#wordsauce

[gingisauce]

tiktok tts accounts got ahold of superbat headcanon posts btw. if you even care

[booksandcs]

Romans 2:7

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory,honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. Baguettes in a basket. by wordsauce is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

[dennyvong]

Blog Post #8 Due 10/28

Q1: What are trolls and why are they common today?

The word “troll” is derived from the mythical creature. It also takes the characteristics of the being into play, such as being in someone way or just disrupting other people in their actions. Troll in today society are people who go out of their way to either disturb people intentionally with unwanted actions while some may just be doing it to  Trolls are common today because it is attached to social media and that same media base is what everyone uses so many become trolls whether intentionally or unintentionally. 

Q2: What are some creative ways to combat trolls and trolling? What role do witnesses play?

Some creative ways to combat trolls are ignoring their actions or attempts to get a reactions out of you. Most trolls seek attention or loved to see the reactions of their targets while they are trolling. If you cannot ignore their actions you can also make sure to block or report the person immediately. Witnesses play a big role in trolls and trolling online. Whether the trolling is unwanted or playful, just being there in that moment means you acknowledge what happened during that incident and if the incident was unwanted, now you are at fault since you you did not take any sort of action to stop or report it while it was happening almost as if you supported the action of trolling from the troll.

Q3:  Why is cyber harassment and stalking worse than trolling in the cyberspace? 

Cyber harassment and stalking are worse than that of trolling because harassment and stalking intentions are harmful and unwanted while trolling may be unwanted depending on trolls and their audience. Troll go out of their way to disturb the peace for their target while having a limit to their action, while cyber harasser and stalkers almost stop at nothing to go out of their way to cause issues of unwanted slander or in the name of “stalker” stalk their targets. These actions can go day by day and lead into months or even longer depending or the cyber harassers and stalkers. Citron quotes “ Marianna Taschinger, a twenty- two-year-old, said that she did not feel safe leaving her home after someone posted her nude photograph, home address, and Facebook profile on a porn site. “I don’t want to go out alone,” she explained, “because I don’t know what  might happen.”. These differences are very noticeable trolling can make you annoyed and mad but it does not get to the point of where you do not feel unsafe like in the provided quote. 

Q4: Who is Grampa Wiggly and how does it seem contribute to the trolls of society?

Grandpa Wiggly was a fake account made by a person who goes by another account called “Wordsauce”. Wordsauce would come up with a fake life for this Grandpa account gaining much popularity. However this popularity was undone by himself/herself when he/she came out as his/her original account stating he/she did not know his/her grandpa was a redditor, leading many to deep dive through the Grandpa account finding out that the account was a fake person. In the end as Bergstrom quotes “Wordsauce”, (the real owner of Grandpa Wiggly) “All I was trying to do was tell a story, to entertain, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It was interactive fiction, plain and simple, kind of like a choose–your–own–adventure. There was no sinister motive behind all of this. I had no end game.” This internet troll would lose his/her popularity and would still be active although he/she has not posted anything since. To this day many seem to have followed in Grandpa Wiggly in making accounts for the same purpose, only these accounts would be more on the aggressive side trolling people whether with harmful or playful intentions. 

Citron, D. K. (2014). Introduction. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674735613.intro

[estrada21]

Blog Post #8 (Due 10/28)

1.) What are some creative ways to combat trolls and trolling? What role do witnesses play?

I believe that one of the ways that we can combat trolls and trolling is coming together as a community and holding the trollers accountable for their action. By this I mean as a community we can monitor comments, users, pictures, etc. and report any harmful activity. In other words, we should actively keep trollers from infiltrating safe spaces. As witnesses, instead of contributing to the harassment we can stick up for the person being targeted or convey as a community that trolling is unwanted.  

2.) What are the dangers of the trolling mantra being “Nothing should be taken seriously”?

One of the dangers of the trolling mantra being “Nothing should be taken seriously” is the normalization of the harassment of the powerless. Passing everything off as a joke, or the weak argument of not meaning anything you say, is neglect to any responsibility the troller has from the emotional and mental harm done to the target. Not to mention the fact that sometimes trollers join forces to single an individual out, which is another danger because everyone wants in on the joke. As Whitney Phillips in “The Origin of Trolling” states “Targets of trolling, on the other hand, are expected to take trolls at their word, and are only trolled harder if they resist” (86). Meaning an individual can’t even stand up for themselves otherwise they will be trolled harder and, contrary to the mantra, the trolling is taken seriously.

3.) Where do we draw the line between trolling and role-playing?

It seems to be a thin line between trolling and role-playing. In fact, it can be rather difficult to interpret whether a user is trolling through identity tourism or “simply” role-playing. The distinction is found within the intent of the user which in itself can be tricky to determine. Kelly Bergstrom in “Don’t Feed the Troll” argues that a troll needs to know it is a troll in order for it to truly be a troll (7). However, in the case of Grandpa Wiggly, created by reddit user WordSauce, where the creator made a statement of creating Grandpa Wiggly for the entertainment of others and to tell a story, many still implicated him as a troll. To determine intent, we could either take his statement at face value or analyze his previous posts for malicious intent or disruptiveness. Everyone is still entitled to their opinions so as Bergstrom states “It seems that trolling is in the eye of the beholder (or really the person who feels like they are the one being trolled)” (8). In other words, it is up to the individual to draw the line between trolling and role-playing.

4.) Does cyberstalking and cyber harassment affect an individual outside the online space?

Cyber stalking and cyber harassment do affect the victim outside of the online space. Cyber stalking and cyber harassment can have dire consequences in reality. As exemplified by Danielle Keats Citron in “Hate Crimes in Cyberspace”, women who have been victims of cyber stalking and cyber harassment were forced to deal with the exposure of their private photos, exposure of their personal information, demoralization and humiliation, difficulty with employment, and even rape (7-8). Online spaces for them have become unsafe, and even their homes have become unsafe. Meaning one cannot ignore the online abuse by turning off their phone or computer because the abuse follows them outside the virtual space.

References

Phillips, W. (2015). Defining terms: The origins and evolution of subcultural trolling. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, 55–87. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10288.003.0004

Bergstrom, K. “‘Don’t Feed the troll’: Shutting down Debate about Community Expectations on Reddit.Com”. First Monday, vol. 16, no. 8, July 2011, doi:10.5210/fm.v16i8.3498.

Citron, D. K. (2014). Introduction. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674735613.intro

[hopevalley]

Also for the record, in case I need to clear this up (as I know I’m long-winded and sometimes my points get lost in the wordsauce I pour out on this blog):

Nathan isn’t to blame for Jack’s death. He didn’t kill him. He couldn’t have known that him making what he felt was the right choice would have a domino effect into Jack taking his place and then dying on that training mission. He’s literally innocent in this. Let’s not forget that plenty of characters on this show have made choices that ended up hurting other people they didn’t expect to hurt. Henry Gowen literally ruined AJ Foster’s life, but it was indirectly (because Ray Wyatt is the one who sent people to threaten her, not Henry; it’s possible Henry doesn’t even know the truth about that situation). Bill repeatedly twisted the law to work the way he wanted it to from the moment he stepped onto the show. Elizabeth stepped up against injustices from the beginning, too. Nathan’s situation was no different. It’s just that he was disciplined when he did what he thought was right, and it was through that disciplinary action that Jack ended up taking his place on something.

HOWEVER, I do think Nathan is to blame for keeping that kind of information secret while also actively pursing Elizabeth in a romantic sense. I understand why he didn’t start things off with that conversation, and I understand completely why he just couldn’t tell her about it, but that just goes to prove that even though he probably doesn’t blame himself for Jack’s death, he knows the connection to Jack’s death is still there. 

So don’t get upset with Nathan for the wrong reason. He didn’t kill Jack. He didn’t even know the man.

But he did fall in love with Elizabeth and then repeatedly express it knowing he was connected to it and she wasn’t aware of it. Even though he discouraged Allie from her scheming he never stopped his pursuit/declared that he wasn’t giving up on Elizabeth. Does he think Allie is stupid and blind to this? She’s a kid not an idiot! He went out of his way to approach Lucas at work (while on duty himself) to tell him he was gonna try to steal his girl. He admitted he had an ulterior motive for staying in Hope Valley that wasn’t because of Allie. And after he came clean to Elizabeth apparently he’s still not going to give up on her!!! 

So like, forget about Jack for a second. Nathan is innocent when it comes to that.

But he chose to do all that other stuff. He had three years to make time to tell her the truth. He had three years to think about how he was falling for her. He had three years where he should have been chewing the cud of regret and guilt for knowing that information and not divulging it. Romance might have blossomed there but he betrayed her confidence in a big way by not being honest about that whole thing, especially if he knew it from the beginning so it blossomed under false pretenses.

Elizabeth won’t be mad about the truth. But she will be mad about that.

Woof.

[katerynree]

Blog Post 10/28

1.       When comparing “trolls” of the internet back then to the ones today, what differences are there?

Derived from Norse mythology, a troll is something that wishes harm upon its victims and seeks to harass them. Trolls have always been a part of the internet. Though not as prevalent as today, they were still apart of the internet years ago. Forums much like 4chan seemed to have brought on the origin of internet trolling as discussion boards were made to be used by the people to speak their opinions (Phillips 2015). The term “troll” was not yet used to describe those who spoke spiteful things until forums have grown popular and the internet have spread. I feel that internet trolls of back then were just not given as much attention as we are giving them today. With the internet becoming popularized and widespread, along with all these social media platforms, trolls have been given more power to spread their hate and malice. Some may even be trolls simply to find amusement in others’ anger or just to mess around. The thing is though, trolls are treated as a joke now. It is a good thing too, because treating them as jokes means that we are not truly affected by their words.

2.       How can internet trolls be dangerous?

As seen from the article A Timeline of Leslie Jones’s Horrific Online Abuse by Anna Silman, you can see firsthand just how dangerous trolls can be. They can be anonymous and are even able to steal a celebrity’s identity just by creating an account under their name. Leslie Jones has experienced this firsthand as an internet troll pretended to be her to say very offensive and hateful things (Silman 2016). Many people genuinely believed it was Leslie Jones saying these things when in reality it was just a person who hated the new Ghostbusters movie or her (Silman 2016). Her reputation was tarnished, her stress levels rose, and she was deeply saddened at what this troll did. With social media platforms such as Twitter that do not check what everyone is doing with their “freedom of speech”, things like Leslie Jones’ experience is rampant today. Anyone can say anything and may possibly be able to get away with it, even if it is under someone else’s identity.

3.       Why is the story of Grandpa Wiggly important?

Grandpa Wiggly shows a prevalent internet practice called “canceling”. The act of canceling on the internet means to withdraw support for public figures or companies after they have done or said something considered offensive. I argue that the Grandpa Wiggly stories were not made to troll anyone. It was just as the user Wordsauce said. It was simply made up to amuse others and to come up with wild stories to share with others. People a part of cancel culture, however, did not find it as amusing as many others or Wordsauce did. People started to send Wordsauce many hateful comments and even threats, just because they found out that what was supposedly a grandpa Redditor was not a grandpa at all. I do not condone these people’s actions and I believe cancel culture when put into a context such as Grandpa Wiggly’s story is toxic.

4.       How are we able to stop “trolls” or stop their actions?

To be honest, I do not thing there is any way to stop internet trolls. However, we can take away their power simply by ignoring them. If we take away attention from them, what are they going to do? If they say even more stupid arguments, what point is there to respond to them? We can just ignore them and not give them the power of annoying us. If their intentions are to cause hurt or anger, then we simply have to not show them that they are doing just that.

 Bergstrom, K. (2011). “Don’t feed the troll”: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i8.3498

Duggan, M. (2014), “Online Harassment” Pew Research Center, pp. 1-11.

 Phillips, W. (2015), "Defining Terms: The Origins and Evolution of Subcultural Trolling”. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. pp. 55-57.

 Silman, A. (2016). A Timeline of Leslie Jones’s Horrific Online Abuse.

[winderbecky]

Week #10 Blog Post due 10/28

1. Do you think that Twitter knew and saw the tweets that kept attacking Leslie Jones?

Yes, I feel like Twitter knew about the tweets and their whole thing about harassment deals with users reporting that type of behavior. If people do not report it, they technically do not have to do anything about it. So, I felt like Twitter saw the harassment and was waiting for it to become serious enough for people to report it and make it a big deal before they did anything about it. I mean like, it took calling Twitter out and taking it public for them to finally change their harassment and reporting terms.

2. Where are women and young adults more likely to experience online harassment? Where are men and young men more likely to experience online harassment? Why?

Women and young adults are most likely to experience online harassment on social media because they are the ones who are usually on social media the most or post the most. Men and young men on the other hand, experience online harassment on online gaming sites because they are usually the ones who play online games. Women also play online games, but not as much as men do. Men also use and post on social media, but women are usually the ones who use it the most.

3. What are the different definitions of the word “troll” according to Bergstrom?

There are different definitions of the word “troll.” According to Bergstrom, “Based in Norse mythology, trolls were said to be supernatural creatures with less than benevolent intents” (1). In other words, trolls are creatures that want to do bad things. Bergstrom also explained, “To troll is to have negative intents, to wish harm or at least discomfort upon one’s audience. To be trolled is to be made a victim, to be caught along in the undertow and be the butt of someone else’s joke” (1). In this definition of a troll, someone tries to hurt someone or make someone uncomfortable. Another definition of a troll is that “the application of the label ‘troll’ can also be used to as a justification for punishing those who transgress (or are accused of transgressing) an online community’s norms” (2). In other words, people who go beyond boundaries of an online community, like harassing someone online, are considered to be trolls and the use of the word can be used to explain why that person who is trolling should be punished.

4. What is an example of how a sub-reddit got trolled? What do you think the reason was for doing this?

An example of how a sub-Reddit got trolled was with the Reddit user Grandpa Wiggly. Grandpa Wiggly posted on the IAmA sub-Reddit twice claiming to be an older man who made a mayonnaise recipe and who lived with his crazy cat lady wife with seven cats. However, it was soon revealed that Grandpa Wiggly was really the reddit user Wordsauce who also pretended to be Grandpa Wiggly’s grandson. Wordsauce explained that he just wanted to entertain people and not hurt people. He also offered to explain why he made the Grandpa Wiggly user, but IAmA sub-Reddit’s moderators banned him from doing so on their sub-Reddit. I think that Wordsauce trolled Reddit because he wanted popularity. However, I do also believe that he wanted to put a character together and see how people would respond to it.

Sources:

Bergstrom, K. (2011). “Don’t feed the troll”: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8).

Duggan, M. (2014), “Online Harassment”. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.

Phillips, W. (2015), “Defining Terms: The Origins and Evolution of Subcultural Trolling”. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. pp.55-57.

Silman, A. (2016). “A Timeline of Leslie Jones’s Horrific Online Abuse”.

[honeycrispapple]

Week 10 10/28

What are the markers of a troll? In the article by Phillips, there are a few different definitions of what a troll or trolling is. In one such definition, Phillips describes three markers of trolling: equal opportunity laughter, exploitability, and insistence on/of celebration of lulz. Equal opportunity laughter is the idea that everyone and everything can be laughed at, although a significant percentage of trolling is directed at marginalized groups. The concept of exploitability is the the idea “… that nothing should be taken seriously, and therefore [trolls] regard public displays of sentimentality, political conviction, and/or ideological rigidity as a call to trolling arms” (Phillips, p. 84). The insistence on/celebration of anonymity is the ability to obscure one’s true real life identity. This allows for trolls to behave in ways that would not be acceptable in a public setting, whether that’s because it would disrupt their offline relationships, clash with their offline circumstances, or simply be socially unacceptable. In this way, anonymity protects trolls so that they can act in ways they would never do offline.

Why doesn’t Bergstrom think the creator of Grandpa Wiggly was a troll?

In Bergstrom’s article, they define a troll as someone who intentionally disrupts discussion in online communities, disseminates bad advice, and damages trust. Although trust was damaged when Grandpa Wiggly’s true identity was revealed, and it becomes sort of subjective to argue whether he disseminated bad advice, Bergstrom argues that Grandpa Wiggly was not a troll because his creator, Wordsauce, was acting under a false identity in a fashion that was meant to entertain, not disrupt. “A troll should have the willful intent to cause harm to the online community they are trolling. Grandpa Wiggly’s creator seems adamant that he was creating a character, not a disturbance” (Bergstrom, p. 7).  This seems to ring true when looking at the types of posts that Wordsauce was creating under Grandpa Wiggly, and he seemed to actually foster discussion instead of disrupting it.

How did Twitter improve its policies in light of Leslie Jones’s online abuse?

When the trailer for Ghostbusters (2016) came out, the backlash from Twitter users against Leslie Jones in particular was horrifying, abusive, and overwhelmingly violent. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded to this harassment by reaching out to Leslie Jones and banning a popular conservative commentator, Yiannopolous, who spearheaded much of the abuse, amongst other accounts. It improved enough that Leslie Jones did come back to Twitter, and the site introduced a “quality filter” for all users. But given that harassment is still rampant on Twitter, and the survey by the Pew Research center indicates that 73% of adult internet users have seen someone harassed in some way online, and that 40% have personally experienced it (Duggan, p. 1), it seems as though we have a long way to go in terms of filtering out hateful content on social media.

How has anonymity changed on the internet?

In the era of Reddit and 4chan, anonymity is much more prevalent. Though it is easy to be anonymous on Reddit, the system of having accounts under which comments and threads are posted and also karma allows for a degree of credibility and also a sense of who that person might be, even if their actual name and picture is not there. 4chan, on the other hand, encourages anonymity, as it does not require an account for anybody to post, the default name to post under is “anonymous.” Unlike Reddit, Bergstrom notes that 4chan deletes old message threads to make room for new ones, that “rather than having a digital paper trail keeping track of every comment (and possibly misstep) made in your online adventures, 4chan keeps no record of you being there in the first place” (Bergstrom, p. 8). But the rise of Facebook is an interesting change in how we share information online, because Facebook encourages de-anonymizing our online activities. In terms of privacy and anonymity, Facebook is a near polar opposite to 4chan, which Bergstrom describes as  “… a more fixed link between our online and offline selves championed by Zuckerberg” (Bergstrom, p. 8). I think that this is an interesting shift, because while it opens up more possible real-life backlash, it also offers more accountability, such in the cases of people informing the families, friends, and employers of an individual’s poor, gross, or downright malicious behavior toward others on the internet.

Bergstrom, K. (2011). “Don’t feed the troll”: Shutting down debate about community expectations on Reddit.com. First Monday, 16(8).

Duggan, M. (2014), “Online Harassment” Pew Research Center, pp. 1-11.

Phillips, W. (2015), "Defining Terms: The Origins and Evolution of Subcultural Trolling”. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. pp. 55-57.

Silman, A. (2016). A Timeline of Leslie Jones's Horrific Online Abuse.

[ollytwisted-blog]

So I have been working at @wordsaucecollective s recording studio @saucepotstudios for over a year now. These guys have given me sooooooo many AMAZING opportunities. I would love nothing more than to see them play at @highsierramusic festival this year. Plus that would mean I getta go shoot them! . If you guys could help them win the contest by finding this post on @highsierramusic and leave a like and a comment? It would mean the world to me, and them! Love you guys 😍😘🤩 . . #wordsauce #thesaucepot #fremonttheatre #bigbigslo #kpig #highsierramusicfestival #ska #reggae #hiphop #centralcoast #slobrew #slomusicvibes #barrelhousebrewingco #slomusiccon (at San Luis Obispo, California)

[indiebookbanter]

(twentysix)

Go listen to this wonderful story about ‘Betty the Beautiful’ by UK Indie Lit fest attending Indie Author Irene Lofthouse

[gingisauce]

john whorey

[seamonsterlounge-blog]

🔥PROUD & NASTY THURSDAY night w/ guest EVAN FLORY BARNES on bass/vocals. 10pm Sign up and sit in! + WORDSAUCE live hip hop/jazz from San Luis Obispo 8pm FREE💜🌈 (at Sea Monster Lounge) https://www.instagram.com/seamonsterlounge/p/BwImMNZFPC5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11hnrkvsn0ud9

[pasoroblesdailynews]

SLO Brew celebrates 30 years on the Central Coast

SLO Brew celebrates 30 years on the Central Coast

–SLO Brew recently celebrated thirty iconic years of brewing craft beer and hosting great musical performances with a celebration at their SLO Brew Rock location.

The day featured live performances by Electric Guest, Fialta, Wordsauce, Truxton Mile, Shawn Clark Family Band, Ras Danny, Chris Beland and Bear Market Riot.

To commemorate the milestone, SLO Brew released a limited run of their 30th…

[eurekakinginc]

"Florence Nightingale Was Born 197 Years Ago, and Her Infographics Were Better Than Most of the Internet’s"- Caption by wordsauce - Detail: http://ift.tt/2qeup0l. Filed Under: 1,000 ways to visualize Data. Curated by: www.eurekaking.com

[kizmetband]

A taste of Wordsauce #Wordsauce #longhouse #fridaynight #Fridayfunday #funkyfriday #hiphop #funk #gladtobealive (at The Longhouse .)

[iamputrid]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Putrid (@iamputrid)

THE SAUCE OF WORD. Wes and the Sauce thanks for lettin me Crash at the Sauce Pot! #WORDSAUCE #rocknflow #rockandflow