“A troll is deliberately crafted to provoke others with the intention of wasting their time and energy … Trolls can be identified by their disengagement from a conversation or argument. They do not believe what they say, but merely say it for effect.”

No, this isn’t the scary scene under the bridge in a children’s book, its actually more of an adult one, but unlike the trolls in storybooks, they are real and they exist right in that little monitor in front of you. But, in order to understand how these creatures come about, we have to take a look at what — or more accurately who — the internet is today.

With the many, many, many outlets for news information available on the web today, it’s easy to see how incorrect information can quickly gain notoriety and be present in more than one source before it is tagged as wrong. But how much of this is our (the consumers’) fault and not necessarily the fault of the troll?

For centuries people have been intrigued by news stories that report on violence, the unfairness of life and the occasional captivating rescue. It seems to present a distorted image of life – and it generally does – but really people are more apt to listen to the negatives of a politicians’ career than what he or she does to actually better the country.

Take these negative news stories and then intertwine a satirical newspaper, like The Onion, into the equation and you’ve got a great set up for deception and confusion. Barack Obama wearing traditional Somali garb out of respect for the culture soon becomes “Barack Obama – terrorist background revealed.” Sure, some of it is the nature of politics, but aren’t these the sort of things average voters absolutely loathe about the political process?

O’Reilly offers a couple of different methods for combating troll-like information on the internet; the most important, in my opinion, being the fact check. The run-around of the reporting process, as annoying as it may be, is the easiest way to ensure credibility. It’s a run-around for a reason — multiple sources mean multiple opinions meaning a well-covered, informative and true story.

So, to wrap up this story, the way to combat adult trolls on blog sites, e-mail and the web is for the consumer to give them the run-around and delete their inaccurate information – or at least inform everyone they can. After all, O’Reilly says, “the best solution [to accurate credibility] is to ensure an open conversation among informed readers because they’ll collectively inform each other.”

Discussion Questions:

What are some other ways consumers can ensure what they are reading is credible, even when the information comes from a well-known news source like the New York Times?

How can we as journalists and media consumers combat the fraud that exists on the internet?