It’s easy to spot one of the internet’s most annoying by-products—the trolls. They have a penchant for fighting online. They like shoving their opinion where it doesn’t belong because they believe they’re always right. And they like engaging in pointless arguments.
But if you spend a lot of time among trolls, you may find yourself picking up a few of their habits. So if you’re wondering why people seem to hate you just because of a “passionate exchange of ideas” you’ve had online, maybe it’s time to check if you’re becoming a troll yourself.
Here are a few signs that you’re turning into an internet troll…
1. You Feel Braver Behind a Keyboard
Seyi is fighting back against the trolls with her new organisation @GlitchUK_ . Read her story and do your bit to end online violence 👉 https://t.co/IyXBIvg9qL #WriteForRights #ToxicTwitter #FixTheGlitch pic.twitter.com/hE3HEnOLHD
— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) December 3, 2018
If you’re having an argument with someone online, you should ask yourself a few questions.
Can you imagine having the same argument in person? Would you feel decent and unabashed saying these things to their face?
It’s different when people are online. And if you find you’re saying more extreme things because you’re emboldened by the anonymity and hiding behind a keyboard, that’s typical trolling behavior.
Hiding behind a keyboard can help you pretend to be brave, great, and mighty. It gives you the illusion that finally, you are above everyone else, even when in real life you aren’t.
If you feel more power behind a keyboard, enough to invade other people’s internet space and try to change the way they think because you believe they are wrong and you are right, imagine doing this in real life.
Imagine inserting yourself into random strangers’ conversations in real life. Sitting beside them on the couch while they’re watching the news and forcing them to interpret what they’re seeing the way you want them to interpret it. It’s weird, right?
If you feel that the keyboard is giving you the power to invade other people’s spaces and force your opinion on them, it may be time to take a step back.
2. You Get Kicked Out of Forums and Online Communities Regularly
If you find yourself getting kicked out of Facebook Groups, online forums, or group chats often (or worse, getting banned for life), it’s time to think about your actions.
While it’s normal to ruffle a few feathers every now and then, it’s not normal for so many people to ban or kick you out so often.
You need to examine your behavior to see what you’ve been doing that’s making them not want to interact with you ever again.
3. You Post and Comment Way Too Much
According to research by experts at Stanford and Cornell, trolls tend to post more often than average users. On CNN for example, an average user account posted around 22 times in the 18-month period measured. But users who were eventually banned (future-banned users or troll accounts), on the other hand, posted a whopping 224 times in the same period.
So if you find yourself posting more than anyone else on a particular page, it could be a sign that you’re becoming a troll.
Of course, you could just be an engaged reader. But if your comments are skewing towards the negative, maybe it’s time to log out and get a hobby.
4. You Don’t Read the Entire Article or Post Before Commenting
You read the headline and post a comment about how stupid the website is or how useless this post is. You scroll down the comments section for opinions you might not like and engage even when you haven’t read the entire post.
If this is you, you’re engaging in typical troll behavior. It’s spreading negativity even before knowing the whole story. Who has time to read the entire thing anyway, right?
Wrong. If people often remind you to read everything first, or if they copy-paste a paragraph from the article to point out what you missed; then congratulations, you’re becoming a troll (if you aren’t already).
5. You Enjoy Getting a Rise Out of People
If you post comments to get a rise out of people online just because you think it’s funny or in some twisted way triggering people gives you pleasure, then you’re definitely an internet troll.
This may be why you’ve lost friends and loved ones in the past and other acquaintances don’t want anything to do with you anymore. You’ve become so toxic they want you out of their lives. Then again, you may have managed to keep this behavior compartmentalized to online interactions.
Either way, while it may seem like no big deal, a little bit of empathy goes a long way. Causing other people distress for a laugh can pile on to an already rough day or experience they’re going through.
6. You Always Resort to Insults
Your comments are never without the words “idiot”, “moron”, or “stupid”. You are also a talented name-caller. You resort to calling people names because you don’t like their opinions. You insult them when you can’t win an argument.
If this is your go-to strategy, you’re becoming an internet troll. Trolls aren’t around for good-faith arguments, rather they insult people who disagree with them or harass people who they don’t like.
If you want to reverse this behavior, keep conversations away from personal insults.
7. You Resort to Doxxing to Win an Argument
Avoid exposing someone else’s information on social media. Respect people’s privacy.#doxxing #cyberbully #privacy #covid19 #SecureVerifyConnect #BruCERT #brunei pic.twitter.com/OuQHIwQKP2
— BruCERT (@BruneiCERT) March 14, 2020
This is one of the worst things a troll can do because it can ruin someone’s life.
Doxxing is a form of a digital witch hunt. It’s an attack on someone’s privacy by exposing their personal details online. The goal is normally to publicly shame the person or invite others to attack them. Some sinister ones even make it their goal to cause physical harm.
If you’ve ever stolen a photo from a personal account, posted it online, and invited others to bully this person or attack them, it’s time to seriously think about your actions. Is winning this argument worth ruining someone’s life? Is proving a point worth invading the other person’s privacy?
Doxxing sometimes also includes sharing the person’s physical address, workplace, and other personal details. This can open them up to real dangers and threats to their safety.
Log Out and Unplug
The internet is filled with billions of different people, from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and a myriad of experiences you might not know about. So, expect that the way you see things might not be the same as everyone else’s.
While you don’t have to agree with everything out there and you can certainly stand up for yourself and your beliefs, it’s important to discern between engaging in good-faith discussions or just meaningless trolling and harassment.