How can people enjoy angering others?

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I see it happen here on WP, from time to time. It could be anybody. I ignore it the best I can, and go along my merry way.

Going on Yahoo Answers to troll is a good way to deal with the anger you have inside you and let it all out. Plus it's fun to see what reactions I get. But I haven't done any trolling since January.

I'm going to try to answer this question seriously.

It's pretty easy to see why it can be fun to make someone angry if the person you are trying to make angry is an ex who dumped you in a cruel fashion or someone who has wronged you in the past.

Over the internet it is a little bit harder to fathom. I have a fairly misanthropic worldview yet I still don't get what is pleasurable about angering someone over the internet. One guess is that it is an easy way to get attention. Another guess is that they have preconceptions formed about someone posting online and with the protection of anonymity find the person annoying so they attack without fear. Sometimes it can be fun to shock people in real life for the look on their face, although this is not the same as angering someone.

Using the principle of Occam's razor the answer would simply be that many people are just dickwad as*holes.

what a concept- warm fuzzies instead of cold pricklies! enough people have to want it, though- you and me and that man behind the tree don't make a quorum for proposing to the masses a sea-change of this order. unfortunately. but one can dream. just think of how nice things would be if people loved one another just as they loved themselves. just think of how good it would be if all the unloved were loved and they knew it and were glad of it. it would be heavenly.

That's a very nice thought to have. I doubt that it will ever happen, though. I can always dream.

Okay, but do you know why you do it?

If people are c***s to me, then I'm a c**t back.

I can flame like anything...but I don't. I have had some heated arguments in the past, but they never went as far as nasty, uncalled-for personal attacks. IMO, I have only flamed someone once. He had made a disgusting xenophobic and heavily racist post. I was horrified by it, and let loose on him because I wanted him to feel bad about what he said.

I have a hell of a temper; when he tried to start a flame war with me by posting a new thread that existed to flame me, it took a lot of resolve to ignore it. I didn't bother to reply. However, a number of people chose not to ignore it and defended me!

which is a worse fate for somebody who acts like a troll - to be flamed or ignored? rather than a hot [tempered] punishment, sometimes "revenge is a dish best served cold." or for another analogy, would you become angry at the neighbor's dogs for barking everytime you walked by, or would you say, "they're just stupid dogs who don't know any better"? so whenever somebody on these forums starts "barking" just "walk on by" with a smile, as they are the ones stuck behind the fence of their mental limitations, not you. just a thought.