An internet troll is an internet user who looks to antagonize other users by using abusive, demeaning and racist comments. In most cases, an internet troll uses inflammatory, off-topic or extraneous posts to sow discord. Such people are prevalent in places where there is newsgroup, a chat room, a forum or in a blog’s comment section and aim to provoke other people (using the same platform) into some form of emotional response or to sway the discussion from the normal topic for their own amusement.

They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, dating sites, YouTube or any other user interaction platform where users can freely post their opinions and thoughts. An internet troll may accomplish his/her goal by posting videos, photos, comments or GIFs that are offensive.

Dealing with internet trolls

Dealing with internet trolls is hard and most people just ignore them. Some internet platforms have ways of eliminating offensive continent but that takes a while before a post can be taken down as the software being used needs administrator authorization. Other ways include reporting such users to the administers of the forum, banning and blocking those accounts and even associated IP addresses or closing the comment section in the said forums.

Reasons for trolling

There are different types of trolls (discussed below) and they all partake in this behavior for one reason or the other. The bottom line is that all of them are suffering from some emotional overcharge or deficiency. Most are attention seekers, as they feel invisible and useless.

Others are depressed, angry, narcissistic, jealous while others just don’t know what is bugging them; so they take it out on others on the internet. Others do it just because they can and no one can confront them from the safety of their homes hiding behind their computers

Types of internet trolls

  1. Insult trolls – these are obsessed with name calling and piling insults on anybody for any emotional response whatsoever. Excessive insulting trolling can be considered cyberbullying.
  2. The grammar troll – these always lie in wait for a user to post grammatically incorrect statements or misspell some words and then they go savage.
  3. The spammer trolls – these don’t even care the contents on a post, they just go to the comment section and post profanities not even closely related to the post. Some repeatedly post links to other pages telling users to go to that other page.
  4. The debate troll – these are always looking for debate or argument and can never agree to lose even when they know they are in the wrong. They are always determined to have the last word