Reply #32: malicious intent

[Rich Hunt]

It's not the 'hate' that's the problem, it's the malicious intent at the source of the hate, which is easily concealed but will come out in some people's language when those people start feeling some pressure. There's a certain tension in their language that eventually erupts into hysteria and obsessive behavior.

"Malicious intent" is an excellent phrase to describe what goes on in those threads.

Ever enter a thread and just feel like the whole thing was toxic? But then you go and look at the individual posts and see that only a handful of people on the thread are truly provocateurs. Then another 'toxic' thread starts and you have the same characters obsessing on the same topic and repeating the same phrases over and over again.

I'm sure there's some psychological literature out there somewhere that explains this personality. I just see it on all kinds of message boards. I used to see it on Usenet a lot, and DU reminds me more of Usenet (minus the trolling) than any other forum I go to. I guess because it's a political board, and political boards attract provocateurs. If anybody thinks that sort of thing doesn't happen on DU, they're either lying or dreaming.

Makes me wish I'd double-majored in psychology in college.