Troll (net culture)

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Symbol for "Please do not feed trolls!" Or "Feeding trolls forbidden!"

In net jargon, a troll is a person who limits their communication on the Internet to posts that aim to emotionally provoke other people in the conversation. This is done with the motivation to get a reaction from the other participants. In related images, the troll known from mythology is often depicted.

The corresponding activity is called “trolling”.

etymology

The word trolling is often derived from the English term "trolling with bait". This refers to a certain technique of fishing with a trolling rod that is slowly pulled through the water by a moving boat. The word has found its way into net culture through the analogy to the metaphorical “ bait ” of the other discussion participants.

The word first appeared in this context in 1990 when it was used in the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban in the phrase "trolling for newbies".

characterization

Caricature of an internet troll based on the mythological troll .

So-called troll posts are limited to communication on the Internet and can be found primarily in discussion forums and newsgroups , but also in wikis and chat rooms, on mailing lists and in blogs . A troll is someone who deliberately disrupts conversations within an online community . The provocations are usually subliminal and without real insults. In this way, trolls avoid or delay their exclusion from administered forums. According to Judith Donath , trolling is a game for the author in which the only goal is to arouse the most angry and irrelevant answers possible. One of the causes of trolling is the online disinhibition effect .

"Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players."

"Trolling is a game of disguising one's identity, but which is played without the consent of most of the other players."

- Judith Donath : Identity and Deception in the virtual community

There is currently little scientific literature on trolling. In a study, eight administrators of the Hebrew Wikipedia were asked about trolls they knew and the content of the four most mentioned users was then analyzed. As a result, four behavioral patterns were recorded:

  1. Trolls act deliberately, repeatedly and damaging (intentional, repetitive and harmful) .
  2. Trolls ignore and violate community principles.
  3. Trolls not only cause damage to the content, but also try to stir up conflicts within the community.
  4. Trolls are isolated within the community and try to hide their virtual identity, for example by using sock puppets .

The case studies revealed various motivations for the trolls:

  1. Boredom, seeking attention, revenge
  2. Fun and Entertainment
  3. Desire to do as much damage to the community as possible.

In 2013, the psychologists Buckels, Trapnell and Paulhus from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg (Canada) examined the personality of so-called internet trolls. In a survey of 418 people who regularly surfed a page that also offered the opportunity to communicate with others via comments, 5.6 percent of them could be identified as trolls and then went through further personality tests. In these, the scientists then mainly discovered everyday sadism , but also other features of the so-called dark tetrad ; for psychologists a certain personality profile, which is composed of various socially undesirable characteristics (expansion of the dark triad to a tetrad of four negative characteristics). Such a profile has so far been found particularly frequently in people who harass others as adolescents, but also as adults. In addition to sadism, this includes narcissism , Machiavellianism and psychopathy .

Close relatives of the troll in online games are the so-called griefers .

Intra-individual characteristics of trolls

Various studies have shown that trolling is practiced by young men in particular. Investigations into the personality of people with a tendency to trolling have shown that particularly higher values ​​on the dimension of extraversion and lower values ​​on the dimension of tolerance are related to trolling behavior. Research results on the dark tetrad show that people with a tendency to trolling behavior have high psychopathy and sadism scores and tend to choose people who are popular and have a higher social status as targets for their attempts at provocation.

Professional trolling

In the meantime there are also professional troll activities on the Internet with the aim of doing propaganda / advertising for the respective client. This is known, for example, from North Korea and Russia (“ Troll Army ”). The US military commissioned software that allowed users to operate fake accounts in foreign languages ​​such as Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. The aim was to disrupt extremism and its recruitment opportunities.

Effects

Troll contributions can cause damage by slowing down discussions or even destroying trust within a community . Another effect, which occurs particularly in communities that are often disturbed by troll posts, becomes apparent when dealing with newbies: Frequently, questions based on ignorance and naivety are actually dismissed as troll posts.

Susan Herring , professor of information science at Indiana University Bloomington , divides Internet communities into "less vulnerable" and "more vulnerable" to troll contributions. Communities that deal with topics outside the mainstream tend to be more susceptible . Examples of this are forums from the areas of feminism and religion .

At the end of 2014, news portals such as sueddeutsche.de blocked or restricted their comment functions due to the high volume of comments by “trolls”.

Countermeasures

Please do not feed the trolls!

Communication experts recommend first of all to keep a basic mindset in mind: "On your blog, in your forum, on your timeline, you have other guests as guests." In any case, it is important to keep calm. It is not advisable to react spontaneously.

One means of protecting forums from troll submissions is to inform users about the phenomenon and typical properties of troll submissions. Many Internet portals and forums counter the phenomenon in advance by only allowing registered users (e.g. authorization via e-mail and other data). This makes it possible for the administrators to block individual trolls and thus limit their number. There is no such thing as absolute protection.

The other participants in the discussion can counter troll discussions by generally ignoring the troll's contributions. In the Internet culture is "please do not feed trolls!" Indicates this with the phrase (Engl. " Do not feed the troll " The Troll do not feed , as an acronym DNFTT). This deprives the trolls of the attention they want to get. Usually the trolls then give up and move on. They also occasionally use a sock puppet to feed themselves. Therefore, additional strict moderation is helpful in dealing with the problem.

Frequently, users respond to troll posts with an ASCII-Art fish, also called red herring (example:) ><((((*> . This is intended to encourage the other discussion participants to check the alleged troll's contribution accordingly and, if necessary, not to react any further to its contributions.

Another recommendation is not to talk to the troll, but only about him, in order to regain control of the communication and to show him that he is not alone.

However, if an answer appears necessary (e.g. because it is not possible to get enough co-users to ignore the troll), it should, according to the findings of educational psychology, not be emotional, but as rational as possible . Communication should therefore be polite but clear and unambiguous. Instead of empty threats, clear announcements are recommended, which are then followed exactly.

Some moderators recommend applying the principles of cognitive therapy in certain cases . This method is all about responding positively and calmly while respecting and accepting the troll's opinion.

literature

  • Alexander Glück: Manual for the forum troll . Röhrig, St. Ingbert 2013, ISBN 978-3-86110-535-0 .
  • Stefan Krappitz: Troll Culture. Diploma thesis (English), Merz Academy - University of Design, Art and Media, Stuttgart winter semester 2011/2012; Full text (PDF; 6.3 MB).
  • Erin E. Buckelsa, Paul D. Trapnellb, Delroy L. Paulhusc; Trolls just want to have fun. In: Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 67, September 2014, pp. 97-102; Full text (PDF).
  • Ginger Gorman: Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout , Hardie Grant Books 2019

Web links

Commons : Trolls (Internet)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Troll  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Indiana University - University Information Technology Services (UITS) - Knowledge Base: What is a troll ? On: kb.iu.edu ; accessed on May 10, 2010 (English).
  2. ^ A b David Porter: Internet Culture. Routledge, London 1997, ISBN 0-415-91683-6 , pp. 40 ff., Google books
  3. ^ Mattathias Schwartz: The Trolls Among Us . In New York Times - Magazine August 3, 2008, accessed from nytimes.com on May 11, 2010.
  4. ↑ Tobias Eberwein: Interview with 22 trolls On: science.orf.at on February 18, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020
  5. ^ A b Judith Donath: Identity and Deception in the virtual community . In: Peter Kollock, Marc Smith (Ed.): Communities in Cyberspace . Routledge, London 1998, ISBN 0-415-19140-8 , pp. 29 ff .
  6. ↑ Pnina Shachaf, Noriko Hara: Beyond vandalism: Wikipedia trolls. In: Journal of information science 36.2010,3, pp. 357-370. (Abstract on the JIS website)
  7. ↑ Daniela Mörzinger: The development of an implicit procedure for capturing the dark tetrad . Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, Faculty of Psychology 2012.
  8. ↑ Delroy L. Paulhus, Kevin M. Williams: The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. In: Journal of Research in Personality. Volume 36, No. 6, December 2002, pp. 556-563, doi: 10.1016 / S0092-6566 (02) 00505-6 ; Full text (PDF).
  9. ↑ Alice Ahlers: The psyche of the Internet thugs. What makes people tick who harass others online? Researchers have analyzed their personality . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 7, 2014, p. 12, Science .
  10. ↑ Erin E. Buckels, Paul D. Trapnell, Delroy L. Paulhus: Trolls just want to have fun. In: Personality and Individual Differences. Elsevier, online from February 8, 2014 ( preview ).
  11. ^ Stefan Krappitz: Troll Culture. Diploma thesis, Merz Academy - University of Design, Art and Media, Stuttgart 2011/2012, p. 77; wwwwwwwww.at (PDF; 6.3 MB; English).
  12. ↑ Scott Thacker, Mark D. Griffiths: An Exploratory Study of trolling in Online Video Gaming: . In: International Journal of Cyber ​​Behavior, Psychology and Learning . tape 2 , no. 4 , October 2012, ISSN  2155-7136 , p. 17–33 , doi : 10.4018 / ijcbpl.2012100102 ( igi-global.com [accessed December 21, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Erin E. Buckels, Paul D. Trapnell, Delroy L. Paulhus: Trolls just want to have fun . In: Personality and Individual Differences (=  The Dark Triad of Personality ). tape 67 , September 1, 2014, ISSN  0191-8869 , p. 97-102 , doi : 10.1016 / j.paid.2014.01.016 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed December 21, 2019]).
  14. ↑ Barbara Lopes, Hui Yu: Who do you troll and Why: An investigation into the relationship between the Dark Triad Personalities and online trolling behaviors towards popular and less popular Facebook profiles . In: Computers in Human Behavior . tape 77 , December 1, 2017, ISSN  0747-5632 , p. 69–76 , doi : 10.1016 / j.chb.2017.08.036 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed December 21, 2019]).
  15. ^ Andreas von Westphalen: Contested opinion front on the Internet. Trolls in the west and in the east . On: heise.de , April 10, 2015; accessed on January 11, 2016.
  16. ↑ Jörg Breithut: Propaganda on the net: North Korea sends forum trolls into battle . On: Spiegel Online , August 16, 2013; Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  17. ↑ Olga Bugorkova: Ukraine conflict: Inside Russia's 'Kremlin troll army'. BBC News, March 15, 2015, accessed September 16, 2015 .
  18. ^ Lewis Bazley: Combating jihadists and free speech: How the US military is using fake online profiles to spread propaganda. Associated Newspapers, March 18, 2011, accessed October 5, 2015 .
  19. ^ A b Susan Herring: Searching for Safety: Managing a “Troll” on a Feminist Discussion Board . In: The Information Society . tape 18 , no. 5 . Routledge, 2002, pp. 371-384 .
  20. ↑ Timo Steppat: Hatred on the Net - I am the Troll: The first news portals on the Internet close their reader comments . On: faz.net of September 8, 2014; accessed on June 23, 2016.
  21. ↑ Reader's comments on Sueddeutsche.de / Anne Fromm (taz media editor): A digital debating salon - Sueddeutsche.de abolishes the comment function under articles . On: taz.de , September 3, 2014; accessed on June 23, 2016.
  22. ↑ a b Jens Scholz: Five tips for dealing with trolls . On: jensscholz.com from March 24, 2013, accessed on March 29, 2014.
  23. ^ Daniel Neukirchen: Nasty trolls complain on the Internet . On: wz-online.de , December 18, 2011; accessed on March 7, 2014.
  24. ^ W. Seitz: behavior disorders. In: Detlef H Rost: Concise Dictionary of Pedagogical Psychology (= PVU program , Psychologie-Verlags-Union). 4th, revised and expanded. Edition, Beltz, Weinheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-621-27690-0 .
  25. ^ Shlomi Fish: Dealing with Internet Trolls - the Cognitive Therapy Approach . From: unarmed.shlomifish.org March 6, 2011, accessed August 5, 2020.