[who is ronjie.com?] Gosh, I hate trolls.

Gosh, I hate trolls. I just can't stand them. Maybe that's just me, but hear my story out first, will you.

I wish to comment on stuff on the internet, and maybe get in on healthy intellectual discussions/debates particularly if it's on serious stuff. But some people just don't get it, and then they just hit you with insults from out of nowhere, instead of a well-formulated and well-informed counter-argument.

Reminders to self: Don't comment anymore on the internet. Also, don't read comments. So much trolls. So much un-informed people posting opinions. And worse, insults. Trolls!

Here are just two situations I recently encountered.

Situation 1:

1. My friend, Person A, posts a rather serious opinion article written by some anonymous guy.
2. Some Person B comments that he disagrees with the article.
3. Some Person C comments that she agrees with Person B.
4. I comment with my own serious opinions about the article.
5. The same Person C asks me a question, the answer to which is already in my comment, but otherwise totally unrelated to the subject of the opinion article. But her question was suffixed by "hehe," which to me implied a half-meant joke, half-meant serious question.

Did Person C just not get the essence of my comment? Or did she think my serious opinions were aimed at her because I commented after her? Or was she "FC" -- feeling close -- because we have Person A as a common friend? Anywhichway, I do not know her at all and I felt it was a troll-like question. What I did then was answer her back with a question, also suffixed by a "hehe": "You didn't get my point? You're not one of the anonymous authors of that website, are you? hehe"

Situation 2:

1. Some anonymous Guy A writes a serious opinion article.
2. I reply with my thoughts on how the article is ineffective - because it wishes to encourage change in certain people, but this article may not ever be read by those people whom he wishes to change.
3. Some anonymous Girl B replies, "Ron Aquino—this one is a crybaby!… if you are open minded you take this article in a more positive outlook. i’ve read your comment and WTF your talking about? cguro tinamaan ka noh? sa article na to? haha" [Words in italics roughly translate to: "You're affected by that article, no?"]

I replied to, among other things, ask how come she was resorting to name calling, and why she has to hide behind a pseudonym whereas I posted my comment using my real name and even included a link to my website. I failed to mention though that in fact, it is the negative tone of the article that I did not like, and it wasn't me at all who didn't have any positive outlook. I have a positive outlook, particularly about the specific subject matter of that article! Whereas the article was all negative. Anyway, I think this was a case of a mis-/un-informed person wanting to argue but cannot, and thus the name-calling. Most probably a very young boy.

Often I would like to read the comments, because sometimes there are lots of funny stuff in there, or there are really interesting, informative stuff that is complementary or supplementary to the main article. But now I'm reconsidering.

Another situation I found where trolls are prevalent is in blogs and news websites about one of two "warring" camps, like Apple Fanbois and Android Minions. (I just invented that last term.)  A vast majority of them are under-informed, mis-informed, or un-informed, but they just love their Android phone! Or their Apple MacBook Pro! To them, other people are stupid just because they like something that they don't. Trolls.

Ugh, I hate them! And there's so much of them all over the internet. I just have to accept that fact. That's why I'm taking action. I'll try not to comment nor read comments anymore on the internet. But you know the worst part? They don't know they're trolls! So they keep doing the same things over and over again. Well, that is until life hits them hard with reality, and makes them realize how trolling can really be more destructive than constructive. Oh, how exciting is life, eh?