Like schoolyard bullies, online “trolls” are the people who join discussions just to make others angry. They’re the ones who hurl personal insults at other people, often not relating to the discussion at hand. One way to deal with these jerks, Danah Boyd writes on her blog Zephoria, is simply to ignore them. “Don’t feed the trolls” is the mantra, based on the idea that most bullies are acting up for the attention. This can be difficult, and allows trolls to continue hurting people unabated. Boyd asks, “[w]hat are good strategies for handling trolls in sheep’s clothing?”
