Troll's Remorse

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About

Troll's Remorse is an internet slang term used to describe a person who grew famous due to their edgy or mean-spirited personality but eventually transformed themselves due to social pressures. This "troll's remorse" leads the ex-troll to devote themselves to expressing guilt and overzealously trying to atone for their past misdeeds. Some internet users often used as examples of people experiencing "troll's remorse" are HBomberguy and iDubbbz.

Origin

On October 23, 2009, Urban Dictionary^[1] user @RawrItsPanda posted a definition for the term "troll's remorse," describing it as the act of an internet troll feeling guilt or regret about their trolling habits (seen below).

The phrase "troll's remorse" was also used on 4chan's /tv/ and /tg/ boards in the year 2010,^[2] and also saw consistent usage on X / Twitter around the same time.^[3]

On April 4th, 2013, an internet troll wrote about experiencing "troll's remorse" after going on a rant about the Sixers' CEO Adam Aron for NBC Sports Philadelphia.^[4]

Spread

Around 2017, internet users began to associate YouTuber HBomberguy with troll's remorse, alleging that his progressive online persona is a result of him walking back on his previous associations with people like Mister Metokur. ^[7]^[8]

The term also made its way into HBomberguy's December 2nd, 2023, plagiarism video in reference to Internet Historian deleting problematic videos that might not be advertiser-friendly (seen below).^[9]

On March 22nd, 2023, X^[6] user @DoomerCoomer posted a White Man Has Been Here meme about YouTubers who have exhibited troll's remorse, gathering over 14,000 likes in a year (seen below).

On March 28th, 2023, X^[10] user @Actually_Tina made a post about how iDubbbz is a "tool with trolls remorse," gathering over 3,000 likes in a year (seen below).

On September 6th, 2023, a user on Amarna Forums^[5] created a thread to discuss the phenomenon of edgy internet users getting troll's remorse over time or when they grow more famous. The user describes the concept as follows:

This is where the Troll – someone considered to be "mean spirited", "belligerent", or perennially lambasting other people in various ways – is transformed, be it by IRL social pressures, the attempts of other online groups (e.g., such groups might say "stop being edgy, it's not 2014 anymore"), or some unrelated personal transformation. Whatever cause there is, Troll's Remorse begins to shape the Troll's online activity, devoting themselves to a feeling of guilt, regret, and spiteful attitudes against those who remind him of his previous online identity.