Most likely, at this point in the penetration of the Internet and social networks in each of the aspects of our lives, we have been victims of a “Troll”. We all know that this is a very common thing in forums and other communities. But do we really know what the concept of troll means?
Basically a troll is one who posts messages in a discussion in a forum, chat or social network, which are always irrelevant or unrelated to the main topic being discussed , the messages being mainly armed with the intention of confusing, provoking and irritate the participants of said discussion so that they end up confronting each other. In this article we will learn a little more in depth about the origin and scope of this technique.
What is a troll?
The Trolls for the most part publish their messages in order to have fun, but they can also have some other intentions, however their procedure is practically always the same, to provoke and annoy until they get a response from the readers, who, to Despite the fact that most of the time they are warned that it is the actions of a troll, they fall into the trap and forget the main reason for the discussion to confront the one they consider to be offending or making fun of them, getting thus the Troll his personal victory.
If we focus on what is known on the internet today under the word troll, which in reality is still a stereotype, we must say that it generally refers to people who usually publish all kinds of content that seeks to generate controversy and division between those who participate in a discussion.
Of course, Internet trolls often have no limits, and resort to publishing offensive material to attack other users, protecting themselves in the anonymity that virtual discussion provides them, even with accounts that are totally false.
Reviewing the history and evolution of the figure of the Internet troll, we can infer that their installation has taken a long time, and that they only became a true pandemic when the Internet became a tool used by almost all people of the world.
Therefore, if we go back a few years, even decades, we will see that the term troll on the internet was applied to those people who posted a random question or comment in forums, which in general could become illogical and annoying for members of the community, so it was said that this user was “trolling”.
Time passed, the internet became massive and social networks gave rise to a new kind of trolling, that is to say that these communities provided the perfect setting for trolls as we know them today, which in general use violence and Personal aggression to harass users in a particular way, including adding insults to their posts.
The truth is that with this evolution that the role of Internet trolls has had , different types of trolls have also emerged, which we will see later in this article. In any case, we can mention that the most common case of troll is one that is dedicated to harassing an Internet community or a particular person, and carries out these activities for weeks.
To do this, the troll publishes comments or opinions that are totally contradictory and adverse to the publications in which he places his statements, with the aim of stimulating a prompt response from those who participate in the discussion, since human beings are like that, and therefore Of course we will try to defend strongly what we believe.
A classic example, which has now become a tool used by politicians around the world as part of internet campaigns, are the trolls who discuss politics, even resorting to easy insults to disqualify the opinion of those users who think different.
We can see this regularly, especially in times of elections, where the supporters of a candidate are systematically attacked by the troll supporters of another candidate. There are even political parties that resort to hiring people to develop the art of trolling in this type of discussion that occurs on popular social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and others.
It is for all these reasons that internet trolls differ from ordinary people who use online social communities in order to be able to express their opinion on a topic in a genuine way, since trolls will always do so with aggressiveness, irritating comments and attitudes that point to manage to generate the anger of others.
This is mainly due to the fact that trolls have as their main objective to make users who are sharing their views on a topic, upon reading the comment left by the troll, get angry and frustrated immediately.
Due to the fact that the intentions of the trolls are not precisely to be able to generate a debate on a specific topic, these annoying users often resort to fallacious arguments to demonstrate a point, and can even attack users individually or in groups.
At the time when trolls circulated in forums, they usually did it with the same user account, so over time all the members of the forum recognized this annoying user as a troll, and resorted to ignoring him .
However, with the arrival and popularity of social networks, in order to avoid being recognized and ignored, trolls have resorted to using various fake accounts, with which they may be tormenting individuals or groups for years.
On the other hand, we must take into account that just as there are trolls that resort to violence, aggression and insults, there are those that are more difficult to detect, since they publish opinions opposed to users but in a more respectful way, with which most of those who participate in a discussion do not realize that it is a troll.
However, its function in a discussion remains the same, to manage to divide those who defend a certain position. To do this, this type of troll opposes the central opinion of the discussion in question from the outset, disagrees with the users who comment on the debate and tries to sow doubts.
Of course, in order to convince others, this type of troll will show the most genuine posture possible, expressing their concerns as really legitimate. In this way, the troll manages to install discord among those who participate in the discussion, with which he can relax and let the rest of the users continue sowing more doubts about it.
In short, when this type of troll manages to carry out its mission, in the end the discussion will be divided, with which different factions will emerge and thus the support for the cause that gave rise to the debate will have deteriorated. This is a resource increasingly used by political parties around the world at times of elections and even when there is an important debate in real society.
For all these reasons, being able to detect a troll of this type is not exactly an easy task, since it can always be taken as a user who has decided to defend his genuine position on a particular issue.
Why are trolls so annoying?
When a troll breaks into an online community, a social network or begins to harass private users, publications begin to appear that contain insults in many cases and rude language is applied, since the main purpose of the troll is to generate dissent when it is about a group of users, and at the same time creating frustration in particular users.
Currently, the actions carried out by trolls on the internet are known as “flaming”, which is generally the publication of comments and messages whose main intention is to generate disputes, dissent and even insult the rest of the users of a website. community.
This is perhaps the fundamental reason why Internet trolls are so annoying , because although in some cases they may focus their insults on another person or group, in general they are always harassing the same people, in most cases because they have a different point of view and defend it at all costs.
Many experts believe that trolls and flaming are possible in the virtual world today , and they are increasing more and more, due to the anonymity that the internet offers, especially since anyone who wants to can create one or more fake accounts on social networks. to engage in this type of bullying.
To achieve their goal, a troll can only post a written comment or add an image, a video or other to their post to generate more controversy and achieve more direct aggressiveness. Worst of all, these types of posts are written and designed in such a way that the rest of the users do not realize that it is a post from a troll that seeks to make them angry.
At the same time, we must bear in mind that a troll can attack a person or a group in an online community only once, but can also establish a kind of prolonged war with them, which becomes increasingly aggressive. .
Not only does this make trolls so annoying, but it can also be dangerous for other users, as the increased aggressiveness in comments can lead to threats and even put people at physical risk, for example . through the publication of personal data such as your home address, telephone number and others.
Although in most forums there is usually a group of moderators who intervene when they detect the appearance of a troll, and thus manage to keep the participants of said community safe, the truth is that the same does not happen with social networks, where In short, the trolls have found the perfect space to spread their poison.
For this reason, it is above all in our daily virtual life in social networks where we must place greater emphasis to avoid constant harassment by trolls , for which there are a series of parameters that all Internet users, and especially lovers of social networks, they should always keep in mind.
How to deal with a troll?
In principle, it is worth clarifying that all those people who have been and are being harassed through the Internet , whether by publications on social networks, by email, by instant messaging or others, is ultimately a cyber victim.
A cyber victim is someone who is being deceived by an internet scam , and due to the wide range of deceptions that exist in the virtual world, scams can include, among other things, attempts to gain illegal access to a person’s bank account, attempts to solicit money or other means to obtain personal information about someone, get their computer passwords, and so on.
Similarly, a cyber victim is also the person against whom false accusations are made. And of course a person is also considered a cyber victim when they become the target of a troll.
Basically, it is not necessary for our credit card numbers to be stolen to become a cyber victim, since the truth is that harassment committed through the online form is also considered a crime, popularly known as cyberbullying.
Precisely, when we are faced with the actions carried out by a troll, who publishes insulting and offensive comments, and we notice that in most of our publications on a social network we get the response of that troll who seeks to make us angry with his sayings, then we can confirm that we are being victims of cyberbullying.
Our age does not matter, because although cyberbullying is usually in the news and is always related to children and adolescents, the truth is that we can come across this problem being from any social, economic and age group. There are no differences for those who like to carry out this type of action, except for the objectives that are imposed with their bad behavior.
Although legislation currently exists in many countries to combat this type of harassment, in most of the countries that make up the planet it is still a very difficult issue to resolve, since it is ultimately very difficult to fully determine whether it exists or not. cyberbullying.
The truth is that due to its form and constant expansion, it is very difficult to be able to design legal strategies to monitor the Internet, especially since attackers can resort to anonymity to carry out their troll practices , and by restricting the information that can be accessed. log in around that fake user, it’s practically impossible to determine the source.
For this reason, in principle, if we have children or adolescents at home and they become harassed by some troll , it is important that they know that whenever they receive offensive messages they must notify their parents immediately, and of course not respond to the person who sent the message.
If we are adults and we are being harassed by a troll , we should also avoid responding to their comments, and above all, never ever give them our personal information, not even our email.
In the event that the harassment we suffer can become dangerous, it is extremely important that we have concrete material that can serve as evidence to prove that there is a crime.
At this point, as we have already seen, cyber bullying occurs through the use of Internet media for the attacker to send messages through social networks, web pages, email and others.
For this reason, it is extremely important that we keep a record of these threatening messages, since by having solid documentation we will be able to demonstrate the cyberbullying that we are suffering. It is also relevant that we can find reliable witnesses.