What’s an Internet Troll & How Not to be One?

You may have heard of cyber bullies, but on the Internet there’s another type of people who are nasty and just short of being bullies.

‘Internet Trolls’ are people who post offensive or abusive messages towards other people online. The fact that they’re are invisible to other (physically) only makes them want to ‘piss off’ others more.

Trolls can be irritating and infuriating to other people reading or participating online. The best way to deal with a troll is to know more about their characteristics so that you can ignore them.

Characteristics of a Troll

Here’s what you can expect them to do:

• Post intentional, provocative incendiary messages
• Passionate debates of inflammatory topics
• Nonsensical discussions, hoping that others will join in too
• Flooding, screaming and disruption of chat channels

Are You Really Dealing With a Troll

Life can be stressful at times, so at times people just get worked up and the nasty posts/remarks could possibly because of that, and not really a troll at work.

So its better to find out more, in a kind way, before assuming that its an internet troll on the other side.

How to Deal With Them?

Here are a few effective ways to deal with Internet Trolls:

1. Ignore them, reacting will only encourage them more
2. Do something that they’re not expecting from you, such as compliment them
3. In worst case, report to the site moderator/ webmaster

Here are some more tips on things to avoid to be labelled an internet troll.

How Not To Be One

Did you get a not-so-pleasant comment from someone you don’t know, on your reply that you posted on a video sharing site, chat room or social networking page?

In the cyber world, these are known as ‘Internet Trolls’. of course they’re not welcome because they can be annoying/offensive.

But at times, even you could passionate about a topic/post, so how to make sure you’re not being labelled as one? Here are some simple things to keep in mind while posting so that you’re never labelled as an Internet Troll by other groups/users.

1. Know the characteristics/activities on an internet troll.
2. Always remember (before you post), there’s another person out there with feelings and emotions, even though he’s not visible to you.
3. Be courteous, avoid abusive language, assume that person is sitting in front of you
4. Best way to deal with a internet troll is to avoid getting equally offensive, at times its best to leave that thread.

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