• Carrolade@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Those trolls live off of engagement

    Not anymore. Back in the day trolling was a recreational activity done for fun. Deny the fun, cut off the troll’s food. Now it’s being done for political purposes, so cutting off the fun no longer functions since it no longer strikes at the primary motivation.

    • garretble@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      The result for the people who block them is still the same, though: they no longer see the troll garbage.

    • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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      12 days ago

      It decreases the spread. Cutting form the engagement means free people who aren’t already subscribed to that content will see it, since there’s fewer people arguing with it. Which means those who are susceptible to falling for it have less chance to even encounter it, meaning fewer fall into it.

      Even if the incentive to create the trolls has changed, the counter to letting it spread hasn’t.

      • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Depends on platform I suppose. Here, the level of activity is low enough that if you’re reading the comments, you’re usually reading all of them. In a major reddit sub that is seldom the case.

        • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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          11 days ago

          This was about bluesky/Twitter type social media. Things with reshare and follows to specific users, where someone you follow arguing with someone you don’t will expose you to the person you don’t follow.