ABSTRACT
The "crackpot" meme of the 20th century, of course, has given way to the "troll" meme of the 21st. In the context of audience feedback forums, a "troll" is a commenter, usually in an anonymous online forum, who intentionally and repeatedly posts inflammatory and insensitive comments. In many ways, the "crackpots" who regularly participate in audience feedback are the most loyal fans of the free press, because they have fully bought into the ideal that the media are, first and foremost, forums for public discourse. The idiom of insanity sometimes is applied to journalists themselves, often when considering the more colorful characters of the business. The dichotomy of "insane" and "rational" could just as easily be applied to editors, pundits, journalists, or any others who put their opinions into the public sphere, and the idiom of insanity is certainly not reserved for those who provide feedback to the media.
