Trolling refers to the act of posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments and content online to provoke strong emotional reactions in people or disrupt online communities. Though often considered harmless or even humorous by trolls themselves, trolling has evolved into more organized harassment and abuse in some circles. Understanding the motivations and impacts of trolling can help equip communities to respond appropriately.
What motivates trolling behavior?
There are a variety of motivations that may drive trolling behavior:
- Attention-seeking – Trolls may act out to get reactions and attention from others.
- Boredom or entertainment – Trolling can act as a distraction or hobby for some.
- Revenge – Angry or vengeful trolls may target specific people or communities.
- Asserting dominance – Some trolls enjoy the feeling of power they get from disrupting communities or triggering emotional responses.
- Psychological issues – In some cases, trolling may be linked to mental health problems like narcissism or psychopathy.
Overall, trolling seems to be driven by a desire for power, control, attention, entertainment, or causing damage to others. It can act as an outlet for negative emotions and unhealthy psychological urges.
What are the different types of trolls?
While motivations may vary, trolls generally fall into a few main categories:
The “drive-by” troll
These trolls post one or two inflammatory comments or posts, often targeting high-profile figures and controversial topics to quickly provoke reactions. They do not engage in extended conversations.
The “semantic” troll
Semantic trolls purposefully misunderstand comments or take them too literally in order to frustrate and bait others into arguments.
The “gaslighting” troll
Gaslighting trolls post persistent lies, denial of facts, and misrepresentations to confuse and undermine perceptions of reality for a community or individual target.
The organized troll
These trolls coordinate with others, often anonymously through forums and online groups, to target and harass individuals or communities in an organized way.
The stalking troll
Stalking trolls fixate on a particular target, following their activity across platforms and forums to continually harass them.
What are common trolling tactics?
Some common tactics used by trolls include:
- Posting deliberately offensive insults or violent content to shock others.
- Hijacking comment sections or hashtags to overwhelm them with off-topic content.
- Piling on with mob attacks against individuals to provoke strong negative reactions.
- Creating fake accounts or spreading coordinated disinformation to deceive communities.
- Diverting productive discussions to irrelevant, divisive, or absurd topics.
- Posting personal information or threats to intimidate or silence targets.
Organized trolling campaigns may use sophisticated strategies like bots, fake accounts called “sock puppets,” and walls of text or images called “floods” to dominate online spaces.
What are the impacts of trolling?
Trolling can have serious detrimental effects on both individuals and online communities:
- It can normalize cruelty, aggression, racism, misogyny, and other harmful behaviors.
- It frequently escalates into coordinated abuse, stalking, threats, and defamation.
- It can lead to emotional distress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, PTSD, and even suicide in victims.
- It drives divisiveness, hardens extremes, and destroys productive discourse.
- It ruins reputations, relationships, and careers.
- It silences and excludes underrepresented voices that withdraw from abusive environments.
In addition to human impacts, trolling weakens community bonds, degrades trust, spreads misinformation, interferes with governance, and undermines democratic processes online.
| Type of Troll | Motivation | Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| Drive-by | Boredom, attention-seeking | Offensive or controversial one-off comments |
| Semantic | Entertainment | Misunderstanding comments deliberately |
| Gaslighting | Psychological issues, revenge | Lying, denying facts, distorting reality |
How should communities and individuals respond to trolling?
There are a few productive ways communities and targets can respond to minimize the damage of trolling:
- Ignore or ban obvious trolls instead of engaging.
- Set and enforce strong community guidelines.
- Slow down reactivity by avoiding knee-jerk responses.
- Ask clarifying questions to uncover bad faith arguments.
- Cultivate empathy and reward productive participation.
- Report threats of violence to authorities.
- Deplatform repeat harassers and stalkers.
- Support victims and exclude abusers.
Responding calmly and rationally without giving excessive attention to trolls can limit their impact. Platforms also need effective moderation policies, blocking and banning capabilities, and anti-harassment protections.
Conclusion
Trolling stems from a variety of unhealthy motivations rooted in issues like boredom, resentment, sadism, attention-seeking, and poor socialization. The impacts range from emotional distress for individuals to the breakdown of discourse and communities online. While no single solution will eradicate trolling entirely, judicial ignorance, exclusion, and deplatforming of abusers combined with empathy, strict community guidelines, and protective measures for victims offer the best approaches to limiting trolls’ destructive effects.