For some hoi polloi , “ the more beautiful and consummate a thing is , the more satisfying it is to corrupt . " In the context of online communities , those multitude are probably trolls .
That asocial sentiment originate with the " hacktivist " subculture " Anonymous , " and it appears to underlie the behavior of cyberspace trolls , who utilise a variety of technique to disturb the online peace . There ’s atendencyto see trolls as regular multitude whose underlying minus traits are just spark and amplified by the unique environment of the Internet . But thestudy"Trolls just want to have fun , " release in the daybook Personality and Individual Differences in 2014 , indicate that may not be the whole account .
The True Troll
The term " trolling " is widely abuse , or maybe has just been usurped . Media raise it to describe all kinds of digital harassment , from educatee postinginsultsabout their prof to some sick individuals tweetingrape and last threatsto supporter of England ’s Jane Austen - bearing up-to-dateness . The former is a dear example of " flaming , " essentially an on-line fit aim at an somebody . The latter is cyberharrassment , the adult interpretation of cyberbullying .
As a self - described " honest-to-goodness guard troll"told Vice.com ’s Jamie Bartlett in 2014 , " jeopardize to spoil someone on Twitter is n’t trolling . That ’s just threatening to rape someone . On Twitter . "
Trolls can be cruel and malicious , but their aim is n’t brat . It ’s disruption .
In 2012,it seemsa trolling come across a Facebook post about car troubles and win over the poster to deflate her car tires in society to reset the flux electrical condenser — and then tell a shop mechanic her magnetic field capacitor needed more gigawatts .
In 2011 , the worst variety of troll posted , " facilitate me mummy , it ’s hot in hell , " on the Facebook memorial Thomas Nelson Page for a 14 - year - old little girl , on Mother ’s Day .
Trolls are fundamentally base - spirited joker prowl the Internet for ways to make trouble . It ’s entertainment . The demeanor is deeply antisocial , and scientist have been studying it for years — not the easy pursuit , moot the subculture is based on messing with people . sensitive - study scholar Whitney Phillips interviewed self - trace trolls about their need for her book on the discipline , andtold the L.A. Times ' Patt Morrison , " If they consort to respond the motion , there was a high likelihood they were trolling me . "
In some way , troll are the kids blowing spitballs at the back of their classmates ' heads . Most experts agree theycraveattention , wonder and a sense of importance , which they probably do n’t get in real life .
Feeding the Trolls
In " Antisocial Behavior in Online Discussion Communities , " a 2015studyaiming to identify trolls ' posting expressive style so moderator can spot them earlier , Drs . Justin Cheng , Cristian Danescu - Niculescu - Mizil and Jure Leskovec find that troll ' commenting behaviors in a give community evolve over time , guided by disconfirming attention .
" When users get their posts negatively evaluated ( via down - votes ) … they give more , " pen Danescu - Niculescu - Mizil in an email audience . And as they expend more fourth dimension in a community of interests , adds Cheng , trolls " startle behaving unsound and worse until a moderator decides to outright cast out them . "
Which is unbelievable to lead in a change of behavior . Dr. Delroy Paulhus , co - generator of " Trolls just desire to have fun , " write in an e-mail that trolls " tend to have a ego - righteous attitude " about their activities .
Paulhus ' co - source , Dr. Paul Trapnell , explains this look of the subculture . " A solid numeral of dedicated trollers likely interpret what they do as act of moral purification , for model , puncture hubris , unmasking knavery and hypocrisy , or punishing salient online lawbreaker of values specially authoritative to the trolling community of interests . It ’s not all filthy for smutty saki , " Trapnell say .
There ’s no doubt that anonymity enable all this nastiness . It set off a kind of temporary identicalness loss calleddeindividuation , which free trolls from social norms , kind of like what materialise in a mob . Somehave attributedthe trolling phenomenon almost entirely to namelessness ’s disinhibiting effect .
Yet many bump this concentrated to take back . The average individual does n’t bask upsetting people , no matter how anonymous he is .
The " Trolls just want to have fun " survey backed up the suspiciousness that round are not , in fact , the average person . Trolls , the cogitation found , have specific personality traits that define them apart from the universal universe .
A Dark Mind
The rest of the survey assess personality trait , quiz specifically for preindication of the " Dark Tetrad " personality , which scientist have linked with bullying behaviour . The Dark Tetrad consists of four traits : narcissism ( diseased self - absorption ) , psychopathy ( want of sense of right and wrong and empathy ) , Machiavellianism ( a willingness to harm others in the pursuit of self - involvement ) and sadism ( taking joy in others ' painful sensation ) . The results , while not needs surprising in subject , were strikingly unambiguous .
With the elision of narcism , subjects distinguish as trolls score consistently and significantly higher than non - trolls on the Dark Tetrad traits . The tie-in between troll and sadism was the strongest — " so strong , " the author wrote , " that it might be said that online trolls are prototypal everyday sadist . "
This in no way questions the purpose of anonymity in trolling . When asked what would encounter to trolling if anonymity were unimaginable , Paulhus answer , " I believe it would drop by 90 percent . "
The results do , however , redact doubt on the idea that troll are simply steady people under the influence of namelessness .
Most of troll , allege Trapnell , is " just plain pleasure in others ' woe . "
