Inside the mind of a troll

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Following on from Gawker's expose of Violentacrez last week, Atlantic have published this heavyweight academic analysis of what exactly is going on in the mind of the "self-identifying trolls"

"It is important to note that trolling is not a one-size-fits-all behavioral category," writes Whitney Phillips, a lecturer at New York University. "I've worked with certain trolls who take great pleasure in taunting the friends and family of murdered teenagers. I've worked with other trolls who are disgusted by this sort of behavior and instead restrict their focus to trolling other trolls. Some trolls are very intelligent, and have extremely interesting things to say about trolling, while others have no real opinion about anything they do, other than the fact that it makes them laugh."