The use of nondialogic trolling to disrupt online communication

an article by Brian C. Britt (University of Alabama, USA) published in First Monday Volume 24 Number 10 (October 2019)

Abstract

Trolling, a uniquely common antisocial behavior in online communities, has traditionally been conceptualized as a phenomenon based in group dialogue. Yet it is possible for trolling to occur without any actual dialogue between the troll and the intended targets.

In this paper, several methods of trolling are presented, each of which is performed through engagement with user-generated media artifacts rather than through back-and-forth conversation among users.

These are broadly grouped into four categories based on the type of media engagement that is exploited:

• content creation,
• content curation,
• content evaluation, and
• content refinement.

This manuscript therefore fills a significant gap in the literature on this topic and helps to resolve a limitation in existing explications of the construct by showing its applicability to a wider range of behaviors than previously acknowledged.

Full text (HTML)

---