Comment Trolling Has A Psychological Explanation

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief November 21, 2007 · 1 min read

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The hot item over at TechCrunch is all about comment trolling having some psychological explanation. Well, of course, every human action has some sort of psychological explanation except of course if one has a bout of epilepsy.

I may have over half a dozen trolls linger on this blog for months, sometimes even years. I even got a blog once dedicated just to mock me. Oftentimes, I’d ignore them; other times I’d try to engage their good side (hoping they do have one) before I take evasive actions.

What strikes my curiosity is why would these people keep on trolling your blog:

They hate your guts, big time.
Crab mentality?
Jealousy.
They have a lot of time on their hands.
They’re just plain psycho.

I wrote something similar (Acknowledging Blog Critics) to this over 2 years ago when I had my first critic on this blog. Critics are sometimes good, but trolls?

Several other bloggers have asked me how to permanently block trolls from their blogs so I suggested the ff. — How to permanently block someone from your blog? — with additional suggestions from the commenters.

So, what’s your troll story and how did you deal with it?

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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24 Comments

declutter · 15 years ago

jfdsfkjslkfs

Andrew · 19 years ago

Trolls are most welcome in my blog. Blocking them out is futile.

Jonas Diego · 19 years ago

I made comic strips lambasting my troll. Got a lot more traffic because of that. :D

BrianB · 19 years ago

Sorry, forgot this other one: “I used to have some trolls as well on my blog. I guess theyâ€™re just people who have too many time on their hands and donâ€™t understand the â€œif you donâ€™t like what youâ€™re reading and if itâ€™s not your blog, just close the browserâ€ principle.”

I believe that less popular blog, blogs with less than a hundred readers a day is not worth anyone’s time, even for the worst of trolls. The best targets are popular blogs. Engadget, which practices a more open comment system gets a lot of trolls. Hell, most commenters there are trolls, and the best and funniest ones get their due respect. Gizmodo edits their comments section, so we don’t know. Blogs that are spinoffs of real print media do not really filter their comments section. They use house rules, very broad, to sift out rude language (i.e. profanities) and defamatory and racist remarks. Take a leaf from these people, they are professionals.

Blogs are publicly available and as such must be the public’s concern. It’s not PRIVATE. Meaning, once you publish it for the public, the public has their own rights to it (Pls read up on journalistic ethics for this). Second, I believe there are two options if you have a comments section. First option: close it down, so you don’t run the risk of being annoyed by commenters. Second option: set ground rules.

The option to censor or block email addresses when the commenter does not go against house rules is (and this is just my feeling) unethical. Name-calling like calling people whose opinion and whose attitude annoy us (whether this reflects the general truth) Trolls or whatever is not only unprincipled, it is morally weak. I’m sure very few of us here would consider himself a journalist or bound by journalistic ethics, but I seem to recall a previous poll by Yuga on the topic and many of us here gave his answer to the effect that “blogging is a form of journalism.” Well, journalism is about the free flow of relevant information, and who is to say a troll has no relevant information to share?

BrianB · 19 years ago

“just mark them as spam. lol” Censorship…

“So why bother?” Snobbery…

“This will only make me more of a troll.” Hm, I’m sure I didn’t type down me but the third person “him.”

“I never have to defend myself because I have friends who defend me – and thatâ€™s something that makes me feel great.” Some people are not meant for Web 2.0

I remember they used to equate the Web with hyper-democracy. Heck, when governments censor newspapers it’s the Web that keep the flow of free information. And how do you think governments perceive newspapers, especially newspaper critics. That’s right, GNATS. Well, print has gnats and the Web has trolls. So, isn’t trolling an essential part of the freedom of the Web, or you think all people should be polite and supportive? What do you think?… The philosophical question of our time.

bryanboy · 19 years ago

… and sometimes, trolling in your OWN blog is also a nice way to spice it up and get people to react and join a hate bandwagon (you started), don’t you think?

;)

NineMoons · 19 years ago

I get trolled at least once a month in my Cbox/chatbox.

if it stopped, I’d be worried for the future of my blog, as I’ve taken the view that getting trolled just means new people are still dropping by to visit.

I never have to defend myself because I have friends who defend me – and that’s something that makes me feel great.

BrianB · 19 years ago

One thing you shouldn’t do to a troll, sleep with his girlfriend. This will only make me more of a troll.

Ade · 19 years ago

I used to have some trolls as well on my blog. I guess they’re just people who have too many time on their hands and don’t understand the “if you don’t like what you’re reading and if it’s not your blog, just close the browser” principle.

bryanboy · 19 years ago

I love them comment trolls.

I get lots of these on a daily basis. In fact, I even publish comments of this nature in my blog.

It’s pointless to acknowledge them let alone even try to get on their good side.

Whenever we put ourselves online, we’re opening ourselves both to praise and criticism. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. It takes awhile getting used to it, of course, and I’m not saying I’m superhuman and completely numb to it all… but think about it. Trolls suffer from ADD; the more you pay attention to them, the more you are giving them the satisfaction… and a chance to even provoke you more in the future. So why bother?