What is with the rise of the political message board losers?

[Wetzelbill]

I think that is one aspect of the Chimp Era I will never understand. I can get the polarization. I can understand passion on each side, hell maybe even a bit of delusion on each side.

I can grasp that whole groups of people are disenchanted and disenfranchised with both parties, and politics in general.

I even understand passion for third parties. Or why people are registered as Independents.

I can pretty much get the point of view and actions of just about everybody in the political spectrum. I may not approve of it, or think it's remotely accurate or morally right, but I can see how people get to those points and conclusions.


And I absolutely understand why people join up for websites such as DU or Free Republic. Or why people visit Huff Post or certain other websites and blogs.

For me, I like coming here, seeing people I have developed online friendships with over the years, I like checking out articles and threads that augment all the other reading and so on I do during the day. I don't necessarily come to DU to debate politics, more or less to find some information and kick back a little. Now a good battle in GD or GD: P isn't too bad to get into from time to time, and for the most part, most of us on DU care about the same things. We may get impassioned or support different candidates etc, but, for the most part, we all have the same basic ideals.

So what do I mean by message board losers?

I mean trolls. And not even just your typcial DU troll, those are bad enough, but usually they get weeded out quickly and Tombstoned. Nor do I mean somebody who may go over and visit Free Republic for a short time and report on the goings on over there. I also have no problem with people who go to specific websites just to get into discourse with others. I know some websites are meant as a forum for both Dems and Repubs to get on and battle it out. That works for me if it's something you enjoy doing.

What I am talking about is those people who go say Huff Post, for example, and post outrageous things and end up getting in arguments with like 50 people day in and day out. They don't do enough to get booted off, because unlike say DU, Huff Post isn't just a Dem specific website, pretty much anybody can comment on the articles and so forth.

I have literally seen people day in and day out get on a message board and stoke up the ire of everyone, for what reason I don't know. It seems like these people are online all day, everyday, and basically all they do is go to a website where most people disagree with them and start fights.

This I don't understand. Because what kind of loser goes to a place they are not wanted, all day everyday and antagonizes others. Not just antagonizes and wins, I mean I see these people get put in their place about 20 times a day.

It makes me curious about a person's mental state or their life in general. It just seems you would have to absolutely have no life at all to go and do something like that.

I suspect, some are paid by outside agents to start trouble like that. Maybe. I could see that as an excuse. But for the people who truly do it, just to do it.

I don't see what anyone could possibly get out of that. It's sad and disturbing.

And I don't believe I could ever understand that.