I think it would be interesting and worthwhile to study the effects of trolling on different personality types, to see if there's some kind of link between taking trolling to heart and some other factor. Say, a root cause for being offended. I believe it's upbringing and education, but I have no data on that. It's just a random guess.
I do know that there are millions of people who have no adverse reaction to being trolled. I also know that there are a lot of those people who also have low self esteem and very little confidence. I believe these people are people who understand what the Internet is, understand the psychology of Internet trolls. They know that it's a joke, or at worst they know that the troll is harmless. An annoyance at most. And they know they can do the same thing right back again.
The issue seems to be in when the two major subcultures online clash: the ones who know the Internet's darkest reaches and have an understanding of how awful the Internet can get, and the casual Internet users, the Facebookers/MySpacers/etc. It's like nudists strolling through The Vatican.
I would say that pseudonyms do more than just allow us to be anonymous with our opinions, but it also allows us to be anonymous with our emotions. In that sense, everyone has - or realizes - their jimmies are likely to be rustled at some point and it's best to shield your real identity from that person hitting the fan. But I agree I think we need to do a little bit more to figure out who gets hurt and why, and what we can do to curb that or provide them with some sort of kiddie pool to wade in. Sounds kind of silly, but I think it'd help.
I do know that there are millions of people who have no adverse reaction to being trolled. I also know that there are a lot of those people who also have low self esteem and very little confidence. I believe these people are people who understand what the Internet is, understand the psychology of Internet trolls. They know that it's a joke, or at worst they know that the troll is harmless. An annoyance at most. And they know they can do the same thing right back again.
The issue seems to be in when the two major subcultures online clash: the ones who know the Internet's darkest reaches and have an understanding of how awful the Internet can get, and the casual Internet users, the Facebookers/MySpacers/etc. It's like nudists strolling through The Vatican.