Trolling on the internet is when someone posts or comments online to intentionally provoke an argument, emotional response, or conflict in an online social community. Trolls often use inflammatory messages to provoke emotional responses out of people, disrupting otherwise civil discussion. They may also post or make inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online or in real life, with the intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others). Trolling can occur anywhere that has an open area where people can freely post their thoughts and opinions.

Trolling is a form of cyberbullying and can be problematic because bullies troll their victims by knowingly posting harmful comments that embarrass or hurt others. Internet trolls intend to insult and use derogatory language to provoke the victim into responding, leading to more trolling behavior. The troll may even follow the victim from one online community to another to harass or force them off the platform.

Anyone can be a troll, even the nicest, most reasonable, and mild-mannered people in real life can exhibit trolling behavior once they get online. If you participate in online discussions or post comments frequently, there are a few general giveaways that indicate you may be dealing with a troll. Trolls will frequently try to attack something you have revealed you like or are in favor of. If someone is trying to insult your tastes directly, or if they’re generally bashing the topic of a forum or post, you probably have a troll on your hands.