Question: Are liberals trolls too?

[Gothic Sponge]

In Yahoo chat there is an anti bush chat room. Most of the people in there talk about the same stuff as on DU. However, there are a bunch of bush trolls that spam BS. Now i see they have been posting BS on the Mike Malloy petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/xc1968u/petition.html

I haven't been to any conservative forums and don't even plan on it.
I adamantly disagree with repugs, but i'm not going to seek them out to troll. If a repug gets in my face that's another story. I want to know do liberals troll them the same way they do to us?

[La_Serpiente]

1. I don't troll

I may read their material, but I don't troll.

[Syrinx]

2. I've never seen it

But, then again, I never go to conservative forums. I do know that liberals can be assholes too, though.

[Voltaire99]

3. Reminds me of...

...the comment that Moby made the other day, which has got the Republicans in such an uproar. He encouraged people to go into pro-life chat rooms and spread anti-Bush messages. The RNC tried to tag the Kerry campaign for that.

The more I think about it, the better an idea it seems. US political discourse is far too insular. And the Internet only exacerbates the problem. Just how does anyone expect the absence of dialogue to help?

As in real life, there's far too much lockstep thought online. The root of the problem is that people don't wish to be challenged; they want to have their positions reaffirmed by like-minded peers. It's a cozy form of sleepwalking that does more for preserving political stagnation than fomenting change.

[DerBeppo]

4. while i do agree...

that ideological segregation has spread to the internet, i think "conservative" boards, chat rooms and websites should be given the same respect that is demanded here.

if a site has the same guidelines as this one, as far as it's a meeting place for like minded individuals, trolling them while retreating to the safety of DU would be pretty lame. That is, unless, you or those here who agree with moby's tactics, believe that DU should open its registration to those of opposing viewpoints and separate itself from adding to the lack of discourse between people with differing political ideologies.

if you want yours, let them have theirs--or, don't complain when those on the other side of the fence do the same thing when the tables are turned.

[notbush]

5. Yea I Troll

I troll all of the time . Every RW sight I can find.
YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR ENEMY.

[Serenity-NOW]

6. I think I may be guilty...

I posted a question on Freerepublic: "What is a broken glass republican" and they piled on, within two minutes the thread was moved and my account was yanked within four minutes.

The offensive thing I wrote in the thread was a response to an individual who said it meant they'd walk over broken glass to vote republican and I responded: "sounds painful, so that's the price of loyalty"and "it's interesting how many people are willing to vote against their best interests". So they booted me, Wah.

I thought that was pretty thin skinned considering the stuff they spew.

[0rganism]

7. only trolls troll

Most people I know don't have time to bother with trolling. It's an acquired taste, like going to expensive bars for cheap beer. Obviously, when one is trolling, the underlying trollishness trumps any consideration for actual ideology. A troll is not interested in genuine debate. The goal is to generate as much furor as possible with as little effort as possible, so spamming unpopular talking points (often via cut & paste) is common.

Since it's basically a malicious behavior, if there are liberal trolls I'd expect them to troll on conspicuously conservative websites. Conversely, on liberal websites, we're pestered with conservative trolls. C'est la vie.

[forgethell]

8. I visit FreeREpublic

from time to time. I don't bother to troll; I just want to see what they say. But, yeah, there are liberal trolls. They are just as repulsive as conservative trolls.

[slackmaster]

9. Trolls are inherently apolitical IMO

They'll say anything to anyone just to get the reaction they seek.