November 2009

Trolls are, unfortunately, ubiquitous on the Internet. Trolls go back to the days of UseNet, but they are still alive and well today in discussion forums and blog post comment threads. The troll is someone who engages in misbehavior online in order to elicit reactions, often, in hopes of angering/hurting/upsetting the unwary or naive user. Typically trolls will deliberately insult other posters and community members, post inflammatory text, or appear obtuse in order to elicit annoyed responses, all in hopes of gaining attention. Trolls engage in trolling. To an Internet troll, any attention is rewarding.

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