Definitely an interesting read but more of an academic book than I was looking for. I would be interested in stocking something on this topic with more popular appeal but think this would be more suitable for students or scholars of the subject.

Although I grow up in the Internet age, things like memes still elude me: of their purposes and origins, for example. (Hence, I too fall into the 'outsiders' group mentioned by the authors.)
This book gives an engaging yet simple-to-understand analysis of some of the movements. My takeaway is that humans are really irrational beings - but terribly creative by the way they twist things up.
I love how the authors admit that understanding the ambivalence was a bit difficult even for them. After reading this wonderful book, I understand why!

Anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes on the internet knows that it is full of, well, jerks. And anyone who has been online more than 10 minutes has probably been a jerk at least once. It is probably one of the great constants of human nature. Ryan Milner and Whitney Philips make the case that much of this sort of communication is “ambivalent”.

The authors define ambivalent very carefully, and if I can paraphrase it correctly, it is that the same phrase may be funny, insulting, rude, nasty, encouraging, any of another 25 adjectives, all depending on who, when and where it is stated and with what intent.

From this opening, the authors attempt to define types of behavior and discuss their use in everyday online events.


=== The Good Stuff ===

* The authors make about as serious an attempt as possible at this task. Their work builds upon previously published work, and they attempt to classify and analyze various types of online behavior.

* The writing style is borderline academic. Not the usual intellectual self-aggrandizement common among “serious” authors, but not exactly 8th grade reading level either. There is some jargon and 15-letter words, but mostly they seem appropriate to the need to precisely communicate. I read the book in one or two sittings, and the pages went by quickly.

* The book takes on a number of common areas of online mischief making, including misogynists, those cheering violent behavior, making fun of others’ misfortune, racism, and off-color and downright rude humor.

* The authors are careful to ground human behavior in the “pre-internet” days. While technology may have enabled our anti-social behaviors to reach broader audiences, there are plenty of examples of equally tasteless and rude behavior long before broadband became ubiquitous. I believe this to be an important point that often gets lost in the worries about “technology” ruining our lives.


=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* I certainly don’t have the academic credentials that the authors possess, but I believe that some of their work is overkill. For example, the book analyzes the saga of “Erin Esurance”, a cute little animated teenager created to sell us auto insurance. Erin’s career was cut short in a blaze of obscene and tasteless parodies and memes, and the authors spend a bit of time analyzing the various fetishes and antisocial behaviors which drove this. But they missed what I would consider the most obvious-people were rebelling against the over-exposure that this character received in televised and online advertising, and were rebelling in the only way possible.

* The authors are not always impartial. For example, the authors certainly make their feelings known about inappropriate sexual and racial insults on the internet. Fair enough-much of that behavior is revolting to many of us. But most of it is not illegal, and protected under the right of free-speech. As academic researchers, I feel it is important for them to understand and explain how racists communicate their viewpoint and intimidate others-without offering judgement. Or to state it another way, individuals with more politically correct viewpoints are equally capable of online misadventures.


=== Summary ===

The book is an attempt to add intellectual structure and discipline to the analysis of online misbehaviors. The authors are fairly rigorous in looking at what makes such behavior so common, and what the motivations and strategies of its practitioners might be.

If you have spent time in any sort of unmoderated internet chat space, I doubt there is much here to surprise or shock you. It is amazing what people will say online. The authors provide a framework for analyzing that behavior, and suggest some possible motivations.

The book stops well short of making any sort of recommendations of limiting such behavior, or minimizing its effects on its targets.