Here are some interesting tidbits I found online about Blog Trolls:
URBAN DICTIONARY:
1. Blog Troll
(n) -A depraved individual who sits in front of a computer all day and posts flames of an idiotic or pseudo-intellectual nature on public forums and private websites. Many of these people actually become emotional about what is said on the afore-said mediums and feel it is their duty to punish those who disagree with them. They too may pursue this object in an obsessive-compulsive manner.
SANE STORM
What is it?
A blog troll is an obnoxious, hurtful and incredibly valuable loser who, for whatever reason, is both obsessed by and constantly annoyed with, and deeply offended by everything you write on your blog. And while you can ban him/her from commenting on your site -- they’ll come back as alts and you can ban them, too -- you can’t ban them from commenting on other sites and pointing back to your blog, and you can’t ban them from posting things on their own blog that point back to your site.
And you really, really wouldn’t want to.
Because a blog troll will provide you with more traffic to your blog than an interview with William Shatner, a brief affair with Amanda Congdon, or even a pointer from BoingBoing.
Why? Because being hated is interesting, and tons of people will want to know why this freak has it in for you. That makes you special. That makes you interesting. Nobody targets a nobody.
BLOGGERS BLOG
Who Let the Trolls Out?
Blog Commenter Troll - One who floats in and out of many different blogs and leaves anonymous or non-anonymous comments that fit the "troll" trademark code of, well, shame?
Blog comment trolls are nothing new and have been around since comments on blogs existed. Webopedia offers the following definition of trolls which works well for blog comment trolls.
(v.) (1) To deliberately post derogatory or inflammatory comments to a community forum, chat room, newsgroup and/or a blog in order to bait other users into responding.
Blog comment trolls are a continual pest just like they continue to be on message boards. Google shows over 11,000 results for blog trolls. Trolls and spam are one reason some bloggers started moderating their comments.
And I absolutely love this "how to guide" of dealing with your troll by the author of the blog Mommy Needs Coffee; you can read it here!
The best thing I read about this entire Blog Troll issue is the fact that the troll may actually be suffering from a personality disorder, and reading the list of symptoms it all makes sense!
*Narcissism is the ego unbound. The DSM-IV describes the narcissistic personality disorder as, "A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts...." Some indicative behavior are these:So what I have learnt so far is not to feed the troll, ignore the troll, take it as a compliment that I being trolled and that all trolls are quite possibly mentally unstable, beware!
* Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
* Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
* Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
* Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
* Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
* Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
