Thought this was interesting (though not surprising):

Overall, the authors found that the relationship between sadism and trolling was the strongest, and that indeed, sadists appear to troll because they find it pleasurable. Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others, they wrote. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!

Science Confirms: Internet Trolls Really Are Narcissistic, Psychopathic, and Sadistic

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 06 Jan 2017 02:23:01AM

A very interesting article, also a disturbing one.

I guess on the bright side, if there is one, it can illustrate how one doesn't want to act or treat others and I'm glad to see that the article states that trolls are the minority.

But such a noisy minority...and so very hard to limit, as the article's said.

Given the elements of narcissism and sadism, I suppose this study is an indication that we need to resist our own inclination to give a troll any overt attention once we realize we have one in the chat (aside from very matter-of-fact administrative action along the lines of "Just the facts," "That's the policy," and "Goodbye.") Not always easy.

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Antiquity Hedgewitch

Agreed, 'feeding the trolls' is not a good idea ... just makes them want more