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互联网是个游乐场，在给人们提供各类便利信息、促进沟通的同时，还为各路“鬼才”提供了搞怪的场所。在这里，你不必担心暴露自己的真实身份，不必在意别人会怎样评论你的“杰出作品”，不必考虑自己是否货真价实、才华横溢……而这一切可能只是因为你厌倦了生活的平淡和工作的一成不变，就如本期《达人密码》我们将介绍的这位“嬉客”，从一封颇具创意的邮件开始，在网络上火了一把。
Robert Siegel (Host): If you’re making a summer books list, there’s a new title out from an online humorist. His email exchanges with 1)unsuspecting victims have been going viral for years.
NPR’s Shereen Meraji sat down with the author of The Internet Is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius.
Shereen Marisol Meraji: This email exchange went viral a while ago. Maybe someone sent it to you. 2)In my head, it sounded a little something like this.
Unidentified Woman: Dear David, our records indicate that your account is 3)overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment, please contact us within the next seven days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.
Unidentified Man: Dear Jane, I do not have any money, so I’m sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I 4)value the drawing at $233.95, so I trust that this settles the matter. Regards, David.
Meraji: Basically, this David guy is trying to pay a real
5)chiropractor bill with an 6)elementary drawing of a spider. The woman he’s emailing is not 7)amused. The email exchange is funny to some, but to others David comes off as a bit of a 8)bully.
Mr. Davie Thorne (Author, The Internet Is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius): You 9)reckon it’s mean?
Meraji: That’s the real David. David Thorne, he’s an
10)Aussie.
Mr. Thorne: I never 11)initiate the conversation. If somebody’s initiating it, then really it’s up to them if they want to end the discussion or whatnot.
Meraji: But for Thorne, it’s best when they keep hitting send. It all started when the 12)chain-smoking, 30-something,
13)graphic designer, single dad from Adelaide, Australia, was bored at work. He’d 14)instigate email arguments with
co-workers, landlords, friends and school 15)chaplains. He’d write 16)outlandish stories on Internet forums that would get him kicked out by irritated 17)moderators. Why? He says it’s because it made him laugh.
Mr. Thorne: People use the word “18)troll”, but I’m not on there to upset people or anything like that. I’m just…basically go on these forums and write little stories. I’m a designer, but it’s a lot more fun writing than it is laying out business cards.
Meraji: Thorne put his funniest stuff on his website,
27b/6.com. And when he posted that spider email exchange, he realized he wasn’t the only one chuckling.
Mr. Thorne: Before the spider email, the website was probably getting 500 hits a week. After the spider email was posted, now I think it was about half a million hits a day and the servers just collapsed.
Meraji: Thorne needed a dedicated server. But hosting charges were 19)pricey. So he gathered his online 20)pranks and stories into a self-published book, The Internet Is a Playground. A real publisher picked it up and it recently made The New York Times Best-Seller List.
Thorne is 21)adamant that none of this could have happened if his work didn’t make some people laugh and others shake their heads in disgust.
Mr. Thorne: If I post something and I get five comments and they’re all: “That was funny, that was good,” and everything, then, yes, I’ll jump in there under a construct’s name and say, “That was terrible, the guy’s an idiot”; because that’s the only way to create the factions. Factions are gold. They’re just priceless. Been doing that for years. That’s terrible, isn’t it?
Meraji: I tried to reach a couple of people on the
anti-Thorne faction. But only one got back to me: Shannon Walkley. She was the admin assistant at the branding firm where he worked, and a repeat target of Thorne’s email shenanigans.
Mr. Thorne: She filed three formal complaints because she didn’t like my sense of humor. And I’d steal things from her desk. And I think I just wore her out after a while.
Meraji: Shannon Walkley declined an interview in an email, saying: “Sorry. This is probably just another one of his tricks anyway. And I don’t care about his book or his stupid website.”
So is David Thorne an online humorist or a grown-up bully trolling the Web for victims? Either way you look at it, the Internet is his playground.
罗伯特·西格尔（主持）：如果你正给自己列书单，打算夏天好好读几本书，那可以看看一位网络“嬉客”的新书。他跟许多毫无防备的“受害者”之间的电邮内容早在网上疯传多年。
NPR的记者舒琳·马拉吉跟《互联网是个游乐场：一位网络鬼才的荒诞邮件》一书的作者做了个访谈。
舒琳·玛丽苏·马拉吉：这一来一往的邮件内容很久之前已经在网上疯传，也许有人也转发过给你。记忆所及，信里好像是这么说的——
女声：亲爱的戴维，我们的记录显示您的逾期欠款为233.95美元。在您偿付该款项后，请于七天内与我们联系确认款项已到账，不再欠费。
男声：亲爱的简，我没有钱，所以给你发一幅我画的蜘蛛来代替。我给这幅画定价为233.95美元，这样，我相信欠费的问题就解决了。祝好，戴维。
马拉吉：基本上，这位戴维是想用一幅画工幼稚的蜘蛛图来偿付货真价实的按摩费用。收到如此回信的那位女士是笑不出来的。某些人看来，这邮件风趣诙谐，但另外也有人觉得戴维有点欺人太甚。
戴维·托恩 （《互联网是个游乐场：一位网络鬼才的荒诞邮件》的作者）：你觉得这卑鄙吗？
马拉吉：那就是戴维本人，戴维·托恩，他是澳洲人。
托恩：我从来没主动挑起话题，如果有人挑起来，要继续争论与否什么的还真是随他们的便。
马拉吉：但是对于托恩来说，最好众人还是热烈回复，与他继续论战下去。围绕托恩这烟不离手、年过三十已是单亲老爸的争议源于这位来自澳洲阿得莱德的平面设计师对自己工作的腻烦。他会跟同事、房东、朋友、学校牧师展开电邮论战。他会在网络论坛里发表一些离经叛道的怪谈，经常惹毛版主，最后被人踢走。为什么要这样做呢？他说只为娱己。
托恩：大家用“山精怪物”这个词来形容我，但是我做的一切不是为了惹人不高兴什么的，我只是上去论坛发表些小故事而已。虽说我是个设计师，但写作比做名片排版设计更有意思。
马拉吉：托恩把自编的最搞笑的东西都放在自己的网站上——27b/6.com。将自己欠债还“蛛”那电邮放上网后，他发现读着读着暗自发笑的不只他一人。
托恩：在“蜘蛛电邮”之前，网站每周的点击率大概是500人次。“蜘蛛电邮”公开后，现在我想每天大约有一百万人次的点击率，连网站服务都超负荷瘫痪了。
马拉吉：托恩需要专业的网站服务器。而网页寄存服务的费用又十分昂贵，所以他把自己那些网络嬉笑把戏和故事集结成书，自资出版，名为《互联网是个游乐场》，后来被出版商看中正式出版发行，而最近该书已打入《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜内。
托恩坚信，如果他的作品没同时引发一些笑声和另一些摇头唾骂的话，不可能会有眼前的轰动名声。
托恩：如果我在网上发表了什么，然后只有五条评论，全是一面倒地说“写得妙趣横生，写得好”，诸如此类的，那么，对，我肯定会编个身份上去评论说“写得一塌糊涂，这家伙是个傻瓜”，因为只有这样，你才能制造派别，挑起纷争。派别值万金，简直是无价宝，这么多年来我一直会这样煽风点火。很混账吧？
马拉吉：我尝试联系过好几个“反托恩派”的人士，但只有香农·沃克里一人回复了我。她曾与托恩同在一家品牌策划公司里工作过，任职行政助理，那时候，她老是被托恩视为电邮嬉玩的对象。
托恩：因为不喜欢我的幽默，她曾经提过三次正式投诉。我就喜欢从她桌上顺手牵羊，我想，久了，她就烦我了。
马拉吉：香农·沃克里婉拒了我们的访谈邀请，在邮件里回复道：“对不起，这可能又是他的一玩弄把戏。而且我对他的书和傻瓜网站没兴趣。”
那戴维·托恩究竟是幽默的网络“嬉客”还是在网上欺凌弱小的土霸王呢？随便你怎么看，无疑，互联网就是他的游乐场。
Robert Siegel (Host): If you’re making a summer books list, there’s a new title out from an online humorist. His email exchanges with 1)unsuspecting victims have been going viral for years.
NPR’s Shereen Meraji sat down with the author of The Internet Is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius.
Shereen Marisol Meraji: This email exchange went viral a while ago. Maybe someone sent it to you. 2)In my head, it sounded a little something like this.
Unidentified Woman: Dear David, our records indicate that your account is 3)overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment, please contact us within the next seven days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.
Unidentified Man: Dear Jane, I do not have any money, so I’m sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I 4)value the drawing at $233.95, so I trust that this settles the matter. Regards, David.
Meraji: Basically, this David guy is trying to pay a real
5)chiropractor bill with an 6)elementary drawing of a spider. The woman he’s emailing is not 7)amused. The email exchange is funny to some, but to others David comes off as a bit of a 8)bully.
Mr. Davie Thorne (Author, The Internet Is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius): You 9)reckon it’s mean?
Meraji: That’s the real David. David Thorne, he’s an
10)Aussie.
Mr. Thorne: I never 11)initiate the conversation. If somebody’s initiating it, then really it’s up to them if they want to end the discussion or whatnot.
Meraji: But for Thorne, it’s best when they keep hitting send. It all started when the 12)chain-smoking, 30-something,
13)graphic designer, single dad from Adelaide, Australia, was bored at work. He’d 14)instigate email arguments with
co-workers, landlords, friends and school 15)chaplains. He’d write 16)outlandish stories on Internet forums that would get him kicked out by irritated 17)moderators. Why? He says it’s because it made him laugh.
Mr. Thorne: People use the word “18)troll”, but I’m not on there to upset people or anything like that. I’m just…basically go on these forums and write little stories. I’m a designer, but it’s a lot more fun writing than it is laying out business cards.
Meraji: Thorne put his funniest stuff on his website,
27b/6.com. And when he posted that spider email exchange, he realized he wasn’t the only one chuckling.
Mr. Thorne: Before the spider email, the website was probably getting 500 hits a week. After the spider email was posted, now I think it was about half a million hits a day and the servers just collapsed.
Meraji: Thorne needed a dedicated server. But hosting charges were 19)pricey. So he gathered his online 20)pranks and stories into a self-published book, The Internet Is a Playground. A real publisher picked it up and it recently made The New York Times Best-Seller List.
Thorne is 21)adamant that none of this could have happened if his work didn’t make some people laugh and others shake their heads in disgust.
Mr. Thorne: If I post something and I get five comments and they’re all: “That was funny, that was good,” and everything, then, yes, I’ll jump in there under a construct’s name and say, “That was terrible, the guy’s an idiot”; because that’s the only way to create the factions. Factions are gold. They’re just priceless. Been doing that for years. That’s terrible, isn’t it?
Meraji: I tried to reach a couple of people on the
anti-Thorne faction. But only one got back to me: Shannon Walkley. She was the admin assistant at the branding firm where he worked, and a repeat target of Thorne’s email shenanigans.
Mr. Thorne: She filed three formal complaints because she didn’t like my sense of humor. And I’d steal things from her desk. And I think I just wore her out after a while.
Meraji: Shannon Walkley declined an interview in an email, saying: “Sorry. This is probably just another one of his tricks anyway. And I don’t care about his book or his stupid website.”
So is David Thorne an online humorist or a grown-up bully trolling the Web for victims? Either way you look at it, the Internet is his playground.
罗伯特·西格尔（主持）：如果你正给自己列书单，打算夏天好好读几本书，那可以看看一位网络“嬉客”的新书。他跟许多毫无防备的“受害者”之间的电邮内容早在网上疯传多年。
NPR的记者舒琳·马拉吉跟《互联网是个游乐场：一位网络鬼才的荒诞邮件》一书的作者做了个访谈。
舒琳·玛丽苏·马拉吉：这一来一往的邮件内容很久之前已经在网上疯传，也许有人也转发过给你。记忆所及，信里好像是这么说的——
女声：亲爱的戴维，我们的记录显示您的逾期欠款为233.95美元。在您偿付该款项后，请于七天内与我们联系确认款项已到账，不再欠费。
男声：亲爱的简，我没有钱，所以给你发一幅我画的蜘蛛来代替。我给这幅画定价为233.95美元，这样，我相信欠费的问题就解决了。祝好，戴维。
马拉吉：基本上，这位戴维是想用一幅画工幼稚的蜘蛛图来偿付货真价实的按摩费用。收到如此回信的那位女士是笑不出来的。某些人看来，这邮件风趣诙谐，但另外也有人觉得戴维有点欺人太甚。
戴维·托恩 （《互联网是个游乐场：一位网络鬼才的荒诞邮件》的作者）：你觉得这卑鄙吗？
马拉吉：那就是戴维本人，戴维·托恩，他是澳洲人。
托恩：我从来没主动挑起话题，如果有人挑起来，要继续争论与否什么的还真是随他们的便。
马拉吉：但是对于托恩来说，最好众人还是热烈回复，与他继续论战下去。围绕托恩这烟不离手、年过三十已是单亲老爸的争议源于这位来自澳洲阿得莱德的平面设计师对自己工作的腻烦。他会跟同事、房东、朋友、学校牧师展开电邮论战。他会在网络论坛里发表一些离经叛道的怪谈，经常惹毛版主，最后被人踢走。为什么要这样做呢？他说只为娱己。
托恩：大家用“山精怪物”这个词来形容我，但是我做的一切不是为了惹人不高兴什么的，我只是上去论坛发表些小故事而已。虽说我是个设计师，但写作比做名片排版设计更有意思。
马拉吉：托恩把自编的最搞笑的东西都放在自己的网站上——27b/6.com。将自己欠债还“蛛”那电邮放上网后，他发现读着读着暗自发笑的不只他一人。
托恩：在“蜘蛛电邮”之前，网站每周的点击率大概是500人次。“蜘蛛电邮”公开后，现在我想每天大约有一百万人次的点击率，连网站服务都超负荷瘫痪了。
马拉吉：托恩需要专业的网站服务器。而网页寄存服务的费用又十分昂贵，所以他把自己那些网络嬉笑把戏和故事集结成书，自资出版，名为《互联网是个游乐场》，后来被出版商看中正式出版发行，而最近该书已打入《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜内。
托恩坚信，如果他的作品没同时引发一些笑声和另一些摇头唾骂的话，不可能会有眼前的轰动名声。
托恩：如果我在网上发表了什么，然后只有五条评论，全是一面倒地说“写得妙趣横生，写得好”，诸如此类的，那么，对，我肯定会编个身份上去评论说“写得一塌糊涂，这家伙是个傻瓜”，因为只有这样，你才能制造派别，挑起纷争。派别值万金，简直是无价宝，这么多年来我一直会这样煽风点火。很混账吧？
马拉吉：我尝试联系过好几个“反托恩派”的人士，但只有香农·沃克里一人回复了我。她曾与托恩同在一家品牌策划公司里工作过，任职行政助理，那时候，她老是被托恩视为电邮嬉玩的对象。
托恩：因为不喜欢我的幽默，她曾经提过三次正式投诉。我就喜欢从她桌上顺手牵羊，我想，久了，她就烦我了。
马拉吉：香农·沃克里婉拒了我们的访谈邀请，在邮件里回复道：“对不起，这可能又是他的一玩弄把戏。而且我对他的书和傻瓜网站没兴趣。”
那戴维·托恩究竟是幽默的网络“嬉客”还是在网上欺凌弱小的土霸王呢？随便你怎么看，无疑，互联网就是他的游乐场。