From M-W on line:
Main Entry:
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): -s
Etymology: Norwegian troll & Danish trold, from Old Norse troll giant, fiend, demon; akin to Middle High German trolle ghostly monster, boor, lout, trollen to run with short steps, Old Norse tramr demon, monster, Middle High German tremen to totter, stagger, Middle Low German trampen to stamp, tread, Old English treppan to tread—more at TRAP
: a supernatural being in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore and mythology having sometimes the form of a dwarf and sometimes of a giant and inhabiting caves or hills.
From
http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
"An Internet ‘troll’ is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. He (and it is usually he) tries to start arguments and upset people.
Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don’t "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their ‘achievement’ (as they see it). At the moment, the relative anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish.
Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of courtesy or social responsibility.
Perhaps this sounds inconceivable. You may think, "Surely there is something I can write that will change them." But a true troll can not be changed by mere words."
From the DSM
ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER
http://www.accg.net/antisocial.htm
SYMPTOMS
"The signs and symptoms include:
Lack of concern regarding society’s rules and expectations.
Repeated violations of the rights of others.
Unlawful behavior.
Lack of regard for the truth
In parents, neglect or abuse of children.
Lack of a steady job. Frequent job changes through quitting and/or being fired
Tendencies toward physical aggression and extreme irritability. "TREATMENT
"Currently, there is no widely accepted effective method of treating sociopathic personality types. They tend to be very manipulative during treatment and tend to lie and cover up personal faults in themselves and have little insight into their behavior patterns. They tend to exhibit short-term enthusiasm for treatment, particularly after an incident which has brought them into contact with society or the law, however, once this anxiety is relieved and reduced, they frequently drop out of treatment and fall back into the same sociopathic patterns that brought them into treatment initially. In most cases, the prognosis remains unfavorable throughout the individual’s life-span. "
17th Prime
