Ian Gorrie · Published by 4LULZ
The Fires Series
Three books. One argument. The fire does not go out.
Trolling is the oldest intellectual tradition in Western civilization. These three books prove it — from Socrates to 4chan, from the mystery schools to the algorithm, from the first flame war to the last.
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The argument, in three volumes
The Books
Book One
The Fires of History
Trolling is the oldest intellectual tradition in Western civilization. From Socrates to the Scientific Revolution, this is the lineage they never taught you.
Book Two
The Hidden Fire
The heretics, occultists, and secret societies who carried the flame through the centuries when saying the wrong thing could get you killed.
Book Three
Lurk More
Correcting the record on internet culture — from BBS boards to 4chan to AI — written by someone who was actually there.
The examinations
Koan or Shitpost?
The formal structure of Zen koans and internet shitposts is identical. Both use absurdity to short-circuit rational processing. Can you tell the difference?
Take the QuizLatest from the Newsletter
- Jun 2026 4chan Is Not a Monolith
- Jun 2026 Anonymous Was Never a Group
- Jun 2026 Context Collapse
- Jun 2026 Cruelty as Content
- Jun 2026 Deepfake-as-a-Service Is a Twelve Billion Dollar Industry
Episodes
- We Built a Demon That Won't Sell You a Curse 2026 Reporting on the occult is either credulous panic or bored dismissal, and both are useless if you actually want to …
- The Chud Reconquista: Asmongold and the Gamer Restoration 2026 The most-watched gamer on the internet looks into a camera and declares that chuds are the indigenous people of video …
- Greetz: The Warez Scene and the Art of the Signed Crack 1980s-present The people who cracked your software in 1990 didn't do it for money. They did it to be first, to sign the work with a …
- Slender Man: Folklore by Committee 2009-present A monster with a birthday. Slender Man was invented on a forum in 2009 and then written by a crowd into a genuine piece …
- The Best Griefing of All Time: A Field Guide to the PKer 1993-present Before there was Twitter, there was the corpse camp. A tour of the greatest griefs ever committed inside a game — the …
From the case files
Troll Power Rankings
142 behavioral dossiers, compiled by a Bureau unit that does not officially exist. The current top five:
| Rank | Subject | Archetype | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FRANCOIS-MARIE AROUET, dit VOLTAIRE | THE PRECISION SATIRIST | 89 |
| 2 | HAFIZ | THE POET WHO COULD NOT BE PINNED DOWN | 88 |
| 3 | LEO TAXIL | THE LONG-CON HOAXER | 88 |
| 4 | NASREDDIN HODJA | THE BELOVED SURVIVOR | 88 |
| 5 | ZHUANGZI | THE PHILOSOPHICAL DEPTH-CHARGE | 86 |
Reference
Every claim sourced. Every annotation sardonic.