Study Shows Internet Trolls Are Also That Way In Real Life

If you’ve ever wondered what the jerk who hijacks the comments section by posting baiting or incendiary comments is like in real life, Canadian research says they’re unpleasant jerks there, too. They use more research level terms like “sadist” but we all know they are garden variety a-holes.

The researcher define trolling as “behaving in a deceptive, destructive or disruptive manner in a social setting on the Internet”. They also found that trolling isn’t quite as common as we might think; out of those who comment on things on the Internet, only 5.6% say they enjoy trolling. That 5.6% must be awfully busy, then. Apparently, this is how those people get their fun, by feeding their sadistic need to harm, insult, or demean anybody they encounter. The article mentions that the researchers have common sense advice for the rest of us: don’t feed the trolls.