Internet creatures - Do not feed the trolls

Treasure trolls from early 90s

Now I'm new to all this internet malarky and it was only 3 months ago that I asked someone what a 'troll' was. The ideas that these norse creatures were lurking in the internet amused me, probably because I have a giant book of Norse gods and legends upstairs and grew up with a Norweign troll awarded to my Father on our shrank just out of 'playing' reach. Of course 'Trolls' were a toy fad when I was growing up. Who could resist that bright neon hair?! Backcombed beyond all recognition and stuck on the end of a pencil. So I know what trolls are... what are they doing on the internet?

We all ready know about the internet gremlins, free stuff fairy and chain email witch...You do but perhaps you know about them in another name. I'll explain

Internet gremlins play with communication lines, often stealing your emails or breaking your email software so that your communications are messed up and looking un professional. Gremlins can spread to your PC and mess up all sorts of programmes that were working perfectly just moments before... and then they disappear in a flash for no reason!!

We've all had an email from the internet fairy, who hasn't won a Microsoft Lottery / Free Voucher / Gift card from a random email? The magic internet fairy gives out gifts freely, especially since you hadn't entered a competition to win a free iPad...

The internet fairy has an evil twin, the chain email witch. This witch watches all the email accounts in the world making sure her chain mail emails go round and round, stirring her cauldron of communication for her. She sometimes uses her sisters emails promising free gifts as the sweet temptation for forwarding her nasty chain mails.

Trolls are much worse than the gremlins and witch! They are the people that use the internet to extract an emotional response from other internet users. These trolls lurk in Twitter, on blogs, in forums, on Facebook – in fact anywhere they can leave their stinky comments. Trolls will start off with an inflammatory comment or two and then continue to 'troll' upsetting the kind person who is responding to their comments.

Trolls Beware

In the UK your comments on the Internet is governed by the 2003 Communications act and it is possible for you to become imprisoned for your words. A young man was tried and found guilty for trying to incite riots, he was put away for 4 years. Another young man was sentenced to 18months in jail because of his comments on a page of remembrance.

So good and kind Internet users, you now know all about trolls!

I hope this blog helps you spot trolls when you're out and about on the internet, so please remember if you don't respond to them then they have nothing to feed off. So write it on a post it note and stick it to your screen.

DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!