It is my observation that these trolls are generally young (pre-adult), male, sexually repressed, and habitual wankers.
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Internet trolls really are horrible people
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Well, they're certainly not good :) Still, in general I think they are involved in matters too petty to automatically be terrible. Annoying and rude, but manageable. You just have to realize that it's very easy to simply say something but much harder to back something up. The fact that a troll says something means nothing about its truth, to the point where it's a waste of time to even argue with them.
I think the person you encountered was not a troll, but just a genuine ass. Trolls generally don't believe their own arguments but say them anyway. This person really had something against you.
Jul 5, 2014
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#4
The issue is serious enough that there was a study conducted at Stanford University!
Most trolls, it seems to me, just post things that are obviously provocative and not backed up, to the point where they just seem like a puppet. These people are troublemakers, but only in a shallow sense. In other words I don't get the impression that they hate people with a passion, they're just pricks, which is still bad, but not the worst thing in the world.
Jul 5, 2014
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#6
I am not disagreeing with you. Though I believe their motivaton is largely one of self-gratification.
I refuse to discuss popular media reports of scientific papers. Inevitably something in the article is misinterpreted.
Jul 5, 2014
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#8
Fair enough. Here is the abstract of the linked study in the Slate article:
Abstract
In two online studies (total N = 1215), respondents completed personality inventories and a survey of their Internet commenting styles. Overall, strong positive associations emerged among online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and troll identity, pointing to a common construct underlying the measures. Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.
The thing is I don't think its about age or even intelligence. It has always amazed me how some extremely intelligent people turn out to be total assholes! No respect, seemingly no conscience, how is this so? We all have the dark side in us, some control it, some don't or can't, why is this! Sure our life background plays some part in it all. Chemical imbalences etc etc etc. Genius is on the verge of craziness is often true as well.
Intelligence can often encourage arrogance, unfortunately.
Yes arrogance.. sarcasm we all have that dark side to some degree too. Sarcasm is a killer if used in the wrong way or vety funny if used the right ways :)
Jul 5, 2014
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#12
Geoff_Boggler wrote:
The thing is I don't think its about age or even intelligence. It has always amazed me how some extremely intelligent people turn out to be total assholes! No respect, seemingly no conscience, how is this so? We all have the dark side in us, some control it, some don't or can't, why is this! Sure our life background plays some part in it all. Chemical imbalences etc etc etc. Genius is on the verge of craziness is often true as well.
Geoff, it has been pretty well-demonstrated that the prefrontal cortex of the human brain does not typically mature until around the age of 25. It is the part of the brain that regulates decision-making, personality, and behavior.
This helps explain why teens and young adults do "dumb" or "risky" things at times.
In fact, in ancient Rome, one could not become a full citzen, with rights, until the age of 25.
Yet you will have plenty of old poor decision makers and young good decision makers.
Yes I know that but by my own experience at least, I feel that our personality is formed at a very young age. The rest is learning right from wrong, how well brought up, the company we involve with and many other variables.
Jul 5, 2014
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#15
Elubus, this is true. Some people never learn good decision-making skills. And Nature tends to cull them from the population (see "Darwin Awards").
That reminds me of a line from a great film, "The Right Stuff":
"There are old test pilots and there are bold test pilots. But there are no old, bold test pilots." - Chuck Yeager
Jul 5, 2014
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#16
Geoff_Boggler wrote:
Yes I know that but by my own experience at least, I feel that our personality is formed at a very young age. The rest is learning right from wrong, how well brought up, the company we involve with and many other variables.
Geoff, I think that trolls are an anomaly to the general rule. The study, quoted above, point out how they are on par with sociopaths. You points that we all have dark sides and err from time to time is spot on. But what separates us from trolls, stalkers, and other sorts of criminals, is that we can recognize the error in our ways, and strive to correct it.
For trolls there is apparently some sort of positive feedback loop that feeds their deviency.
JamieDelarosa wrote:
Geoff_Boggler wrote:
Yes I know that but by my own experience at least, I feel that our personality is formed at a very young age. The rest is learning right from wrong, how well brought up, the company we involve with and many other variables.
Geoff, I think that trolls are an anomaly to the general rule. The study, quoted above, point out how they are on par with sociopaths. You points that we all have dark sides and err from time to time is spot on. But what separates us frpm trlls, stalkers, and other sorts of criminals is that we can recognize the error in our ways, and strive to correct it.
For trolls there is apparently some sort of positve feedback loops that feeds their deviency.
I can't argue with that :) Except for the fact they are not horrible people but sick people. We judge as humans with emotions and maybe we are no better by making people suffer for something not in their own control.
Jul 5, 2014
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#18
"Horrible" comes from the title of the article. It is harsh, but in many cases true. Trolls are at their core, sadistic (according to the study). If they did not have access to the internet, they might be torturing little animals. Who knows?
Jul 6, 2014
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#19
Mersaphe wrote:
There's nothing wrong with being a habitual wanker.
You know how to tell when you are having a super-orgasm?
Your husband wakes up.
The term "troll" used to be used for someone who went in for provocative posting which was mainly light hearted. As far as I can tell those conducting these studies are associating it with the sort of insulting, aggressive and mean spirited posting which is evident on this site from time to time.
If that is right I find the conclusion of the studies close to self evident.
What is sad, though, is that those conducting the research found so many of these "trolls" in their samples. It makes me think there is a whole lot more nastiness around than I am used to thinking there is. :(
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/02/internet_troll_personality_study_machiavellianism_narcissism_psychopathy.html
Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People
Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic
By Chris Mooney, Slate.com
"In the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet trolls (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics.
That’s bad, but it’s nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).
It is hard to overplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet."
(More at the link above)