A commentator here this morning said:
I think there must either be a troll club somewhere where trolls share ideas, or the unwillingness to challenge orthodox thinking is innate in rather too many people.
There is, of course, such a thing. With regard to this blog, it is run by a man called Tim Worstall:
He began his blog in 2007, a year after I did.
He categorises each post on his blog, as I still do, and by far the biggest group is called Ragging on Ritchie, and every single one of them is about me:
He has been publishing for around 6,600 days. So, on most days for 18 years, he has written an abusive post about me for his trolling audience, every single one of them, as far as I can work out, abusive, with crude comments appearing to be the order of the day.
In that case, I should explain who this Tim Worstall, whom I have never met, is. His Wikipedia entry says:
Tim Worstall (born 27 March 1963, Torquay) is a British-born writer and blogger and Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute.[1] He writes on the subjects of environmentalism and economics, particularly corporate tax, his contributions having appeared in the business press. In 2010 his blog was listed as one of the top 100 UK political blogs by Total Politics.[2]
Early life
Worstall was educated at the London School of Economics. He worked in the Soviet Union, and became a trader in rare elements such as scandium and zirconium.[3]
Career
Worstall is a regular contributor to CapX.[4] He has also written for The Guardian,[5] The New York Times,[6] PandoDaily,[7] Forbes,[8] The Register,[9] The Daily Telegraph blogs,[10] The Times,[11] and The Wall Street Journal.[12] In 2010 his blog was listed as one of the top 100 UK political blogs by Total Politics.[2]
Worstall is a supporter of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), stood as a candidate for London in the European Parliament election, 2009,[13] and acted as the party's press officer.[14]
I should add that as far as I can see, all the references, except for his links with Tufton Street, should be in the past tense: he is no longer involved in UKIP, and nor does he write for anyone noted anymore, as far as I can tell.
But he churns out the trolling material, day in and day out.
It's a very sad way to live, but that's his choice. And it answers the question about troll clubs, because yes, they really do exist.
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He doesn’t even moderate comments on his blog before they go on. Obvs, anything illegal would get removed later along with spam, but how can an unmoderated blog possibly be a safe space for new ideas if you can write what you like and it goes straight on.
I looked at his blog. I gained the impression that he is on some sort of medication – commenting on anything & everything. Poor man, probably needs help.
An ex-metal trader, with historical links to Moscow and UKIP?
Now which fascist grifting Trumpite MP demagogue does that remind me of?
Maybe these trolls all originally crawl out of deep mine shafts?
Abandoned old mine shafts where out-of date thinking goes to rust!
“But he churns out the trolling material, day in and day out.”
Even a Troll has to make a living and feed its massive ego. Trolls can only do what trolls do best within their intellectual limits.
LOL! LOL!
Living in Florida, I have meet and got to know many Trolls!
LOL! LOL!
🙂
Well his idea about leaving the EU worked out well didn’t it!
some might allege that these are “stalker” traits
like one of your trolls who uses pseudonyms of old punk rockers or uk boxers/ipswich town players from the 70s/80s
Man City players from the 70s were out this morning…
None made it on
“SPUD” ???
To someone called Murphy?
I’ll file him under “racist troll” until someone persuades me otherwise.
I agree
I had enough of that many, many years ago
It is akin to many of the most base racist abuses
There are also a few ‘bot farms’ that comment on or disrupt threads. Cameron had a small early version, Israel has a huge operation. Meme sharing operations like Labour and Reform have of course are common. My fave was the old Nigerian witchdoctor one which was I believe a Russian site.
There is also a contingent of paid “Bots”. They post whatever they are paid to post.
I know two people who engage in this behavior. One is “legit” and the other is just a “disrupter” for hire.
Ugh Adam Smith Institute, UKiP and ex mineral trader. Who does he remind me of….?
Writes his barely intelligible vile-bile and then goes back to whatever rock he crawled from.
“Each of us, as we can choose, make of this world a palace or a prison.”
His blog does seem a bit “old man yells at clouds” to me though.
🙂
AI Overview = Jealousy is often cited as a motivation behind online trolling behaviour. Trolls may be motivated by a desire to tear down those they perceive as successful or happy, possibly because they themselves feel lacking in some way. This can manifest as a need to provoke, insult, or upset others, often under the guise of anonymity. then – more detailed explanation:
Some people who engage in trolling may be jealous of the attention, success, or positive experiences of others.
In this case I agree with @RobertJ ‘racist troll’.
The English noun “troll” in the standard sense of ugly dwarf or giant dates to 1610 and originates from the Old Norse word “troll” meaning giant or demon. The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children’s tales: antisocial, quarrelsome and slow-witted creatures which make life difficult for travellers.
Note ‘slow-witted’.
Much to agree with
Trolls don’t like daylight.
(according to Tolkein)
So, we can operate in the bright sunlight of truth & transparency.
18 years!? That’s some Count of Monte Cristo level of commitment there. What did you do, kill his dog?
I exist.
Apparently that existence is offensive to him.
Very sorry, Richard, that you have to put up with all this abuse and trolling.
(I did for a very few initial moments.)
Worstall’s hallmark is either sophistry or nitpicking (thus he makes great insinuations from the fact that Denning did not originate the man on the Clapham omnibus – it was much earlier… but so what?)
It may be of some interest that their Dr Steve Davies, head of IEA education in 2019 said that:
“As a description of our financial system MMT is bang on target”
https://www.progressivepulse.org/society/the-tories-are-definitely-mmters
Does Worstall think that their education has now, I wonder, veered off target?
🙂
I don’t know about the late Lord Denning, but my omnibus is a Bristol one, although it was inspired mostly by the Mile End Road omnibus, which ran on this blog for a few journeys, but has now sadly been withdrawn from service, as one of the drivers got deployed on another route.
Yet another thing Mr Troll Worstall got wrong.
You can’t even get a decent class of troll nowadays.
🙂
While I suggested the troll club lightheartedly, it comes as no surprise to learn that such things actually exist. Trolls are angry people who need to share their anger
When I first came across MMT and started to understand more (your Money For Nothing) series were instrumental here) it was a revelation. It made so much sense. For me it was liberating. (Even though now I realise it’s limitations)
I struggle to understand why it makes so many people so angry. They have no rational argument against the notion that tax does not fund spending so rely on ad hominem argument, but why the anger?
I guess it is something akin to saying God does not exist to a believer.
It is weird, isn’t it?
What are they so angry about?
That is what puzzles me. I guess it’s akin to taking Father Christmas away from a child
That is what puzzles me. I guess it’s akin to taking Father Christmas away from a child, for some it’s a revelation, for others a trauma
About the only thing I’d ever agree with her on…
‘I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.’
Margaret Thatcher