I am really bothered by the expression ‘the online hate mob’, as if this was a consistent and coordinated group of people who have an active and positive role in hatred.<p>It’s just a set of people who a. had a bad day; b. disagree; c. have arguments, or agree with people who do, and resent the fact that those arguments were openly dismissed.<p>“Troll” was an expression used by feminists (Ellison) 20 years ago, when they switched from presence-based meetings to on-line forum. They were confronted to dissent for the first time, didn’t know what to do with it. And roll all dissent into a intentionally de-humanised collective, where counter-arguments were gladly mixed with abuse to discredit them.<p>That kind of conflation became so prevalent, that is –ironically– also what drove people to miss Sacco’s cynicism.