"Please do not feed the troll"

What is a troll? Trolls are often ugly, obnoxious creatures bent on wickedness and mischief. The image of the troll under the bridge emphasizes the rootedness of the troll in a physical environment. An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. A troll is a person who posts inflammatory messages. She, or he, tries to start arguments and upset people. Internet trolls are people who fish for other people's confidence and, once found, exploit it.

Some trolls they don't "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their 'achievement' (as they see it). The anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish.

Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of courtesy or social responsibility.

Perhaps this sounds inconceivable. You may think, "Surely there is something I can write that will change them." But a true troll can not be changed by mere words.

Trolls are various in nature and the type of damage they do ranges greatly, such as:

• Cause irritation to others
• Disrupt an email list or online group
• Build false hopes
• Commit crimes
  

What is a troll?

The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your expense. There are two main types of trolls:

1. people who have the psychological need to feel good by making others feel bad.

   This is a sort of "psycho troll", whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. Such people may use their real names on the internet, and they may not even realize that they are "trolling" because it is all subconscious.

2. people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they create personae that you think are real, but they know is fictitious.

The Internet is a wonderful resource which is breaking down barriers and stripping away prejudice. Trolls threaten our continued enjoyment of this beautiful forum for ideas.

Some people are not upset by trolls and consider them an inevitable hazard of using the net. As the saying goes, "You can't have a picnic without ants."

It would be nice if everybody was so easy-going, but the sad fact is that trolls do discourage people. Posters may leave an internet community because they do not want to expose themselves to abuse. Negative emotions stirred up by trolls cause people to become bitter. An angry interchange between a troll and her victims can poison previously friendly interactions. Trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism can elicit a ferocious backlash.

Internet users sometimes let their passions get away from them when seated safely behind their keyboard. If you ignore their bluster and respond in a pleasant manner, they usually calm down. However, when your average "keyboard warrior" doesn't calm down... she may be a troll. If the person persists in being beastly, and seems to enjoy being unpleasant, there is not much you can do except ignore them. When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you insult a troll, he wins. When you scream at a troll, he wins. The only thing that trolls can't handle is being ignored.

Perhaps you simply cannot bear the hostile environment that the troll is creating and want to go away for a while. This convinces the troll that he is winning the battle.

Trolls often times protest that their right to free speech is being curtailed. While we may have the right to say more or less whatever we want, we do not have the right to say it wherever we want. You may feel strongly about the fact that your neighbor has not mowed his lawn for two months, but you do not have the right to berate him in his own living room. In the same respect, if a site owner/operator tells a troll that he is not welcome, the troll has no "right" to remain.

Trolls crave attention, and they care not whether it is positive or negative. They see the Internet as a mirror into which they can gaze in narcissistic rapture. WHY? Who knows why. Some people are just evil. There are people in this world who enjoy destruction. Some enjoy murdering children. Some enjoy sexually abusing children. Yes, these things happen in our world today and we cannot fathom WHY someone would do any of those things..... we also cannot understand why people do other things that hurt people... but when you say, "No one would do that" - don't be so sure.

Are you dealing with Trolls?

Avoid being deceived by trolls! Before you invest your trust in someone you should verify their bona fide nature from multiple known, reliable and independent sources. Beware of off-list emails that praise and flatter, or seem to evoke sympathy. Beware of emails that are an attempt to attack others or "rally the troops". Beware of emails from someone claiming to have been victimized by an internet site or newsgroup. If you feel yourself beginning to like someone, ask first: how much do I know about them from real life sources?