Nuff said.

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Introverts are more concerned with the inner world of the mind. They enjoy thinking, exploring their thoughts and feelings. They often avoid social situations because being around people drains their energy. This is true even if they have good social skills. After being with people for any length of time, such as at a party, they need time alone to "recharge."

When introverts want to be alone, it is not, by itself, a sign of depression. It means that they either need to regain their energy from being around people or that they simply want the time to be with their own thoughts. Being with people, even people they like and are comfortable with, can prevent them from their desire to be quietly introspective.

Being introspective, though, does not mean that an introvert never has conversations. However, those conversations are generally about ideas and concepts, not about what they consider the trivial matters of social small talk.

Introverts make up about 60% of the gifted population but only about 25-40% of the general population.

Mind games
"Each of us brings our own reasons, backgrounds and motivations into this scheme. What is important is that each individual brings into this their own brand of inspired mischief. In some ways it is completely innocent. In some ways it is completely destructive."

This quotation is taken from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) of a mailing list dedicated to trolling.

I remember the first time I heard about "computer viruses", back in the '80s. My immediate response was to laugh and discount what I was being told. The notion that there could be a 'virus' that infected computer discs, and that could spread from machine to machine, was ridiculous. Or so I thought. Eventually I, along with the rest of the world, had to take the threat of viruses seriously, and produce serious countermeasures, because the problem was so prevalent. Trolling falls into the same category as viruses in those early days - it may seem ridiculous, but it exists.

In fact, law-making bodies and respectable news agencies are beginning to recognise the dangers and take appropriate action. In some states in the USA a new offence has been created, called "Cyber-Stalking". At the time of writing this article (early 1999), the first prosecutions were being brought to the courts. And in the UK, on Jan 27 1999, the BBC Breakfast News made the following report:

"A new kind of warfare is emerging - electronic warfare. A website in Ireland was forced to close down because it came under electronic attack"

The news article continued with a brief dramatic reconstruction showing the Webmaster hurriedly unplugging lots of cables from the back of an internet server. In a brief interview, the Webmaster then said:

"We had no choice - there was nothing we could do. We just had to unplug everything and then see what damage had been done."

Although the threat of trolls is beginning to be taken more seriously, anti-troll measures are still in their infancy. 'Caveat emptor' (or let the buyer beware) therefore takes on a much greater meaning in the primitive internet community where, despite the radical nature of the technology, civilisation and community life has only matured to the same stage of development as the dark ages - where each person has to look after themselves, and cannot rely on 'society' to protect them.

What is a troll?
The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your expense. There are two main types of trolls:

people who are psychologically disturbed, and seek to feel good by making other list members feel bad. This is a sort of "psycho troll", whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. In this respect, they are no different to the sorts of people we meet in everyday life who are disturbed - some of them are easy to spot, and others aren't. Such people may even use their real names on the internet, and they may not even realise that they are "trolling" because it is all subconscious.

people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they create personae that you think are real, but they know is fictitious.
The rest of this web page concentrates on the second type of troll.

The Game of Trolling
Trolling is like playing chess - there is a point to the game, and that point is to win. Unlike chess, though, there are various ways of winning for the internet troll. These might include:

gaining credence for false and invidious ideas
driving bona fide list members, and/or particular groups, out of the mailing list
dominating the list with messages/posts that they have generated
gaining recognition or an award for their trolling from fellow trollers
getting reprimanded by individuals, list managers or internet authorities
gaining the confidence, trust and support of bona fide list members
distracting list members from their own bona fide discussions or objectives
gaining attention that they cannot get using their real personalities

Sometimes trolls operate alone, and sometimes they operate in groups, but for all of them trolling is a game. There are newsgroups and mailing lists that are dedicated to trolls, for them to exchange techniques and to plan concerted campaigns where they can invade internet mailing lists. Trolls have no concern for the feelings of the people with whom they deal. They are often manipulative, clever and approach their trolling with the same degree of planning and research as those seeking financial gain, or the same competitiveness as a serious chess player. For those familiar with Transactional Analysis (the psychological theory of real-life game playing) there are many parallels with the activities of trolls: there are many games, with different types of payoff and different tactics.

Trolling can be played at various levels...

Level one - "Playtime" - This is where the troller is simply out for the gratification provided by a quick "win". An example of this might be to join a list with a fictitious name, cause an argument, withdraw and then boast to friends about what he/she had done. Such trolls are relatively easy to spot because their attack or provocation is fairly blatant, and the persona is fairly two-dimensional.

Level two - "Tactical" - This is where the troller takes the game more seriously, creates a credible persona with which to provoke the list, and uses recognised techniques or tactics to gain the confidence and support of individuals on the list. Provocation is subtle and invidious, so spotting this type of troll is not easy, because the persona is credible, and off-list email exchanges have caused you to believe that this person is genuine and trustworthy.

Level three - "Strategic" - This is a very serious form of game, involving the production of an overall strategy that can take months or years to develop. It can also involve a number of people acting together in order to invade a list. Once a list is infested, it can be nigh impossible to work out who is a troll and who is bona fide.

Level four - "Domination" - This is where the trollers' strategy extends to the creation and running of apparently bona-fide mailing lists. In such circumstances, their payoff may be the knowledge that they are dominating the emotional lives of list members, and is perhaps one of the ultimate forms of deceit that can be achieved.

It should be noted that trolling games are not restricted to the internet. Their tactics can also include contacting people in real life using snail-mail and/or telephone. The boundaries between real-life con-men and internet trolls are not as clear as they used to be.