests in Ukraine. The Misplaced Pages troll is 'tricky', because in terms of actual text, the information
10464-409: Was November 18, 2022. G4 was launched on April 24, 2002, under the ownership of Comcast . The initial concept was to create a service similar to rival TechTV but targeted at 12-to-34-year-olds, an elusive demographic. The channel was soft launched with a week-long series of Pong matches. It was initially available to three million Comcast subscribers, and offered 13 half-hour programs. G4
10573-475: Was announced during Comic-Con 2010 that G4 would be the exclusive North American broadcaster of Marvel Anime , which made its television debut in 2011. During the week of July 26-August 1, 2010, G4 changed its logo to 4G as a promotion for Sprint Nextel 's next generation wireless internet service. On November 1, 2010, DirecTV announced that it had removed G4 from its channel lineup, citing low interest among their subscriber base and low Nielsen ratings as
10682-414: Was created and originally led by Charles Hirschhorn , a former president of Walt Disney Television and Television Animation . He expected video game creators themselves to eventually produce programming for the channel. He envisioned that G4 could follow in the footsteps of MTV, which provided music video producers with a venue for non-traditional television programming. Hirschhorn intended G4 to become
10791-507: Was derived from the 1992 Danish satirical blaxploitation film Gayniggers from Outer Space ). In an interview on the OfFenzive podcast, president Weev recalled an anecdote where the organization did actually once contain a member that was a homosexual black male. The GNAA used many different methods of trolling. One was to simply " crapflood " a weblog's comment form with text consisting of repeated words and phrases . On Misplaced Pages, members of
10900-506: Was dropped by Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (Bright House carriage contracts were negotiated by Time Warner Cable), citing the network's low viewership as "(not a) good value for our customers". Verizon FiOS discontinued the channel on October 1, 2013, and Cablevision did so on October 10, 2013, pursuant to a filing with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (that state's utility service regulator)
11009-635: Was first used in Internet slang, with numerous unattested accounts of BBS and Usenet origins in the early 1980s or before. The English noun "troll" in the standard sense of ugly dwarf or giant dates to 1610 and originates from the Old Norse word " troll " meaning giant or demon . The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales: antisocial, quarrelsome and slow-witted creatures which make life difficult for travelers. Trolls have existed in folklore and fantasy literature for centuries, and online trolling has been around for as long as
11118-459: Was frowned upon. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. The noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling – or to the resulting discussion – rather than to the author, though some posts punned on the dual meaning of troll. The August 26, 1997 strip of webcomic Kevin and Kell used
11227-430: Was made on the 30th, where Virtual YouTuber and livestreamer character CodeMiko , along with her creator known only as "The Technician", would be joining as a new host. On May 5, 2021, G4 was announced to be the official broadcaster of Dungeons & Dragons Live , airing on July 16 and 17. On May 14, YouTuber and podcaster Gina Darling was revealed during a livestream with Adam Sessler and Kassem G to be joining as
11336-429: Was originally shut down on December 31 , 2014. By August 2013, it was reported that approximately 61,217,000 American households (53.61% of households with television) were receiving the network. On July 24, 2020, a revival of the G4 brand was announced; the network relaunched on November 16, 2021. On October 16, 2022, it was announced that Comcast would soon be shutting down the network. Its final day of operation
11445-408: Was replaced by former NBCUniversal marketing chief Adam Stotsky. Long-time employees Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira both departed the network during the first half of 2012. On October 26, 2012, it was announced that X-Play and Attack of the Show! would be cancelled by the end of the year, ending G4's studio programming. In December 2012, NBCUniversal signed a brand licensing deal with
11554-447: Was reported that G4 intended to cut back its original programming. X-Play would be reduced to three nights a week while Attack of the Show! would be cut to four nights a week. Consequently, a number of the staff and production crew involved in the shows would be laid off. Layla Kayleigh also left G4 in April 2009 after Neal Tiles announced that her contract would not be renewed. It
11663-403: Was scheduled to take place on April 22, 2013, but was moved to an unspecified date in the summer on April 15, 2013. Network general manager Adam Stotsky stated the rebranding was pushed back in order to have a broader original series slate to launch with than would have been available for the April launch. Stotsky confirmed that a new season of American Ninja Warrior would air on the network in
11772-488: Was subsequently released from prison. Internet trolling In slang , a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media , a newsgroup , a forum , a chat room , an online video game ) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and motivations of trolls can range from benign to sadistic. These messages can be inflammatory, insincere , digressive , extraneous , or off-topic , and may have
11881-531: Was unbeatable. Hodes eventually won the election. Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar offline behaviors. For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal . Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to what Saul Alinsky calls "Do-Nothings", giving
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