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Trolls are most commonly associated with the Internet. Forums, websites, you can pretty much find them anywhere. But in this series, I am going to tell you what trolls are, how to identify them, how to avoid them, and how to defeat them.

Before we go onto any other subject, this article is going to focus on what a troll is and how they act.

Trolls are, in a way, internet bullies. They usually pick out a specific group of members or people, or just one, and pick on them in a number of ways.

Here is a few key points about trolls-

Trolls want to make you angry. That’s their purpose. They want to annoy you- to instigate you into an argument. The whole time, they’re laughing at you for feeding them.

Don’t feed the trolls. Trolls get satisfaction if you respond how they want you to. It keeps them going. If you are responding to someone you think is a troll, don’t be angry. Don’t make jokes about their mother, or try to be cool. In fact, it’s best to just ignore them.

Trolls are subtle, trolls are blunt. The one thing you can never tell about a troll is how they’re going to do what they do best. Some trolls are subtle… Never shouting, never obviously trying to make you angry. These types take a while before you realize how much they are trying to make you angry, or even never at all.

Blunt trolls are the opposite. They will shout, yell, and annoy you even when they only have one post. Ignore them.

Trolls will go anywhere. No matter where you are, chances are there is a troll hiding around a corner. Be ready for anything.

If you are picked by a troll as a “defenseless” member, follow these steps:

1. Ignore them. Seriously.
2. If you can’t ignore them, write out a hate-filled flaming comment towards them, then delete it. Even knowing that you’ve let your feelings out without them knowing what you did can help.
3. If you reply, make it nice. Honestly, don’t feed the trolls with more hatred.

Following these steps, you shouldn’t get into any trouble with trolls. Still, there may be one that you just cannot stand… You just cannot even believe that he’s not… dead yet. At this point, you may want to “defeat” or “remove” him from being a troll. In the next article, I will be discussing a number of ways that you can clam down a troll, and possibly turn it from trolling.