In
Internet slang, a
troll (
/?tro?l/,
/?tr?l/) is a person who
sows discord on the
Internet by
starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting
inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a
newsgroup, forum,
chat room, or blog) with t
he deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,
[3] often for their own amusement.
This sense of the word "troll" and its associated verb
trolling are associated with Internet discourse,
but have been used more widely. Media attention in recent years has equated trolling with
online harassment. For example, mass media has used
troll to describe "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families."
[4][5] In addition, depictions of trolling have been included in popular fictional works such as the
HBO television program The Newsroom, in which a main character encounters harassing individuals online and tries to infiltrate their circles by posting negative sexual comments himself.