Editing 351: Trolling

The term ''{{w|Trolling}}'' is used to describe provoking, destructive or annoying behaviour on the {{w|Internet}}. Especially common are Internet pranks of the {{w|bait-and-switch}} type. One of these pranks is the so-called {{w|Rickrolling}}. It involves placing a {{w|hyperlink|link}} that is supposed to contain interesting or funny material, but instead directs to the music video of the 1987 {{w|Rick Astley}} song ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}''. The prank first occurred in May 2007 on the popular {{w|imageboard}} {{w|4chan}} and has since become a widespread {{w|internet meme}}.

The comic has [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] digging into the ground and splicing Black Hat's computer into the TV cables of {{w|Rick Astley}}'s house. They are feeding the video of ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}'' into Astley's TV signal, who can be seen sitting in his living room and wondering why CNN has been replaced by his own video. The idea of Rickrolling Rick Astley himself is declared to be a "great moment in Trolling".

It should be noted that in the original prank, the victims voluntarily click on the link instead of having the video forced upon them. Therefore, the scene depicted in the comic is (arguably) no ''Rickrolling'' in the classical sense. Also, since Rick Astley is not the originator of the prank, this is no pay-back scenario.

The title text mentions {{w|Goatse.cx}} (prounced ''goat sex''), a former {{w|shock site|shock website}} that was used in a similar prank. People clicking on the feigned link would instead see the disturbing picture of a man holding open his anus. The title text suggests that Black Hat and Cueball somehow made the (unknown) founder of the site click on an even more shocking link.