Index

Contents

Acknowledgments ix 

Introduction 1

I Subcultural Origins, 2003-2007    13

1 Defining Terms: The Origins and Evolution of Subcultural Trolling 15
2 The Only Reason to Do Anything: Lulz, Play, and the Mask of Trolling 27
3 Toward a Method/ology 37

II The "Golden Years," 2008-2011 49

4 The House That Fox Built: Anonymous, Spectacle, and Cycles of 
Amplification 51
5 LOLing at Tragedy: Facebook Trolls, Memorial Pages, and the Business of 
Mass-Mediated Disaster Narratives 71
6 Race and the No-Spin Zone: The Thin Line between Trolling and 
Corporate Punditry 95
7 Dicks Everywhere: The Cultural Logics of Trolling 115

III The Transitional Period, 2012-2015 135

8 The Lulz Are Dead, Long Live the Lulz: From Subculture to 
Mainstream 137
9 Where Do We Go from Here? The Importance of Spinning Endlessly 153

Notes 171 
Bibliography 199 
Index 225