Troll

Troll is an Internet slang term referring to a person who makes incendiary remarks or provocative comments on the Internet with malicious intent. Their statements are usually purposefully offensive or completely off-topic in order to draw attention to themselves and engage others in pointless conversation. Trolls are usually found in online chatrooms, blogs, message boards, online memorials, and are also very abundant in online video game environments. These types of people also tend to blend in with the rest of the community until they decide it is time to start causing havoc. Often times, a discovered troll will be isolated and ridiculed by the community as a whole because their sole intent was to harm and disrupt the community.

The face used to depict when someone is being a troll, also known as the "Troll Face"

Ethical Controversy

There are many ethical implications that are caused by Internet trolls and their deliberate abuse of online privacy. Trolls typically hide behind the anonymity which is provided by online environments, thus allowing them to hide behind nonsense screen names. Trolling is an act which is intended to cause harm or to at least waste time and create confusion within a specific community, in either case there is no obvious benefit. The only possible benefit is the personal entertainment and satisfaction of the troll, but this is at the expense of the rest of the community which is affected.

Possible Solutions

The only true solution when faced with a troll is to completely ignore their comments and actions. This way, there is nothing for the troll to feed on, as a troll typically strives when his target audience is engaged in a conversation or argument.

There have been many other attempts at suppressing trolls, such as suspension of accounts, implementing muting features, and adding methods of reporting unacceptable behavior. These attempts seem to be less effective due to the anonymity and sheer volume of trolls in online settings. Trolls are almost impossible to permanently remove as they can easily change their IP addresses and create new accounts at forums, message boards, and other communities.