What Is An Internet Troll?

Date First Published: 9th June 2023

Topic: Cybersecurity

Subtopic: Threats To Systems, Data & Information

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn about what an internet troll is in this article.

An internet troll is a person on the internet who intentionally causes disruption by posting off-topic, upsetting, controversial, or disturbing content or messages to get a reaction out of people. Internet trolls often troll on comment boards, forums, social media platforms, chatrooms, wikis, or any other platform that allows people to communicate by typed messages or post content publicly.

The internet has become an easily accessible method of online communication. However, it's unfortunate that people also use this for malicious purposes, like causing trouble for other people and making them feel uncomfortable. The anonymity of online communication and advances in technology has led to an increase in internet trolling over time. Trolling may seem funny to some people, but it is a serious matter and harmful to online communities. Fortunately, moderators and site admins can delete off-topic and provocative posts that distract from the main topic and ban accounts, and sometimes block IP addresses if necessary.

Internet trolls seek attention, so it's best to ignore and limit contact with them, encouraging them to move on. Defending or standing up for yourself may make you feel better for a few minutes, but it's not a good idea as it can cause them to double down on their negativity and turn a single post into a full-blown public argument. Internet trolls could use anything that you reply to harass you even more. Every time you defend or stand up for yourself, you are giving them what they want - attention. This is known as 'feeding' the trolls and is not recommended.

Examples Of Trolling

Trolling can come in any forms. Any type of activity designed to disrupt an online community by posting messages designed to get a reaction out of other people is considered trolling. Below are 15 examples of trolling:

• Posting purely insulting or dismissive comments to get a rise out of other people rather than engage in a productive discussion.
• Repeatedly posting off-topic messages that have nothing to do with the subject being discussed on an internet forum.
• Constantly bragging and "one-upping" other people in a chatroom (e.g. the troll constantly posts something that they claim to be better than what someone else has posted).
• Harassing someone to look at a page, buy something, or follow them on social media in a chatroom.
• Taking a funny piece of content and turning it into something offensive without any interest in the topic just to provoke a negative reaction.
• Taking degrading or embarrassing pictures or videos of someone else and posting them on the internet to a wide audience without their permission.
• Spreading false rumours about someone else on social media sites.
• Pretending to be someone else to mock them on the internet.
• Creating webpages that make fun of someone else or lie about them to make them feel bad.
• Repeatedly asking the same question over and over again in an internet forum even after it has been explained multiple times to annoy people.
• Flooding a comment board or chatroom with lots of gibberish messages and posts.
• Vandalising a wiki, like Wikipedia by removing all the content from a page or replacing all the content with gibberish or spam.
• Pretending to know everything and correcting everyone that is knowledgeable about the subject without properly knowing the topic to annoy other people.
• Constantly calling someone names to spite them.
• Posting someone's personal details in a public place without their permission in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Difference Between Trolling and Cyberbullying

The terms trolling and cyberbullying are sometimes used synonymously, but they are actually quite different. Trolling is when someone intentionally says something off-topic or disturbing to attract attention to themselves and disrupt a discussion people are having online. Cyberbullying is more harmful than trolling and happens when someone is continuously harming or intimidating someone online, unlike trolling, which may only happen once or twice.

Another difference between trolling and cyberbullying is that trolling usually happens in a public place where anyone can write a post, like a forum, chatroom, or comment board, whilst cyberbullying targets specific individuals and is usually sent by private messages. Trolls seek a reaction from people in general and often don't personally know their targets, whilst cyberbullies often know their targets and the abuse is targeted towards them, not from people in general.

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