Why Do People Troll?

There's nothing wrong with being provocative, playing devil's advocate, but just to troll for trolling sake?

People say, "If you keep feeding the troll, they win" - but WHAT do they actually win? Besides the obvious. Yes, they want attention, but then what? They ruin any chance of a "normal" conversation in the future when people ignore you.

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There's a video game I play called Rocket League. The premise is literally "soccer but with cars instead of people." That's it.

A lot of people who play this game just want to hit the ball. They don't care about positioning or strategy: they just want to hit the ball. Hitting the ball is fun, but more than that, hitting the ball changes the game. You hit it and everyone else has to react. You see the impact you're having. You are part of things. You exist. You matter.

It's just the power of eliciting (negative) emotions without being invested. Think of the glee of a kid triggering an ant hill's hyperactivity with a rock or a kick. "Made you react, lol".

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Is it the anonymity? People don't do this "in real life"

I think they do versions of it in real life, but it's usually limited to grade school. Insofar as adults do it they're probably treated as antisocial jerks, unless they're really subtle in which case it's passive-aggressive or gaslighting or manipulative or whatever.

But sure, anonymity probably plays a role. I'd love to say something surprising and insightful since "people are jerks on the Internet because it's anonymous" is an obvious and banal observation and has been for decades, and I think it's not a sufficient explanation just by itself, but that's probably a big part of it.

I want to add that I'm actually sympathetic to this. I have as much reason as anyone to dislike trolling, and I do, but to warp a famous religious precept, I hate the trolling and not the troll, or at least try to keep that distinction in my mind.

The fact that trolling is even moderately widespread suggests a significant lack of meaning, particularly when coupled with several other more controversial modern phenomena. To go back to the grade school thing, the bully is rarely acting out for the fun of it. There's usually a real problem there, expressed poorly. Trolling (and sometimes other, much worse things) is what happens when people don't feel like they matter, don't feel like any part of the world needs them or notices them. It is a facile short-term cope for an actual long-term problem.

I'll add the internet and what makes the news... The trolling in real life is all that's uploaded when it comes to adult human interactions. You won't see many YouTube videos of two neighbors talking in the driveway, or standing in line politely at the Secretary of State (DMV), getting along in public, banal activities, etc etc.. It's what dominates the news, so people talk about it, and there's a distorted version of reality.

Trolling has many positive benefits on the trolled. It's a constant reminder that 1.) you should not believe everything you read and 2.) you shouldn't take everything so seriously. That's why I troll. For the common good.

Or maybe it's because I've been trolled by family my whole life? So yeah, it's not exclusive to the internet.

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Tbh I'm more interested in learning whether or not Trolls ever people?

This is a good point. The same way research papers or news stories have a selection bias problem towards the sensational or bad, so does Internet content, and even interactions in general.

Why Do People Troll?

What is a troll? In someways most all replies on an internet board can be loosely described as a 'troll.'...

Is a troll somebody who replies in short text like replies without much content? Maybe they are on a mobile and typing long replies is difficult compared to a traditional keyboard and perhaps they are use to short text like replies.

Is a troll somebody who replies with a wall of text? Maybe that's just the way their brain works and brevity isn't their thing.

Is a troll somebody who makes constant joke post? Maybe they just prefer light fun over serious conversation.

Is a troll somebody who's often negative? Maybe they don't think they are negative, or maybe they choose to reply to negative sounding post in the first place.

Really, what is a troll?
I think a lot of things can be labeled trolls, but I bet in most cases the person doesn't think they are trolling. Though I can think of some that I'd call trolls. But oh well, a placid discussion board grows dull and some discord is needed. God bless the trolls

Great points, it's easy to read a lot of things as trollish that have innocuous explanations.

It's been my experience that "troll," like basically any pejorative term, is becoming diluted over time, to the point where being slightly cheeky might get labeled with the term. I tend to resist this kind of dilution with almost every term, so I definitely resist it here, too. To me, a troll is someone who enjoys provocation for its own sake and exaggerates or caters their responses to achieve more response, though I might make an exception for certain types of zealots simply because they don't end up being functionally different from trolls.

Right. Let's see.

Are Spammers considered Trolls? Or are they one subset of trolling?

Spammers totally piss me off! I can spot them in a second, then I look at their Profile and then their About link...and they almost always have a URL to some business listed there. I report the hell out of them!

So many lonely people in the world who don’t feel any of these 3 things. Good writing.

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Interesting topic, here's the secret:

con-trol

it's easy: just use certain words to split the factions, then start complaining. Game over, message board erased.

It's the quickest way to feel superior by contributing nothing.

Congress
Hospital
Police

FB and celebritter are automatic troll machines, and message boards are too if the moderator takes a nap.