(Redirected from Internet Troll)
On the Internet, troll is a slang term for a person who posts messages intended to create controversy or provoke an angry response rather than to add content to a discussion. Like those who engage in flaming, Internet trolls sometimes resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objectives.
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The term trolling, like the term flamebait, originated as a fishing metaphor: like people who troll for fish, people on the internet were dragging a conversational lure through a group, baiting for a response. Later, the verb became a noun, as a trolling person was labeled a troll. In its noun form, troll picked up the association of the monster trolls in folklore.
Some feel that using the noun (calling someone a troll) makes unnecessary assumptions about a writer's motives, whereas using the verb (calling a post trolling) describes the reception of a post without making assumptions about motives. Thus, it may be possible to troll unintentionally. Regardless, labeling not only posts but people trolls is very common in current usage.
Of course, not everyone who is accused of being a troll actually is. Some posts will look like "trolling" to some while seeming like meaningful contributions to others. Behavior which might be considered a simple rampage or an emotional outburst in other environments is often tagged with the term "troll" in internet discussion.
Reasons for the use of slang monikers in Internet discussion explored in peer reviewed literature exploring behavior in electronic networks such as the Internet include a sense of anonymity or impersonal perceptions of others, which tend to reduce perceptions of the value of another person in a dialogue.
Common types of troll messages or activities:
An example of a troll message in the newer sense would be one that denounces a particular religion in a religion newsgroup — though historically, this would have been called "flamebait".
A variant of the second variety (inflammatory messages) involves posting content obviously severely contradictory to the (stated or unstated) focus of the group or forum- for example, posting cat meat recipes on a pet lovers forum, posting evolutionary theory on a creationist forum, or posting messages about how all dragons are boring in the USENET group alt.fan.dragons.
Cross posting is a popular method of choice by Usenet trolls: a cross-posted article can be discussed simultaneously in several unrelated and/or opposing newsgroups; this is likely to result in a flame war. For instance, an anti-Fast food flame bait might be cross posted to healthy eating groups, environmentalist groups, animal rights groups, as well as a totally off-topic Artificial Intelligence newsgroup.
An example of a successful troll is the well-known "Oh how I envy American students" USENET thread which got 3000+ followups.
Most discussion of what motivates Internet trolls comes from other Internet users who claim to have observed trolling behavior. There is little scholarly literature to describe either the term or the phenomenon. The comments of accused trolls might be unreliable, since they may in fact be intending to stir controversy rather than to advance understanding of the phenomenon. Likewise, accusers are often motivated by a desire to defend a particular Internet project and might be unreliable sources on the motivation of those they accuse. As a result, identifying the goals of Internet trolls is most often speculative. Still, several basic goals have been attributed to Internet trolls, according to the type of disruption they are believed to be provoking.
One possible goal is to get some form of meta-forum (or "off-topic") response. The goal would be to provoke a sort of negative response. Another suspected goal is to generate a change in the opinion of the users of the board or of the overall reason for the forum. Another goal is to cause a policy change in the way the board is run. An example of a policy change would be the requirement of admin verification of new accounts before they are allowed to post on a previously open account registration board. Another goal a forum troll may have would be to cause the forum itself to be shut down, either temporarily or permanently. These suspected motivations are similar to those stated by Internet hackers, who often state their efforts are to improve Internet security or to generally disrupt overuse of networked electronic communication formats.
A person might also engage in behavior described as trolling to target a particular individual, or because they have concluded there is no normal or rational forum for more legitimate discourse. In other situations, the person accused of trolling may simply be attempting to spread joviality or using a form of humor, such as satire, which can lead others to mistake the behavior for trolling. A troll's target may be chosen randomly, though it is would seem unlikely that a person who describes themselves as an Internet troll would attack something they appreciate. Many other reasons may also exist.
The popular wisdom about dealing with trolls is "Don't feed the trolls, that will only encourage them." That is, do not respond to them; that is the attention they desire. Or, at best, one will be drawn into dialogues that waste time. Somebody who does respond to them might be told "YHBT. YHL. HAND." by other members of the group, which means "You have been trolled. You have lost. Have a nice day."
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