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Inside the world of Internet trolls
By AprillBrandon in Pop Goes the Culture
August 4, 2008

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Even if you've only spent minimal time on that wide, wide world web, chances are you've encountered an Internet troll. You know, those anonymous online posters who gather at discussion forums and blogs and intentionally try to bait and cyber-bully other online users?

Or as I like to call them, the online equivalent of that butthead in elementary school who knocks the books out of your hand and calls you a "fart-face." (Although it seems that trolls are getting more and more cruel, going from immature to downright malicious in some cases...the Megan Meier's saga, anyone?).

Sure trolls are annoying and more than once they may have baited you into an emotional outburst, but have you ever wondered why they do what they do?

If you have, check out this fascinating, in-depth piece by the New York Times Magazine called "The Trolls Among Us." It's an eye-opening piece on this Internet sub-culture that has grown over the years.

I will warn you that it's a lengthly piece but well worth it. Just reading this one quote from one troll summing up why he does what he does had me hooked:

"Am I the bad guy? Am I the big horrible person who shattered someone’s life with some information? No! This is life. Welcome to life. Everyone goes through it. I’ve been through horrible stuff, too.”

I mean, if this is the trolls' mentality, Lord help us all.