Cyber-Trolling: A Growing Online Menace

Cyber-Trolling: A Growing Online Menace

When it comes to the internet, trolls are a reality. In Internet terminology, trolls are online users who sow discord on internet forums and comments sections of websites by triggering arguments with the sole aim of annoying people. They may post inflammatory, off topic or negative information or ideas with the intention of provoking readers to become angry and get involved in online arguments.

Attention has now been focused on the negative effects of trolling. Trolls have become a source of online harassment and their sole intent is to trouble other users and viewers. If one is posting a comment to start a discussion or share an opinion, it is not right to use extreme language and defame others. Garnering publicity through shock tactics is a trick many famous people use. Trolls use such tactics under the cloak of anonymity to harangue others.

The noun troll dates back to the year 1610 and it comes from a Norse word for giant or demon. Trolls dominate Scandinavian folklore. Trolling on the internet is a mischievous and wicked act. In modern English terminology, trolling refers to the fishing technique of dragging a baited hook from a boat that moves. The contemporary use of this term has originated on the internet in the 1990s, according to some reports.

In Chinese language, trolling is called bái mù and it means eyes without pupils signifying that the white part of the eye cannot see and therefore trolls talking in an insensitive way have no regard for the sensitivities of others. They are blind to the anger and turmoil their comments are causing others.

In Japan, tsuri or trolling involves posting information the sole intention of which is to get readers to react. Iceland calls trolls þurs. Koreans call trolling as nak si or fishing. Whether you can it trollismo or trollagem, internet sites are the hunting ground for these online mischief makers. The term krean is used in Thailand to refer to trolling.

Recent studies by Canadian psychologists have found that people who undertake online trolling show signs of sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Trolling is not only deceptive, it is also very destructive.

In fact trollers have strong percentage of what is psychology's Dark Tetrad constituting narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism. They are agents of chaos with the sole intent of rabble rousing and creating deep anger in people.

Trolling could even spark a revolution where it then becomes difficult to catch the Iago behind the Othello. People have the responsibility to be civil during online discourses. It is when the boundaries of decency are crossed that negative aspects of trolling come to the surface.

Most online sites have policies regarding the kind of information that can be shared via social network sites. But trolling is so rampant that it has become a matter of grave difficulty to catch them all. Internet anonymity tends to bring out the worse in people an cyber-trolling is no exception to the rule.

Much like ragging or bullying, cyber-trolling can have tremendously negative consequences for the victims. The evil impact of trolling should be highlighted so that people can become aware of the havoc a provocation or a taunt can have on a person's life and his or her self esteem and mental health.