Public Service Announcement for Those Who Have Not Yet Made a New Year’s Resolution
Here’s the thinking behind trollish comments. The troll can dash off a quick one-liner — never more than a dozen words, half of them insults — post it in several dozen places, then sit back and watch sane people waste their time composing well-reasoned paragraphs in response. Then the troll might throw another occasional 1-liner into the conversation to spark another spate of time-wasting restatements of obvious facts, cogent logic, and sensible reasoning, with the bonus that some of those will actually quote the troll’s own words, thereby giving them yet another public exposure. The real bonus comes when the trollish comment gets so many responses that it gets promoted to that strip’s “featured comment” of the day, where it’ll be the ONLY one that 98% of the visitors to the strip will ever see. (Don’t believe me? Take a look at those little icons at the upper right. The word balloon tells you how many people commented on the strip; the heart tells you how many just liked it and moved on; and the number who just read it but didn’t bother with anything more than the featured comment is undoubtedly much larger than that.)
So: Minimal investment of the troll’s time for maximal wastage of yours. Strictly a winning proposition for them, under a cost-benefit analysis. And nothing gives them more joy in life than poking the anthill and watching all the ensuing scurrying.
In the coming year, resolve not to feed the trolls. It encourages and delights them and keeps them coming back again and again.
Maybe Caufield has figured out what I already have. If there are several explanations for something that people do, the most cynical explanation is most likely to be correct.
Kiba65 over 1 year ago
I’ve kept my resolutions, I’m still drinking!!!
Erse IS better over 1 year ago
I see what Mallett did there. I’d have preferred it without the question mark.
Richard S Russell Premium Member over 1 year ago
Public Service Announcement for Those Who Have Not Yet Made a New Year’s Resolution
Here’s the thinking behind trollish comments. The troll can dash off a quick one-liner — never more than a dozen words, half of them insults — post it in several dozen places, then sit back and watch sane people waste their time composing well-reasoned paragraphs in response. Then the troll might throw another occasional 1-liner into the conversation to spark another spate of time-wasting restatements of obvious facts, cogent logic, and sensible reasoning, with the bonus that some of those will actually quote the troll’s own words, thereby giving them yet another public exposure. The real bonus comes when the trollish comment gets so many responses that it gets promoted to that strip’s “featured comment” of the day, where it’ll be the ONLY one that 98% of the visitors to the strip will ever see. (Don’t believe me? Take a look at those little icons at the upper right. The word balloon tells you how many people commented on the strip; the heart tells you how many just liked it and moved on; and the number who just read it but didn’t bother with anything more than the featured comment is undoubtedly much larger than that.)
So: Minimal investment of the troll’s time for maximal wastage of yours. Strictly a winning proposition for them, under a cost-benefit analysis. And nothing gives them more joy in life than poking the anthill and watching all the ensuing scurrying.
In the coming year, resolve not to feed the trolls. It encourages and delights them and keeps them coming back again and again.
crookedwolf Premium Member over 1 year ago
Hopefully this means the gym will be a little less busy!
Darwinskeeper over 1 year ago
Maybe Caufield has figured out what I already have. If there are several explanations for something that people do, the most cynical explanation is most likely to be correct.
Caldonia over 1 year ago
You’re not going to learn to be less cynical from Frazz!
The Wolf In Your Midst over 1 year ago
The flaw is in thinking that the new year changes anything but the calendar.
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If you’re not going to do it on August 12th, then you’re not going to do it on January 1st.