[Leica] Internet Trolls

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

What is a Troll?

An Internet ?troll? is a person who delights in sowing discord on the 
Internet. He (and it is usually he) tries to start arguments and upset 
people.

Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their 
bizarre game. For some reason, they don?t ?get? that they are hurting real 
people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of 
digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the 
pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater 
their ?achievement? (as they see it).

Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You 
cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or 
compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel 
remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of 
courtesy or social responsibility.

Why Do They Do It?

Affirmation.

Trolls crave attention, and they care not whether it is positive or 
negative. They see the Internet as a mirror into which they can gaze in 
narcissistic rapture.

If you want a deeper analysis than that, perhaps a psychologist can shed 
some additional light on the matter.

Why Does it Matter?

The sad fact is that trolls discourage people. Established posters may leave 
a message board because of the arguments that trolls ignite, and lurkers may 
decide that they do not want to expose themselves to abuse and thus never 
get involved.

Another problem is that the negative emotions stirred up by trolls leak over 
into other discussions. Normally affable people can become bitter after 
reading an angry interchange between a troll and his victims, and this can 
poison previously friendly interactions between long-time users.

Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism 
by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash.

What Can be Done about Trolls?

??The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction to reminding 
others not to respond to trolls.??

When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you insult a troll, he 
wins. When you scream at a troll, he wins. The only thing that trolls can?t 
handle is being ignored.

What Not to Do

It is futile to try to ?cure? a troll of his obsession. But perhaps you 
simply cannot bear the hostile environment that the troll is creating and 
want to go away for a while.

If you do that, then for the sake of the others on the system, do not post a 
dramatic ?Goodbye!? message. This convinces the troll that he is winning the 
battle. There is, perhaps, no message you can write that is as damaging as 
an announcement that you are leaving because of the hostility that the troll 
has kindled.

If you feel you must say something, a discreet message to the system 
operator (and some of the others users, if you have their email addresses) 
is the best course of action. If you are writing the letter in an agitated 
state, it is a good idea to wait an hour and then give it one last review 
before you actually send it. That might spare you the pain of saying things 
that you don?t really mean to people you like.

The Webmaster?s Challenge

The moderator of a message board may not be able to delete a troll?s 
messages right away, but their job is made much harder if they also have to 
read numerous replies to trolls. They are also forced to decide whether or 
not to delete posts from well-meaning folks which have the unintended effect 
of encouraging the troll.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge for a webmaster is deciding whether to 
take steps against a troll that a few people find entertaining. Some trolls 
do have a creative spark and have chosen to squander it on being disruptive. 
There is a certain perverse pleasure in watching some of them. Ultimately, 
though, the webmaster has to decide if the troll actually cares about 
putting on a good show for the regular participants, or is simply playing to 
an audience of one ? himself.

What about Free Speech?

When trolls find that their efforts are being successfully resisted, they 
often complain that their right to free speech is being infringed.

While most people on the Internet are ardent defenders of free speech, it is 
not an absolute right; there are practical limitations. For example, you may 
not scream out ?Fire!? in a crowded theatre, and you may not make jokes 
about bombs while waiting to board an airplane. We accept these limitations 
because we recognize that they serve a greater good.

The ultimate response to the ?free speech? argument is this: while we may 
have the right to say more or less whatever we want, we do not have the 
right to say it wherever we want. You may feel strongly about the fact that 
your neighbour has not mowed his lawn for two months, but you do not have 
the right to berate him in his own living room. Similarly, if a webmaster 
tells a troll that he is not welcome, the troll has no ?right? to remain. 
This is particularly true on the numerous free communications services 
offered on the net. (On pay systems, the troll might be justified in asking 
for a refund.)


Conclusion

Next time you are on a message board and you see a post by somebody whom you 
think is a troll, and you feel you must reply, simply write a follow-up 
message entitled ?Troll Alert? and type only this:

The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction to reminding 
others not to respond to trolls.

By posting such a message, you let the troll know that you know what he is, 
and that you are not going to get dragged into his twisted little hobby.