Internet trolling, a form of antisocial online behavior, is a serious problem plaguing social media. Skillful trolls can lure entire communities into degenerative and polarized discussions that continue endlessly. From analysis of data gathered in accordance with established classifications of trolling-like behavior, the paper presents a conversation analysis of trolling-like interaction strategies that disrupt online discussions. The authors argue that troll-like users exploit other users’ desire for common grounding – i.e., joint maintenance of mutual understanding and seeking of conversational closure – by responding asymmetrically. Their responses to others deviate from expectations for typical paired actions in turn-taking. These asymmetries, described through examples of three such behaviors – ignoring, mismatching, and challenging – lead to dissatisfactory interactions, in that they subvert other users’ desire for clarification and explanation of contra-normative social behavior. By avoiding clarifications, troll-like users easily capture unsuspecting users’ attention and manage to prolong futile conversations interminably. Through the analysis, the paper connects trolling-like asymmetric response strategies with concrete data and addresses the implications of this nonconformist behavior for common grounding in social-media venues.

Internet trolling 是一种反社会在线行为，是困扰社交媒体的一个严重问题。熟练的巨魔可以引诱整个社区陷入无休止的退化和两极分化的讨论中。通过对根据已建立的类似拖钓行为分类收集的数据进行分析，本文提出了对干扰在线讨论的类似拖钓互动策略的对话分析。作者认为，类似巨魔的用户通过不对称响应来利用其他用户对共同基础的渴望——即共同维护相互理解和寻求对话结束。他们对他人的反应与轮换中典型的成对行动的预期不同。这些不对称，通过三个这样的行为的例子来描述——忽略、不匹配、和具有挑战性——导致不满意的交互，因为它们颠覆了其他用户对违反规范的社会行为进行澄清和解释的愿望。通过避免澄清，类似巨魔的用户很容易抓住毫无戒心的用户的注意力，并设法无休止地延长徒劳的对话。通过分析，本文将类似拖钓的不对称响应策略与具体数据联系起来，并探讨了这种不墨守成规的行为对社交媒体场所共同点的影响。