djcb comments on That other kind of status - Less Wrong
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Comments (106)
That's an interesting way to look at it, but aren't trolls usually (semi-)anonymous? It's hard to gain status that way. People with highly controversial opinions that aren't anonymous usually consider themselves to be contrarians rather than trolls,or?
Using the Wikipedia definition of (social) status:
I think we'd need a different word for the thing trolls and other pyromaniacs are seeking.
(edit: s/Wiki/Wikipedia/, small clarification in third line)
We could call them "lulz".
Anyway, I don't know why trolling is fun, but it is.
Wikipedia has that definition. “Wiki” is a category of software, and does not. Please don't confuse the two.
I think I disagree with your rebuke. I see "Wiki definition" as similar to Stephen Colbert's wikiality concept.
I could see using "wiki definition" (without the capital "W") to mean a definition with too many anonymous authors to be useful. But djcb evidently didn't mean it that way.
ISTM that people feel "freedom from retribution" on a visceral level, but not the "pseudonymous status doesn't count" concept. It's outside the scope of the ancestral environment, so we shouldn't expect our emotions to be fully coherent here.