Although it’s true that we all ought to be prepared to expect some negative feedback to any post we make to an online community forum, it’s also true that we ought to be able to cry “foul” and have something done about it when we experience an internet troll.

According to wikipedia, an Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

The term “troll” can mean a number of different things, but in essence, a troll is a person who aims to have ‘pleasure’ at your expense. They are people who have the psychological need to feel good by making others feel bad.
This is a sort of “psycho troll“, whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. Such people may use their real names on the internet, and they may not even realize that they are “trolling” because it is all subconscious.

Blog Comment Trolls
In his post 7 Tips for Handling Flamers and Trolls, Daniel Scocco says: Whatever their motives, though, there are some important things to remember when dealing with flamers and trolls.
Take a deep breath and count to 10.
Be tolerant of criticism.
Censor with care.
Turn the conversation around.
Take the higher ground.
Trolls thrive on attention.
If all else fails, just ignore them.

Dating Forum Trolls
A fellow Blog Catalog member, modelelaine shares her experience of trollish behavior on dating forums:
What I have noticed from multiple dating forums is that people have some sort of hatred toward others who are more successful, have more money, have better things, are better looking, etc. Just go on a forum such as Plenty Of Fish dating site. If you are good-looking, have a decent job and are generally a nice person, don’t even try to post on the forums. Seriously. You will be eaten alive by haters and naysayers. There are people on those forums who have no life but to destroy you. If you are pretty, there are always women who will say you are a gold digger, or like you are not intelligent enough, or life you are making stuff up, or like you are an attention-seeking troll. Why do they say it? Even if you are not seeking attention, you are attracting attention. Source

Not all community members can be relied upon to make complaints when a pattern of  negative  behavior has been established. This is especially true when the member being targeted by a bad actor is someone else. Unless we are willing to speak up then we are, in essence, agreeing to become the next victim.

Social Network Trolls
Another Blog Catalog member, Doc Nicole wrote this in Ten Causes of Social Media Meltdown
Have you ever started what you thought might be a friendly or informative discussion to promote an article, and then returned to find people completely attacking you? Yikes!  … When a friendly debate turns ugly and immature it is best for your brand to just walk away. Decent people will see that you were needlessly attacked and the participants will be left looking like the malicious bullies they are.  If you feel you must put in your two cents do so and then inform your harassers you will not be returning for more.  Be the bigger person and just leave the thread.

Human nature that makes us want to avoid being seen as snitches and self protective behavior inclines us to back away from negative behavior when we witness it. These two phenomena, as well as, the nature of “detachment” created by online communication can lead us to become voyeurs rather than becoming active participators in creating a healthy online community environment by reporting the bad actors, whether or not their behavior is being directed towards ourselves or towards another member.

Attention seeking

Trolls are nothing without attention, just a monster under the bed. While the first post may be camouflaged, it really doesn’t take rocket science to identify an active troll. The best response from fellow members of the group is simply to ignore it. And the best response from moderators is to delete their membership; quickly and cleanly, with no negotiation or second chance. The group is more important than one idiot.

Socially Inept

Trolls have no self respect and low self esteem, and cannot cope with normal human interaction; start with a bit of flattery, and they may be stuck for a response. Even if they recover, they will not able to react appropriately, which should convince everyone of their trollism. Trolls focus on their target, not the issue; additionally, most trolls can only pick on one person at a time. This leaves them wide open to paralysis when you talk about them, but not to them. Published September 2008

Troll Tolerance
If members of any online community condone forum behavior of individual bad actors that they know isn’t proper,  it will slowly become acceptable, and will become more commonplace, simply because it’s being tolerated.  And if Moderators are not aware and willing to act, then a single negatively focused and manipulative member can create bad will that will have a lasting effect in an online community.

Reference: Communities Online trolling and Harassment