I don’t mean those who are paid to do so -their motivation is obvious. I mean people who are destructive out of their own motivation and represent untenable points of view. Are they really serious about this?What’s the point?
I mean, it can’t all be the propaganda machine. What would be the point of trying that with Lemmy, who is paid for it? With LLMs, I can still understand that it could be done very economically, but even here there are real people who do it. Why? How did they come up with that? What is the goal? What drives them to do it?
I don’t get that at all.
I assume that trolls try to provoke erratic and disproportionate reactions from others, becoming a part of their own miniature sitcom for their own entertainment. It could be because of a sense of victory upon watching others break down (assuming a zero sum point of view). It could be the viewpoint that trolls are at their own higher level compared to others and understand each other while making fun of the lower levels (a false sense of superiority). Maybe it’s a [case of] holding onto their own beliefs and assuming that they needn’t change themselves if they disrupt all conversations that may cause harm to their own beliefs. It might be attention seeking or an escape mechanism. It could also be a desire to avoid fitting in with everyone else and remaining separate.
(edit: grammar)