Editing Troll (slang) (section)

== Trolling, identity, and anonymity ==

Early incidents of trolling<ref>[[Stevan Harnad]] (1987/2011) "[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/sky-writing-or-when-man-first-met-troll/239420/ Sky-Writing, Or, When Man First Met Troll]" ''The Atlantic''</ref> were considered to be the same as [[Flaming (Internet)|flaming]], but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary, NetLingo, suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling.

The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on a series of modem-linked computers. ''CommuniTree'' was begun in 1978 but was closed in 1982 when accessed by high school teenagers, becoming a ground for trashing and abuse.<ref name="guar">{{cite news |title=How the Internet created an age of rage |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jul/24/internet-anonymity-trolling-tim-adams |work=The Guardian (The Observer)|date= 24 July 2011 |location=London |first=Tim |last=Adams}}</ref>

Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by [[deindividuation]] or decreased self-evaluation: [[Online disinhibition effect|the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition]] amongst individuals.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=S. Kiesler |author2=J. Siegel |author3=T.W. McGuire |title=Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication|journal=American Psychologist|volume=39|pages=1123–34|year=1984|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.39.10.1123|issue=10|s2cid=3896692 }}</ref> Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the [[social identity]] of a certain user group.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=M. Lea |author2=T. O'Shea |author3=P. Fung |author4=R. Spears |title='Flaming' in Computer-Mediated Communication: observation, explanations, implications|journal=Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication|pages=89–112|year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Postmes, T. |author2=Spears, R. |author3=Lea, M. |title=Breaching or building social boundaries? SIDE-effects of computer-mediated communication|journal=Communication Research|pages=689–715|volume=25|year=1998|doi=10.1177/009365098025006006|s2cid=145640433 }}</ref>

According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter, England, and Groningen, The Netherlands, and the author of ''Individuality and the Group'', who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to the level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure."<ref name="guar" /> Someone who brings something off topic into the conversation in order to make that person mad is trolling.<ref>{{Citation|title=Litigation or: In Defense of Patent Trolls|work=Selling Social Media : The Political Economy of Social Networking|year=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|doi=10.5040/9781501319723.ch-005|isbn=978-1-5013-1969-3}}</ref>

The practice of trolling has been documented by a number of academics since the 1990s. This included [[Steven Johnson (author)|Steven Johnson]] in 1997 in the book ''Interface Culture'', and a paper by [[Judith Donath]] in 1999. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "[[virtual community]]" such as [[Usenet]]:

{{blockquote|In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity&nbsp;... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.<ref name="mit">{{Cite book | last=Donath | first=Judith S. | title=Communities in Cyberspace | editor=Smith, Marc A. |editor2=Kollock, Peter | publisher=Routledge | year=1999 | edition=illustrated, reprint | pages=29–59 | chapter=Identity and deception in the virtual community | isbn=978-0415191401 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=210IkjyN8gEC | access-date=24 March 2009}}</ref>}}

Donath provides a concise overview of [[identity deception]] games which trade on the confusion between physical and [[epistemic community]]:

{{blockquote|Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroup's or forum's members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they{{spaced ndash}}and the troll{{spaced ndash}}understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.}}

[[Whitney Phillips (author)|Whitney Phillips]] observes in ''This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture'' that certain behaviors are consistent among different types of trolls. First, trolls of the subcultural variety self-identify as trolls.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Phillips, Whitney|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/946160335|title=This is why we can't have nice things : mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream culture|date=2 September 2016|publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-52987-7|oclc=946160335}}</ref> Trolls are also motivated by what is known as [[lulz]], a type of unsympathetic, ambiguous laughter. The final behavior is the insistent need for anonymity. According to Phillips, anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviors they would not replicate in professional or public settings, with the effectiveness of trolling often being dependent upon the target's lack of anonymity. This can include the disclosure of real-life attachments, interests, and vulnerabilities of the target.

A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup or online forum, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the online community. In a group that has become sensitized to trolling{{spaced ndash}}where the rate of deception is high{{spaced ndash}}many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trolling. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusations are unfounded, being branded a troll may be damaging to one's online reputation.<ref name="mit" />

[[Susan Herring]] and colleagues, in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in a Feminist Forum", point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature".<ref name="IUinformatics">{{cite web | url=http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~fulk/620overview_files/Herring.pdf | title=Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum | last=Herring | first=Susan | author2=Job-Sluder, Kirk | author3=Scheckler, Rebecca | author4=Barab, Sasha | year=2002 | publisher=Center for Social Informatics – Indiana University | access-date=29 March 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108171808/http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~fulk/620overview_files/Herring.pdf | archive-date=8 January 2017 | url-status=dead}}</ref> Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.<ref name="IUinformatics" />

[[Cyberbullying]] laws vary by state, as trolling is not a crime under U.S. federal law.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Trolled Online: What You Can Do When You're Bullied on Social Media|url=https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/trolled-online-what-to-do-when-bullied-social-media.html|access-date=2021-10-22|website=www.criminaldefenselawyer.com|language=en}}</ref> In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. [[Reuters]], [[Facebook]], and [[Gizmodo]]) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses.<ref name="zhao.2010">J. Zhao, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/opinion/30zhuo.html "Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt"], ''The New York Times'', 29 November 2010.</ref>

Trolling itself has become its own form of Internet subculture and has developed its own set of rituals, rules, specialized language, and dedicated spaces of practice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Paavola|first1=J|last2=Helo|first2=T|last3=Jalonen|first3=H|last4=Sartonen|first4=M|last5=Huhtinen|first5=A-M|date=2016|title=Understanding the Trolling Phenomenon: The Automated Detection of Bots and Cyborgs in the Social Media|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26487554|journal=Journal of Information Warfare|volume=15|issue=4|pages=100–111|jstor=26487554|issn=1445-3312}}</ref> The appeal of trolling primarily comes from the thrill of how long one can keep the ruse going before getting caught, and exposed as a troll. When understood this way, Internet trolls are less like vulgar, indiscriminate bullies, and closer to countercultural respondents to a (so called) overly sensitive public.

The main elements of why people troll are interactions; trolling exists in the interactive communications between Internet users, influencing people's views both from objective and emotional standpoints. Further, trolling does not target a single individual, but rather targets multiple members of a discussion. Trolling can  be easily identified by its offensive content, intended to provoke an emotional reaction from an audience.<ref name=":3" />