These are people who aim exclusively to make users lose their patience with offensive and provocative messages
You have surely already heard several times, even in newspapers, radio and television, about trolls. Who are they and especially how to recognize trolls? Trolls are usually people who populate social networks and forums, whose sole purpose is to annoy other users through provocative messages.
Trolls take part in the conversation exclusively to annoy the participants, for example, in a chat room. Another peculiarity that distinguishes this category of troublemakers is the rapidity with which they leave their often meaningless messages in virtual communities. In fact, trolls flood chats with quickly repeated words with the goal of preventing users from following conversations. As a result, victims of trolls lose patience and abandon, in most cases, the chat. And not only that. Social profiles or forums of well-known companies are also attacked by trolls: in this case, the often fake messages aim to damage the reputation of the brand.
How to unmask trolls
Trolls are also dangerous for users' data, as it is not uncommon to find spam messages with malicious links in the comments of articles, as well as in the comments of posts of important people. Here the purpose is to induce the unfortunate ones to click on the link, which can direct the Internet traffic to phishing sites or download malware and viruses to the victims' devices.
Trolls are also smart. They often use multiple IP addresses, so that if their account is blocked, they can continue to invade forums with their messages, which often remain identical.
Also, trolls use special characters, such as $, #, @, to bypass automatic site control systems, which block the use of inappropriate words.
Trolls are also vandals, not in the classic sense of the word. Instead of damaging walls or buildings, they deface, virtually speaking, websites, especially of companies and organizations, with offensive messages. Trolls are vile: they often attack defenseless people in a vulgar manner and for no reason.
So, now you know how to spot trolls. Be careful. Remember that their goal is to rile you up. Don't fall for their provocations by replying to their messages, and above all, never click on the links that accompany the trolls' texts.