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http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/02/internet_troll_personality_study_machiavellianism_narcissism_psychopathy.html?wpisrc=hpsponsoredd2

Yes, insert obligatory comment about sample size, ab auctoritate, and post hoc. Anyways, the article above points to a study wherein people who are terrible in real life are terrible on the internet. This doesn't come as a surprise, of course. The two things I found interesting about this, though was the idea that once trolls take root, they push out everyone else (or force those remainders to also become trolls), and that the only way to keep internet communities alive is to screen them out. It turns out trolls aren't like excess baggage weighing down a site on the internet, but is instead more like a cancer that kills its host.

Well, that and “Ultimately, the allure of trolling may be too strong for sadists, who presumably have limited opportunities to express their sadistic interests in a socially-desirable manner.” Once again, not exactly a shocker, of course. I suppose what's interesting is that a medium sort of has to take a meta stock of the medium within the medium.

Yep, There was a 40K website I would visit back in the 90's where a father and son team posted. The pair of them were so obnoxious in their attacks on others and spamming that the site was abandoned and the people they annoyed started another site just to get away from them.

They attempted to post on that site, also, even though it was clear they weren't welcome, but I believe they got banned.

Definitely something was out of balance in their lives.

Hate to be that guy, but I don't think should have taken thousands of dollars in research grants and doctorates to figure out that people who troll a lot tend to be trolls in real life too.

There's a little trick when dealing with trolls.

You just have to learn to not let them get your goat.

Once you figure this out, you're over that bridge and home free.

Sure, and dakka has the ignore button which I've certainly made use of.

The problem, though, is that it only works for people who push the ignore button. To use the cancer analogy, it's sort of like having a few cells that are resistant to a tumor growth, and are left unaffected. If the disease kills the rest of the body, though, then what good is it for the few people who took the proper precautions?

Especially if trolls shoo away new members, I suppose.

The idea that trolls scare away potential new normal posters and attracts potential new trolls is just common sense. People like to post alongside likeminded people and have their posts justified, whether they're looking for meaningful discussion or to troll. It just depends how well the moderating team keeps the trolls at bay.

I remember moderating a forum that, by the time I was brought on to help, was about 90% trolls. We had the option of leaving it as it is, or hacking away until they were gone. We went with the latter. Unfortunately, by that time there was no one left posting anything meaningful.

It's not really a new idea. Trolls just use the internet as a way to be their normal horrible bullying selves without the repercussions that can happen from acting like that in real life. To me it's actually really wussy in a sad way.

I think most of them like it as a way to be immortalized, at least for the short term. I expect most of them post bullying things, and then at least several times go back and re-read their postings, just to glory over themselves. It's the only way they can feel important.

The term troll is overused though.

People that actually set out to upset others are more what this article is talking about. There's a pretty good number of folks that start throwing the term "troll" around when they get butthurt about being called on their bs, which dilutes the true meaning of the word.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Hate to be that guy, but I don't think should have taken thousands of dollars in research grants and doctorates to figure out that people who troll a lot tend to be trolls in real life too.

If you don't examine and research these things, you're only making guesses, not coming up with facts, and considering the importance of internet communities these days, it's hardly a worthless topic.

Plus it goes somewhat against the widely believed Penny-Arcade "Internet f@$&wad theory", so you can't say it's fully obvious.

I do monitor other threads conversations and if i see a lot of over the top rudeness or anger i may with hold a topic or find a way to write it very neutral to give people like that a foothold to go off on a angry rant.

That being said my definition of a troll doesn't mean a "rude" person. But i've noticed they do go hand and hand.

I remember back in the good old days, when "trolling" involved being a little more than just some random dick on a forum. When it required an elegant but infuriating sense of wit. Back when the entire point of the game wasn't to be identified as one in the first place.
Now it's an excuse for any 12 year old to say stupid bs.

 Monster Rain wrote:
The term troll is overused though.

People that actually set out to upset others are more what this article is talking about. There's a pretty good number of folks that start throwing the term "troll" around when they get butthurt about being called on their bs, which dilutes the true meaning of the word.

I agree with this.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Hate to be that guy, but I don't think should have taken thousands of dollars in research grants and doctorates to figure out that people who troll a lot tend to be trolls in real life too.

It's called the scientific method.

 Monster Rain wrote:
The term troll is overused though.

People that actually set out to upset others are more what this article is talking about. There's a pretty good number of folks that start throwing the term "troll" around when they get butthurt about being called on their bs, which dilutes the true meaning of the word.

Yeah, but the issue is that a lot of that is that it is extremely subjective, because whether or not they're a troll depends largely on determining the intention of an anonymous person posting from somewhere else on the planet. Plenty of times I've assumed a person is trolling, only to think about it a little more and realise its possible they're a troll, but it's also possible they just lack social graces, or perhaps they've just gotten really emotional because someone else has a different opinion on the effectiveness of melee attacks in battletech.

 Maddermax wrote:

Plus it goes somewhat against the widely believed Penny-Arcade "Internet f@$&wad theory", so you can't say it's fully obvious.

It really is the best description I've ever seen. Love me some PA.

 sebster wrote:

 Monster Rain wrote:
The term troll is overused though.

People that actually set out to upset others are more what this article is talking about. There's a pretty good number of folks that start throwing the term "troll" around when they get butthurt about being called on their bs, which dilutes the true meaning of the word.

Yeah, but the issue is that a lot of that is that it is extremely subjective, because whether or not they're a troll depends largely on determining the intention of an anonymous person posting from somewhere else on the planet. Plenty of times I've assumed a person is trolling, only to think about it a little more and realise its possible they're a troll, but it's also possible they just lack social graces, or perhaps they've just gotten really emotional because someone else has a different opinion on the effectiveness of melee attacks in battletech.

There's certainly a gray area, but I get the impression from the article that they're talking more about the sort of troglodytes that populate the more awful places on YouTube and Twitter.

It isn't difficult to discern the intent of someone, from a recent example, wishing death on a 5 year old tv actor.