The difference between 'Trolling' and 'Bullying'

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Kyuui's avatar
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Before I start, I would like to give everyone a few definitions:

:bulletred: Troll:In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional responseor of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_in…

:bulletred: Bullying: the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/…

:bulletred: Cyberbullying: involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others www.google.com/search?sclient=…

Now, once you read those definitions, read them all once more.
There is a definite difference between those words. I, for one am tired of art thieves and younger deviants complaining they are being bullied, when they are being trolled, and when it is a reportable offence.
Hopefully, (doubtfully) this will stop the abuse of the block and report button.

There's a difference between trolling and cyber-bullying, the former is when one (or more) person(s) annoying everybody else and winding them up. Cyber-bullying is much more sinister, where one or more people stalk and systematically harass a single person and consistantly (and relentlessly) target them. Trolling can sometimes be amusing and silly, but cyber-bullying is always done with malicious intent.

Know the difference, here are some examples:
:bulletyellow: "LUL UR ART SUX" -trolling
:bulletyellow: "Go kill yourself" -cyber-bullying
:bulletyellow: "Fail, it's spelled d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e, stupid" -trolling
:bulletyellow: ":insert racist or anti-semitic remark:" -cyber-bullying
:bulletyellow: "Sonic is gay" -trolling
:bulletyellow: "Furfag." -cyber-bullying

Anything that attacks the person directly pertaining to religion, race, sexual orientation, gender or age is bullying.
Anything that is said just to spark an argument, such as constantly correcting misspellings, saying they disapprove of certain things and encouraging anger is trolling.
Let it be known that critiquing falls in to neither of these categories. If you do not want people critiquing your work, say so in the comments. However, if you are not looking for criticism, why are you posting on an art website? You will never get better.

If you are an art thief, and the original artist asks you to remove the art, that is NOT bullying or trolling. That is in their legal rights, and if you refuse, block, or hide their comments, you can be fined a lot of money. There is no need to get 'white knights' involved to defend you, as you are in the wrong, and you both will be punished.

Also, it should be said that saying things like "Jesus is better than [insert God here]" or "Rape is cute and sexy" is offending and a reportable offence. Be known that any comments you get on that, you've brought upon yourself and I, nor anyone else in the community, have pity for you.

With that being said, if someone tells you to kill yourself, or insults your beliefs, you are well within your rights to report them.

If anyone has anything to add to this, please let me know.
I hope this is of some help.

-Ash
© 2010 - 2024 Kyuui
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Zi-Joy's avatar

I think the difference is that trolling uses a sense of humor or sarcasm while being mean, while bullying is just being mean without any attempt at humor or joking