Human Blight
Human users in online communities can create virtual blight. Antisocial behaviors based on human characteristics like ignorance, jealousy, impatience, greed and malice which exist in real life manifest themselves in the virtual world.
Parasitic Marketers
Scammers, Spammers, Sploggers and others with a
conflict of interest come to a community with a purpose that doesn't support
community norms. This sort of user sees the online community as something
to be exploited for personal gain. They are there only to take, rather than
give and take. Newbies often make the mistake of using the community to
market their products. This sort of user can often be turned into a
productive community member. However, hardened abusers marketing pills,
porn, gambling, warez (pirate software) and financial scams are a serious
form of blight.
Elitists
New users often upset established members by committing small
breeches of etiquette. The offending faux pas can include anything from
posting in the wrong category or asking a question that is answered in the
FAQ to violating the community standards for the tone of discourse or
failing to provide citations. In healthy online communities, experienced
users provide support and even mentor new users, helping the community grow.
When users become impatient and respond to these minor transgressions with
hostility, sarcasm and insults, clans or cabals may form. Cliquishness,
rudeness and snobbery contribute to blight by driving away new members or
people with diverse opinions and moving the community toward a single point
of view.
Griefers and Trolls are similar, but their tactics and hang outs differ. Griefing the term commonly used in online gaming communities, while troll is the more common term at social media sites. According to the WikiMedia Meta-Wiki, the fundamental rule of all social spaces is "Don't be a dick". Greifing and trolling violate this basic principle.
Griefers
Griefers feed their own egos through actions that cause
unhappiness for others. While their behavior may be technically possible,
that does not make it socially acceptable. Griefers stubbornly resist
social norms, even after warnings, and often gain attention or promote their
views by disruptive means. They lack manners. The time wasted by griefers
frustrates productive community members, causing them to abandon the site
and move on. Microsoft's official advice seems to be to run away, as most
of their 10 tips for dealing with Griefers suggest
playing a different game or trying to change the rules. Successful online
communities use a cost-benefit analysis to identify griefers and show them
the door.
Trolls
Trolls are people who get their jollies by upsetting others and
watching them react. They are overtly hostile or obnoxious and view rule
breaking as a sport. Trolls may attempt to disrupt the usability of a
website, discourage community involvement, and get other users banned.
Trolling tactics include baiting, pestering, and gaming. Trolling can be
overt, like repeatedly adding the word PENIS to user generated content, or
it can be more subtle, like posting provocative racial remarks in order to
start a heated debate. Trolls delight in being dickish in novel ways and
they prey upon users who are prone to emotional overreactions. Getting rid
of trolls is difficult because they fully expect to be banned, and plan to
return with a new identity. A common strategy is to quietly undo troll work
thereby denying recognition. Removing the fun from trolling often causes
the troll to go elsewhere. More sophisticated systems use cookies and other
unique identifiers that allow the Trolls to view their "contributions" while
hiding it from other community members.
Sock Puppets
A common way to artificial game the rules in a community
voting site or to by pass community sanctions is to set up additional
accounts for an individual users, also known as sock puppets. If a user
account is banned for bad behavior, such as trolling, the user may create a
new account so they can continue. Inexperienced users may create multiple
accounts for astroturfing or vote rigging. Sock puppetry is especially
tempting when a site involves product reviews or polling. To combat sock
puppetry, virtual communities provide super-users with access to technical
data, such as server logs, that can be used to link sock puppets to the "puppet master". Often, logging user IP addresses and user agents (browser
software version) helps make a positive identification, although experienced
sock puppet abusers may use open proxies, such as TOR nodes, to appear from
multiple IP addresses. When that happens, sock puppets must be identified
by analyzing their behavior. If sock puppetry isn't stopped, a small number
of users, be they Parasitic Marketers, Griefers or Trolls, can destroy a
community.
Predators
Pathological users, the worst of all, exploit a community for
criminal purposes. They may attempt to distribute malware, engage in
copyright piracy, threaten users, or lure children into danger. Paedophiles
may join a community and pose as minors in order to get the email addresses
of real minors. Online communities must establish controls and be ever
vigilant against this sort of activity. Even one case that goes wrong can
result in worldwide news coverage that forever tarnishes a community's
reputation.