Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, Sadists (& not welcome here)

[Christopher O'Brien]

[As if we all weren't aware of this obvious fact that these cretins are deviants, psychopaths and frustrated bully-wannabes. But rest assured: our troll sniffing members are ever-vigilant here at the Paracast —çhris]

by Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D.
In this month's issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a study was published that confirms what we all suspected: internet trolls are horrible people.

Article HERE:
Let's start by getting our definitions straight. An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.

What kind of person would do this?
Canadian researchers decided to find out. They conducted two internet studies with over 1,200 people. They gave personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the Dark Tetrad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadistic personality.

They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite internet activity. To get an idea of how much more prevalent these traits were among internet trolls, check out this figure from the paper:

Look at how low the scores are for everyone except the internet trolls! Their scores for all four terrible personality traits soar on the chart. The relationship between this Dark Tetrad and trolling is so significant, that the authors write the following in their paper:

"... the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." [emphasis added]

Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article):

"Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!"

So next time you encounter a troll online, remember a few things. (1) These trolls are some truly messed up people and (2) it is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.

REST OF ARTICLE HERE:

 

[Wade]

It's a shame the internet wasn't around in the mid 30s, if Adolph had another outlet to demonize another group of people perhaps the world wouldn't have had to go through all that unpleasantness.

And it could of have been preventable, I think all he needed was a hug, maybe if we all just went out and hugged our nearest N/P/S perhaps the world would run a little smoother. I just MAY start with the parking enforcement people.

 

[manxman]

It's a shame the internet wasn't around in the mid 30s, if Adolph had another outlet to demonize another group of people perhaps the world wouldn't have had to go through all that unpleasantness.

And it could of have been preventable, I think all he needed was a hug, maybe if we all just went out and hugged our nearest N/P/S perhaps the world would run a little smoother. I just MAY start with the parking enforcement people.

The bolded portion does not make any sense, dickhead.




Geez ya didnt make a single spelling error, so i had to be creative, thankfully there was an unnecessary 'if' there, so you have been classically youtube commented.

 

[Charlie Prime]

...the Dark Tetrad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadistic personality.

The DARK TETRAD

Ha! That's a cool phrase.

I'm going to start calling my boss D.T. He suffers severely from all those mental illnesses.

Sad thing is, he is my friend, and hired me for this gig because of that. I can't wait until my contract is up so I can tell him what a D.T. he is the next time we go camping.

He knows it. He just doesn't care. Yet, he can't figure out why his kids hate him and no woman will stay married to him. He is in poor health and will die alone. Very sad.

 

[manxman]

He will be fine, with a good ''friend'' like you by his side Charlie lad.

 

[Randall]

It's a shame the internet wasn't around in the mid 30s, if Adolph had another outlet to demonize another group of people perhaps the world wouldn't have had to go through all that unpleasantness.

And it could of have been preventable, I think all he needed was a hug, maybe if we all just went out and hugged our nearest N/P/S perhaps the world would run a little smoother. I just MAY start with the parking enforcement people.

LOL ... I think the parking enforcement people are beyond help. Here in Calgary there was a little movement going called "parking angels" where volunteer citizens were putting money in expired meters before the parking enforcement officers could ticket the vehicles. So what the City did was start charging those who put money in expired meters! They used some bogus excuse like "public mischief". There were a lot of complaints about that, and it didn't stop the parking angels, so they brought in a whole new parking meter system based on license plates that makes it impossible for anyone without the meter receipt or the scanning equipment to tell which vehicles have timed out. Then they wrote a bogus article for the City website claiming how everyone loves the new system ( which they don't ), and issued a couple of similar press releases. On top of compromising the parking angels, the new system also allows them to easily designate whole blocks that were previously meter free by posting a couple of simple signs and installing one of these lousy new park and pay boxes.

 

[Randall]

Let's start by getting our definitions straight. An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response ... Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article): "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!"

What constitutes Internet trolling is also highly subjective. Consider this Wikipedia quote:

"Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation."​

What the above means is that what constitutes trolling to one person may not constitute trolling to another, and that accusing someone of trolling can be construed as a form of trolling in and of itself. I've been trolled many times. I've also been falsely accused of trolling because I've been provocative and/or controversial while not lying, exaggerating, or posting with the intent of making anyone feel bad. In some cases I've trolled the trolls back, but again, not for the purpose of causing them harm, but to illustrate a point, usually with an element of humor attached. So the issue of trolling is more complex than can be applied to a few simple factors that are open to subjective interpretation or prone to assumptions.

In my opinion, one of the hallmarks of the troll is to shift the discussion away from the issues at hand to the personalities of the participants. I've noticed this tends to happen when people in a discussion make some claim but cannot substantiate their position and simply don't want to be questioned or allow anyone to post contrary opinions or evidence. It's a very easy defense to simply cry "Troll!" whenever someone posts something that you don't agree with, and I imagine that the same people who psychoanalyze trolls might have a few interesting things to say about that type of behavior as well.

 

[smcder]

Cry "Troll!", and let slip the blogs of war.

Or ... turn the whine into water under the bridge.

 

[Heidi Lemmer]

Agree to disagree, not win.

 

[Heidi Lemmer]

 

[Wade]

I don't know if it's possible to like something I don't completely get, but I like this and applaud your creativity.

Is this slovenly, anarchist, atheistic, my little pony loving, church of the flying spaghetti monster adherent Troll supposed to be related to that fellow in the upper left whose identity escapes me? (but I feel I should know)

 

[Stagger Lee]

troll guy looks like- Penn, from Penn and Teller? Not sure who the pic is, but it made me laugh all the same.

 

[marduk]

#1 I now worry I'm a troll, thanks Chris!
#2 Dark Tetrad is kind of a bummer, so here's a link to Dark Tetris instead! Dark Tetris | SourceForge.net

 

[smcder]

I don't know if it's possible to like something I don't completely get, but I like this and applaud your creativity.

Is this slovenly anarchist, atheistic, my little pony loving church of the flying spaghetti monster adherent Troll supposed to be related to that fellow in the upper left whose identity escapes me? (but I feel I should know)

Richard Dawkins

 

[Wade]

Thanks for that. Given the context I did a google image search for Christopher Hitchens and that came up a bust, I knew that there was someone else along these lines but couldn't remember the name.

 

[manxman]

Isnt the cartoon depicting a ''real'' cartoon character, i just cant place it at the moment, is it the Simpson's he is out of, or the comic shop owner in big bang theory, it's peeing me off, i can hear the characters voice in my head.

 

[smcder]

Thanks for that. Given the context I did a google image search for Christopher Hitchens and that came up a bust, I knew that there was someone else along these lines but couldn't remember the name.

Dawkins Dennett Hitchens and Harris are the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism ... Dennett's idea it was to call the movement The Brights - turned out to be a bad PR move.

 

[Heidi Lemmer]

There's no reference listed, no link. Was posted this morning on FB and then I remembered Chris's posting.

 

[mike]

This is my final word the argument is over
The internet is about to be shutdown anyway
Nazi
And your spelling mistakes tell us all we need to know about your smarts
I have hordes of lurking supporters
You must be having a bad day yes ?....

more here

Silly Humor -- Internet Flame Wars