Posted by: Contributing columnist, Clarion-Ledger, Business, December 23, 2015: If you spend much 
time reading stories online or on social media, you’ve probably noticed a very disturbing trend. Which disturbing trend, you ask? I’m referring to the constant negativism, criticism and even bullying that goes on in the comments section under nearly every story or in social media. It’s gotten pretty ridiculous, and I plan to cover that topic in a lot more detail in a future column.
Today, though, I want to propose a simple temporary solution for this holiday season: I want your help in trolling online for fun and joy instead of for negativity. You have a simple assignment – just use your comments online to make people laugh out loud this Christmas season. If this sounds a little too sickly sweet and old fashioned, I think you’re thinking too narrowly because if done right this will be edgy and funny and is not an easy assignment. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got some instructions and inspiration to help you along the way.
First, in case you’re not familiar with “trolling”, it’s generally described as someone adding inflammatory comments online that are meant to get reactions from people – not to actually add to the discussion. Much like hacking used to mean a bad thing and now people vie for the chance to tell you they are hackers and share their “life hacks,” let’s start a campaign to make trolling into something that isn’t necessarily a bad thing — and you can help starting today.
For inspiration on how this can be done well, you should Google “Ken M trolling” to see the master at work. I was led to the “Ken M” phenomenon a while back and Gizmodo recently wrote an article about him that calls him “the most epic troll on the internet.” The great thing, though, is that instead of making inflammatory comments that draw people to react with vitriol or hate, he makes comments as if he is an affable grandfather type who happens to be pretty clueless about any and everything he comments on. The key, as Gizmodo points out in its article, is his “subtle trolling method, which is never crude or combative.”
You really have to read the entire portfolio of Ken M to fully appreciate the humor and lightheartedness that makes his comments so exceptional, so I hesitate to even try to give examples here. At the risk of having the same ruining effect as explaining a joke, let me just mention two quick examples: In an Associated Press story about an obviously dead fawn that was dropped on a power line by an eagle, Ken M comments, “Thank God they were able to rescue this mischievous little cutup. Hopefully he’ll think twice before taunting the eagles again.” In a story about the advantages of breast feeding, he suggested that Dr. Phil had said breastfeeding was obsolete “now that we’ve discovered cows.”
Whether you find those quick examples funny or not, you should definitely go online and look at his work. My ribs are still sore from showing my wife all of his comments a few days ago, and even though our humor isn’t always exactly the same, we couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard as we went through them all. Reading his comments is the perfect way to enjoy holiday season downtime, but it’s even better if you can try to go online and make people laugh as well.
So that’s your assignment this holiday season — go read “Ken M” comments and see if you can get away with doing the same thing through your social media accounts and by commenting online. All you have to do is find the right story and use your wits to add a comment that will make someone laugh. If done right, it’ll be a comment that is just clever enough to make people wonder if it is real or not. I’m sure you can find a website that is otherwise inhabited by nothing but negative troll commenters, and this is your chance to mix it up a little and confuse the Scrooges otherwise commenting there.
Tony Jeff is the president and CEO of Innovate Mississippi. He can be reached at tjeff@innovate.ms.