Representations of 'trolls' in mass media communication: a review of media-texts and moral panics relating to 'internet trolling' <s> Character theories of internet trolling <s> The Net-generation is a new generation who was born between 1977 and 1997. But unlike their parents, they are not defined by demographics alone, but rather by a combination of their demographic cohort, values, life experiences, and behavior. Based on the assumption that the Net-geners will exhibit differences from the boomers, the purpose of this study is to (1) identify attributes that can distinctly characterize the Net-generation and (2) examine how these attributes, together with perceived seductive properties of the Internet (e.g., pleasure of control and fluidity of identity) and gratifications-obtained from Internet use can predict Net-geners' popular Internet activities. Using a probability sample, a telephone survey was conducted with 976 respondents in the age of 16-24. Exploratory factor analysis found that Net-geners are (1) strongly principled and believe in fundamental rights to information, (2) emotionally open on the Net, (3) innovative and investigative, and (4) independent, confident, and preoccupied with maturity. Results of hierarchical regression analysis show that Net-geners are emotionally open individuals who use the Internet primarily as a social technology. Heavy users of the Internet were motivated by the ability through the Internet to show affections, to establish social bonds, and to escape. Most important, heavy users of the Internet often enjoyed the illusory power of being able to control the world inside the computer when playing online games and attracted by the ability of the Internet to offer companionship in the virtual world. Furthermore, Net-geners were fascinated by the capacity of the Internet to allow them to present a different persona when interacting online such as chatting on ICQ. This "fluidity of identity" gives Net-geners a feeling of status and modernity, which may bolster their self-esteem. <s> BIB001 </s> Representations of 'trolls' in mass media communication: a review of media-texts and moral panics relating to 'internet trolling' <s> Character theories of internet trolling <s> This paper challenges traditional explorations of online communities that have relied upon assumptions of trust and social cohesion. In the analysis presented here, conflict becomes more than just dysfunctional communication and ::: provides an alternative set of unifying principles and rationales for understanding social interaction and identity shape shifting within an online community. A model ::: is advanced that describes the systematic techniques of hostility and aggression in technologically enabled communities that take the form of contemporary tribalism. ::: It is argued that this tribe-like conflict embodies important rituals essential for maintaining and defining the contradictory social roles sometimes found in online ::: environments. This research offers a critical interpretive perspective that focuses on the link between identity shape shifting behaviours and the power relations within an online financial community. The analysis reveals how conflict between positions of power can help to align the values and ideals of an online community. With this study we seek to motivate a re-examination of the design and governance of online communities. <s> BIB002 </s> Representations of 'trolls' in mass media communication: a review of media-texts and moral panics relating to 'internet trolling' <s> Character theories of internet trolling <s> The rise of online communities in Internet environments has set in motion an unprecedented shift in power from vendors of goods and services to the customers who buy them, with those vendors who understand this transfer of power and choose to capitalize on it by organizing online communities and being richly rewarded with both peerless customer loyalty and impressive economic returns. A type of online community, the virtual world, could radically alter the way people work, learn, grow consume, and entertain. Understanding the exchange of social and economic capital in online communities could involve looking at what causes actors to spend their resources on improving someone else’s reputation. Actors’ reputations may affect others’ willingness to trade with them or give them gifts. Investigating online communities reveals a large number of different characters and associated avatars. When an actor looks at another’s avatar they will evaluate them and make decisions that are crucial to creating interaction between customers and vendors in virtual worlds based on the exchange of goods and services. This chapter utilizes the ecological cognition framework to understand transactions, characters and avatars in virtual worlds and investigates the exchange of capital in a bulletin board and virtual. The chapter finds strong evidence for the existence of characters and stereotypes based on the ecologi cal cognition framework and empirical evidence that actors using avatars with antisocial connotations are more likely to have a lower return on investment and be rated less positively than those with more sophisticated appearing avatars. <s> BIB003
There have been a number of character theories devised over the history of media formats. Propp (1968) presented a framework of characters that one would find in the typical folktale, which include a hero and a princess. Some have attempted to introduce minor advancements to understanding characters in online communities BIB002 ), but a more comprehensive model can be found in BIB003 , which was extended by  following the mass use of social networking for surveillance and escape, such as Facebook, by all generations when it was once the preserve of the Net Generation BIB001 . This adapted model by  is presented in Table 1 . It has long been known that not all trollers are obnoxious and can troll equally for good as bad  . The former 'good' ones are the kudos trollers, and the 'bad' ones the flame trollers   . In Table 1 , it is easy to identify those who could be considered flame trollers. The Big Man, who assumes a de facto council who judges others, can be seen to sometimes unknowingly flame others by correcting their 'inaccuracies' and asserting the 'truth' from their point of view. The Snert is perhaps more of what people now see as what a 'troll' is, and it might be obvious to see they are a type of 'Hater', as is used more technically to describe people who abuse others. The E-Venger will have been wronged by someone in an online community, or someone belonging to a cause the website supports, so this may be another example of how 'Haters' come into existence, such as those who target celebrities. E-Vengers will go out of their way to damage the community or its users in any way they can, if they felt wronged by them. Another type of Hater is the Iconoclast, who will do all that it takes to make sure everyone knows the 'truth'. They will post facts that users do not want to hear as it puts them into a state of dissonance by dashing their worldview, known as 'mindhooking' or even 'mind-f--king'. A particularly problematic troller is the Chatroom Bob, which is a type of 'Lolcow'. These characters are online to satisfy their needs, which often include asking other users for 'naked pictures' or trying to seduce others into lured acts. Another problematic troller is the 'Elder', which as an 'Eyeballer' looks for unsuspecting novices to troll. Central to the community and whom have been there a long time, will have had enough and are looking for a reason to leave so that they are 'pushed' rather than having 'jumped'. They often do this by 'trolling for newbies', where they will post comments they know will incite these new members into flaming them, which will start a barrage of offensive messages, known as a 'flame war'. The character in this model referred to as a 'Troll' resembles more the type of troller seen in classical trolling than the 'trolls' seen in Anonymous trolling. It might be an effective difference therefore would be to refer to those trollers who carry out classical trolling as 'Trolls' (with a capital 'T') and those who carry out Anonymous trolling as 'trolls' (with a lower-case 't'). 