Internet trolls derive 'sadistic' pleasure by troubling others: Study

Personalities of the Internet trolls or people who post offensive material about someone on the web and start arguments or upset them, correlate highly with sadism, a new study has revealed.

A new research by Erin Buckels and colleagues at the University of Manitoba has found that trolls' personalities are strongly linked to personality traits that form what some psychologists term as the Dark Tetrad: sadism, narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.

According to The Verge, it was found that the more time a person spends commenting on the Internet each day, the more likely it is that the person will demonstrate Dark Tetrad traits.

The researchers explained that both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others, adding that sadists just want to have fun and the internet is their playground, the report added.