Trent Reznor, Trolls & Anonymous Posts on Social Media

Posted on June 12, 2009
Filed Under art, community, creative commons, creativity, marketing, new business models, online collaboration, online music, social media, social networking, web evolution | View Comments

online-music-trent-reznor
Photo credit: nirazilla”

Trent Reznor decided to quit social media, or Twitter at least, as you may already know. As he stated quite clearly, he finally found out that “the problem with really getting engaged in a community is getting through the clutter and noise.”
So, he can’t be there anymore, struggling with all the frustration for the trolls and spammers and haters and “troublemakers” in a complete waste of energy.

I was quite interested into his words, even if his long post on the Nine Inch Nails official forum resembles quite more of a rant in most passages, than a dialectic – like his attack on “unattractive plump females who publicly fantasize about having sex with guys in bands”, or his final conclusion that “idiots rule”.

I think a discussion about this could raise many issues.

It’s surely not the first time that Trent reveals himselfalmost as a case study for social networks. When he started releasing his new full albums on the NIN site for free, under a creative common license, along with different audio format as high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A – complete with PDF artwork – encouraging people to even remix it and podcasting…
Well, that was something. Kind of big, in my opinion. And I’m not telling you that as a NIN fan, because actually I don’t like their sound from a purely musical point of view.
I didn’t go further after “the Downward Spiral”…

Nonetheless, I repeat, the guy raises issues on the role of new media, in particular for music of course, and our use of them.
Take for instance the celebrity/fan relationship, the communications between them. The distance between these two plans has shortened incredibly in the last years. They can get in touch with ease…
For a theorist of the media like Gerd Leonhard, this is definetely a positive fact. And I like and respect his point of view, even if I can’t say I’m completely, ultimately convinced.

The trolls/spammers/haters problem, on the other way, is not something you can easily ignore, & Trent’s case demonstrates that.

And this is connected with another issue, anonymous comments on forum or blogs, and anonymity in general.
Should we start to block hundreds of “trolls” with fake names or whatever out of networks? That’s probably a dangerous road that may lead to censorship in the long run. Who decides the troll? Who judges the hater? How anyone should gain the legitimate position to do that? I foresee infinite discussion that will lead to nothing, i’m afraid…

Personally, I can only suggest that reputation should be on top of our criteria; no hope of ever getting rid completely of stupidity, unfortunately.

Hope to see your response on these topics!

Comments

  • I kind of suspected this.
    Too much hate, I say this to UrbanFox and to anyone who'll follow.

    I wrote this post to question some issues around media and NOT about mr. Reznor. Apparently you don't get that, I even wonder if you read the article before commenting.

    This article is about:

    the celebrity/fan relationship
    anonymous posting/fake id
    reputation in new media

    I wish somebody will eventually say
    something interesting about these topics.

    tx
  • I am one of the people His Holiness trolled using one of his fake accounts (twitcoward, now gone). He also flamed and led his angry mob of psychofans against me. Even in his recent whine at his own site he has a dig at me. (all duly blogged at http://andreaurbanfox.wordpress.com/ )
    This guy is a nasty piece of work, despite what he has done to me. He attacks everyone and anyone who dares not to brown nose him.
    I suppose 20yrs of living in his self created cocoon has transformed this once cool guy into the laughable mess he is these days.
  • My_God_Is_Reznor
    Your 15 minutes are up. You are not contributing anything. Please go away and take Fred with you. Ty.
  • this is my BOOMSTICK!
    lol i like how you were right up to bat to respond to this and take credit for something that is FUCKING RETARDED. haha..the joke is on you!
  • anon
    how do you know twitcoward was him?
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