The Psychology of Trolling

As denizens of the internet, most of us are familiar with the trolls. In this episode of SciShow, learn a little about how social scientists think trolls came to be, and how online communities are figuring it all out.

Hosted by: Michael Aranda
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Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters -- we couldn't make SciShow without them! Shout out to Kathy & Tim Philip, Kevin Bealer, Andreas Heydeck, Thomas J., Accalia Elementia, Will and Sonja Marple. James Harshaw, Justin Lentz, Chris Peters, Bader AlGhamdi, Benny, Tim Curwick, Philippe von Bergen, Patrick Merrithew, Fatima Iqbal, Mark Terrio-Cameron, Patrick D. Ashmore, and charles george.
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[FlameJackstar]

Trolls are the reasons I wished I could punch through my internet connection.

[GizmosMonster]

i miss the times when trolls were forest creatures that turned to stone when sunlight hit them..

[modernlacuna]

Free speech is the right to speak without being jailed by the government. Free speech does not mean that other people have to accept you as a part of their community if all you do is vomit abuse.
If you are banned from a forum for trolling, that's not an infringement upon your human rights - it's the forum administrators doing what is _their_ right to keep their forum clean.
If you are confronted with something that you've said because it was offensive, that is also not an infringement upon your rights. Just as you have the right to speak, everyone else has the right to call you out if what you say is unacceptable.
If you are fired from your job for making unwanted sexual advances towards your coworkers, that is also not an infringement upon your rights. If you are actively sabotaging workplace relations and endangering teamwork and productivity, your boss has every right to replace you with someone more suited to the position.
Free speech is not a free pass to be an arsehole.

[MementoX]

"Don't feed the troll" is hands down the best advice on the internet, and the hardest to follow.

[Legendman]

I generally find that 99% of trolls can be defeated with utter boredom. Like, if you are trying to troll me and I make it as boring and unpleasant as possible, then you're probably just going to give up and leave. With one or two exceptions, I have been able to combat every troll I've met with this. In some situations it is best to just leave, like if you are in a chat on Twitch or something, just ignore the person. However, there are other situations where you are literally forced to continue talking to them, like if you are in the middle of a CS:GO or Rainbow 6 Siege match and need to talk to your other team mates. In those situations it is best to give simple and short answers that express no emotion at all for the length of time that you are forced to talk to them, be it a few minutes or multiple hours. Sometimes you might not be prepared and will get blindsided, but eventually you will learn to always keep your guard up for someone trying to screw with you. Once you do that, you'll find slipping into your flat, monotone mindset easy and automatic. Get all that down pat and you'll be helping cure the world of trolls one by one!

[dabadc]

The feeling a person gets from trolling, must be the same feeling people get in traffic. You almost never see people as rude or aggressive in person, as they are behind the wheel.

[TriOdy]

The Definition of Trolling:

Before: Pretend to be a douche
Now: Be a douche

[shivani]

Trolls love the internet because it gives them a platform to spew their hatred anonymously, with no consequences. They can't get away with saying the same awful innapropriate stuff in real life.

[justal]

Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton crashes their car.Who survives?America

[goldenfugnugget]

Many different flavors of trolling, but we all know they are in it for the salt!

[Nitsugalego]

> feminist activist
> real human being

Choose one.

[klattalexis]

It really helps us to see how many "sick people" are really out there in society but were hiding it from their family & friends. There are way more sick-minded people than we can even realize.

[jesuschrist]

Im definitely not a troller. Im the real Jesus christ.

Now, give your donations, I need money.

[thefunnyfungusman]

"You know that saying, Don't read the comments!"

* immediately looks at the comments*

[mandrk]

Why do people die when they're killed?

[angrynoodletwentyfive]

I was surprised people over the age of 16 actually "troll" people... I used to troll the youtube comments when I was like 13-14 because when you are that age you think annoying people is funny... and that is just that age... but a grown ass adult spending their time trolling people? WTF?

[n-steam]

All this talk about "trolling" and not a mention of "Misidentified as a troll" part. It's easy to label something you don't agree with as "just a troll", even when they make very good points.

[Dollightful]

Very interesting... you know, it's kind of like driving a car but on a whole new level. I've seen nice folks transform into monsters on the road because they're shielded from other people [to an extent].

[PikaPetey]

how to defeat a troll? Just get a billy goat!

[SovereignwindVODs]

The comment at the end about feeding the trolls made me remember the one time I actually beat I troll. He didn't post anything in that comment thread for almost a week. Then a new person posts a comment "yelling" at him and he's right back at it again...they just *had* to feed him, didn't they?