LOLing at tragedy: Facebook trolls, memorial pages and resistance to grief online

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of organized trolling behaviors on Facebook, specifically in relation to memorial groups and fan pages. In addition to mapping the development of RIP trolling — in which online instigators post abusive comments and images onto pages created for and dedicated to the deceased — the paper also examines the highly contentious and ultimately parasitic relationship(s) between memorial trolls, Facebook’s social networking platform and mainstream media outlets. Recalling Oring’s account of disaster humor, the paper goes on to suggest that, inadvertently or not, Facebook memorial page trolling presents a pointed critique of a tragedy–obsessed global media.

Learning connected civics: Narratives, practices, infrastructures

“…While access to social media tools provides the ability to publish content, it does not guarantee that anyone will pay attention to the content in question" (p. 18). Others have raised concerns about negative or harmful forms of cultural expression, such as images tied to self-harm, bullying, sexting, trolling or racist expression (boyd, 2014;Chun, forthcoming;Phillips, 2011). While young people are clearly exercising new forms of agency and voice through these creative activities, we certainly cannot assume that they will apply these capacities to purposes that are civic or even prosocial in nature.…”

Anonymity, pseudonymity, and the agency of online identity: Examining the social practices of r/Gonewild

“…They have been linked with masculinity, the lack of social cues of textual media, critique of the tragedy-obsessed media (Phillips, 2011), affective provocations that vitalize online participation (McCosker, 2014), and the asymmetrical relationship between people online. In fact, as Nancy Baym (2010) explains, flaming and trolling were two frequent topics that arose in much of the popular press discussions of the Internet in the 1990s.…”

Into the wild online: Learning from Internet trolls

“…21], or even malevolence [e.g. 4], as in many cases of RIP trolls and griefers [22,23]. In this sense, what is and is not trolling is local and contextual; one definition cannot encompass all that is trolling and all examples of trolling are not the same.…”

“…There has been public outcry surrounding memorial page trolling [22], for example, which leads many to demand a mechanism for prevention or remediation. Specifically, many people are concerned about real-life consequences [25].…”