Bloggers react to Colombo bomblast

Mahangu — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:44:00 +0000

Reports of the recent bomb explosion in Colombo trickled in to the Sri Lankan blogosphere today, with veteran political blog Nittewa being the first to pick up the story.

Meanwhile, new comer Moju threw up a thread that got some discussion going, and although this as usual quickly degenerated in to trolling, a few commentors left some good links.

Thank you Advocate, for these youtube videos which feature TV captures of some post blast footage.

Although I've summed up a little of my past experiences with bombs in this post on my personal site,

The actual scene of an explosion is nothing like the glamorous setups you see in movies or on TV. There’s a lot more gore than cinema, and none of the music to keep you psyched. The smell of flesh and fear, entwined, inseparable. A stench that climbs up your nostrils and stays there, lodged between your nose and your mind.

most other Sri Lankan weblogs have been suprisingly quiet on the issue.

Troll causes Sri Lankan blog riot

Mahangu — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:12:55 +0000

Wikipedia defines an online troll as someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages designed to annoy and antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion.

In a nutshell, that's what the Sri Lankan weblog community has been plagued by during the past two weeks. Although Internet trolling is by no means a new phenomenon, this is the first time that the Lankan blogspace has been seriously affected by it.

The troll, who we will not link here for fear of feeding it, seems to have an in depth knowledge of the community and its members - something which is not often seen in troublemakers of this kind.

What is most interesting however, is the filth the blog has fueled. The comment threads of the offending posts have filled up with messages that vary from mildly rude to thoroughly disturbing, with varying degrees of profanity. I've tried to sum up what's happening in a blog post of my own, which outlines, among other things, a possible explanation for this behaviour.

All in all though, the .lk community is going through a bit of a slump, with many bloggers refraining from posting in fear of being targeted by the newcomer. The upside however is that these recent happenings are a sure sign that the Sri Lanka weblogging community has finally arrived. And of course, never forget that drama brings hits.

Global Voices » Mahangu

Bloggers react to Colombo bomblast

Troll causes Sri Lankan blog riot