Internet troll

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

On the Internet, troll is a slang term for a person alleged to have posted messages that create controversy or provoke an angry response without adding content to a discussion, often intentionally, as a ludibrium. Though technically different from flaming, which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, alleged trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objective, which is assumed to be the purpose of creating controversy for its own sake, discrediting those with whom they disagree, or sabotaging discussion by creating an intimidating atmosphere.

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; customs of discourse, or etiquette that originated in physical communities where people are actually exposed to some danger of bodily harm by each other's errors are often applied naively by newcomers who are not used to the range of views that people are often comfortable expressing online, especially anonymously. Generally, the term suffers from the fundamental attribution error in that it attributes behavior to a person's nature or personality rather than examining behavior in the context of events surrounding the behavior.

Table of contents

1 Origins

2 Examples

3 Motivation

4 Resolutions and alternatives

5 Singles culture

6 Related articles

6.1 Specific trolling subcultures
6.2 Notable troll examples
6.3 Miscellaneous

7 External links

Origins

The term originated as a verb to describe behavior, but evolved as a noun that describes assumptions about a writer's motives. Originally this term applied to people who were believed to be intentionally posting flamebait, by analogy with the fishing technique of trolling: metaphorically, these people were dragging a conversational lure through the group, hoping for a response. The concept of "this person is trolling our newsgroup" became shortened to "this person is a troll", and picked up the association of the monster trolls of folklore. Note that this is a highly subjective term, as everyone is affected differently by the nature of the term deemed a "troll".

Trolling does not always maintain the meaning of posting messages specifically in order to elicit a particular response, usually anger or argument. The most common form, troll, usually refers to someone who induces general controversy, not necessarily a particular response.

Sometimes people use this to discredit an opposing position in an argument. By asserting that one's opponents are trolls, one is asserting that they are only maintaining their position in order to feed the flames, and that their position is actually indefensible. To demonstrate that someone is a troll in this sense therefore carries a far more difficult burden of proof than is required merely to show that someone has posted messages that have the effect of creating controversy.

In any case, merely asserting that someone is a troll without providing the appropriate evidence amounts to an ad hominem argument, and is itself thus usually indefensible. Many views that have met with opposition and even the ridicule of experts have subsequently been found to be justified, so the label "troll" used this way is actually likely to indicate a correct but controversial position. Moreover, the definition of "troll" given in the introduction is disputed: some hold that controversy, per se, is for its own sake: controversy never leads to anything because it has no beginning or end, it starts from no premises and leads to no conclusion.

That said, it is quite possible to stir up controversy with a wrong argument - but these can more effectively be met by simply responding to the substantive issue.

The role of Internet trolls is also disputed, some viewing them as playing some role in the limiting of groupthink, and the prevention of forming any kind of false consciousness by acting as devil's advocate. One proposed explanation, in light of what was said earlier about "ad hominem" labeling, is that some people label others behaviours that they do not deem suitable as "controversy" or "trolling". Consequently, for instance, someone who believed that Wikipedia collaborators do not form an ordinary 'community' but were instead a 'cabal' would be likely to be labeled as a troll by people who take the Wikipedia seriously. For Richard Nixon perhaps the Watergate scandal was a conspiracy.

Examples

Common types of troll messages or activities:

off topic messages — "Can anyone help me make a webpage?" "No, this is a music forum."
inflammatory messages — "You are an idiot for including this type of message in your list."
messages containing an obvious flaw or error — "I think 2001: A Space Odyssey is Roman Polanski's best movie."
intentionally naive or politically contentious messages — "I think George W. Bush is the best/worst President ever"
intentionally posting an outrageous argument deliberately constructed around a fundamental but obfuscated flaw or error.
posting a ridiculous claim and then insisting it's true unless people refute it to their satisfaction.
making loud claims to be on the defensive, while the claims are a guise for their aggressive maneuvers.
including offensive media such as annoying sound files or disturbing pictures in a message.

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 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.

Motivation

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 contriversy 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 alleged troll's target may be chosen randomly, though it is would seem unlikely that a person who describes themself as an Internet troll would attack something they appreciate. Many other reasons may also exist.

Resolutions and alternatives

There is some generally-accepted wisdom about dealing with those who are described as Internet trolls: "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."

Occasionally, joining in with those accused of trolling can expediate their departure or change of behavior if they assume victory in their favor sooner or become confused.

Labeling participants in Internet discussions as trolls can serve to perpetuate the unwanted behaviors. A person who failed to find acceptance by a group, for whatever reason, might readily embrace an identity as a "troll" if the group more readily accepts that identity. An affirmative strategy in dealing with "trolling" behavior is to describe preferred behaviors, to affirm the capacity of a person to perform according to those expectations and to recognize the value of the preferred behavior. This is often difficult for those who use this term because it requires that they lend aid and comfort to those with whom they might disagree. Nonetheless, in most conflicts, for parties to articulate the interests of another party in terms the other party will accept is widely recognized as both a tool of conflict resolution and of persuading opponents to accept an unwelcome viewpoint.

Singles culture

The far more common usage of the verb troll is to describe sexually promiscuous adults. People are said to be "trolling" when they visit bars or parties in search of a sexual partner. The use of the term troll in Internet contexts often includes a suggestion of loose attachments and few commitments to a group or to an ideal.

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