Feminist website Jezebel gets deluged with rape porn gifs.

[MADem]

91. The goal is upset. It has nothing to do with "hate" against a

particular group, as was explained upthread. The goal is to upset the readers, and to use whatever means the troller has at their disposal to accomplish that goal.

If it's a Justin Beiber fan club, the troll would post insulting comments about Justin Beiber and photoshop images to make him look stupid --the more offensive, the better. Find the weak spot, exploit it. Get people angry. Get them posting outraged responses.

It IS just rude behavior--it's nasty, it's unkind, it's unpleasant, it's horrible, it's stupid, it's childish--but it is simply rude behavior. Someone is "winding up" the people who post at that site, and they are doing it to get their silly little jollies. By reacting with "OMG OMG THIS IS THE WORST THING EVER" the troll is getting what they seek. The "OMG OMG" posts give the corporation the page hits and profits that THEY seek. For some people, who prefer to talk about "offense" rather than alert on it, they get the drama that they seek. If people aren't as upset as they are, then they get the internet fight that they seek.

The website chooses to not block it because their users like gifs and they don't want them eliminated, the site doesn't want to track IPs, they don't want to establish "known poster" membership standards, etc. More to the point, the site CHOOSES to leave the door open--they create the conditions that make it possible for anyone to wander in and participate with some rude--yes, rude--speech. The site is private and they have the option of censoring, verifying/controlling membership-- but they choose to not do that. They believe that anonymity at their site is more important than the occasional rude image that they can delete if they receive complaints about it.

This has obviously worked for them, up to this point, anyway. If it will continue to work for them, time will tell.

I can only conclude that there's a monetary element at play, here. People are OUTRAGED, and ISN'T THAT TERRIBLE--and they go to the site (click, click, click) to say just how irritated they are. And then they go to other sites, and provide a link, and tell everyone at THAT site just how AWFUL it all is, and people who read that OTHER site run to the link and read/comment. Click, click, click.

Page hits/profit.

There may be a tipping point up ahead, but they aren't there, yet.