Internet Trolls
April 4th, 2006 RachelFor those of you looking for some light reading about a certain part of internet culture, here’s a fascinating overview of ‘internet trolling’ from Wikipedia. What the heck, I’ll just post the article here for you…properly cited, of course. Dunno what brought on this sudden urge, must be the change in the weather. Huh.
Internet troll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum,
and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages designed to annoy
and antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion
(see Anonymous Internet posting).
Etymology
The contemporary use of the term first appeared on Usenet groups in the late 1980s. It is widely thought to be a contraction of the phrase "trolling for suckers," itself derived from the sport fishing technique of trolling. The latter can be compared with trawling, of which it is a near homophone.
The word likely gained currency because of its apt second meaning, drawn from the "trolls", which are portrayed in Scandinavian folklore, and children’s tales, as often ugly, obnoxious creatures that are bent on wickedness and mischief. The image of the troll under the bridge in the "Three Billy Goats Gruff"
emphasizes the troll’s negative reaction to outsiders intruding on its
physical environment, particularly those who intend to graze in its
domain without permission.
Vicious circles
For many people, the characterising feature of trolling is the
perception of intent to disrupt a community in some way. Inflammatory,
sarcastic, disruptive or humorous content is posted, meant to draw
other users into engaging the troll in a fruitless confrontation. The
greater the reaction from the community the more likely the user is to
troll again, as the person develops beliefs that certain actions
achieve his/her goal to cause chaos. This gives rise to the often
repeated protocol in Internet culture: "Do not feed the trolls."
Often, a person will post a sincere message about which he is
emotionally sensitive. Skillful trolls know that an easy way to upset
him is to disingenuously claim that he is a "troll." In forums where
most users are similar to each other, outsiders may be perceived as
trolls simply because they do not fit into the social norms
of that group. It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a
user who merely has different values, views, or ideas, and a user who
is intentionally trolling. This can lead to genuinely hostile behavior,
including flame wars.
