Susan Herring, Kirk Job-Sluder, Rebecca Scheckler & Sasha
Barab
A common phenomenon in online discussion groups is the individual who baits
and provokes other group members, often with the result of drawing them into
fruitless argument and diverting attention from the stated purposes of the
group. This study documents a case in which the members of an online community-a
feminist web-based discussion forum-are targeted by a "troll" attempting
to disrupt their discussion space. We analyze the strategies that make the
troller successful and the targeted group largely ineffectual in responding
to his attack, as a means to understand how such behavior might be minimized
and managed in general. The analysis further suggests that feminist and other
non-mainstream online forums are especially vulnerable, in that they must
balance inclusive ideals against the need for protection and safety, a tension
that can be exploited by disruptive elements to generate intragroup conflict.