Week 4 Computer science Reading 3 Leggi il testo, poi rispondi alle domande che seguono. Internet trolls In the past, the word troll simply indicated a wicked creature in children s tales. In Old Norse mythology, the troll was a supernatural being, not very friendly to humans, who lived in isolated rocks and caves in small family groups. Later, in Scandinavian folklore, it is described as an ugly creature, dangerous for men. There are a lot of legends about trolls. One of them says that human babies are sometimes swapped with a troll child. Trolls are frightened by lightning and by the sound of church-bells. Nowadays, in Internet slang, troll has a different meaning. Trolls are cyberbullies who hide behind false names, so as not to be identified. They act this way. They post abusive, terrible comments directed to a specific person in order to provoke angry responses. They like entering a community, a chat room, a blog, a forum, where they attack someone and then wait for the reaction. Today, they are sadly common. There are thousands of examples of people being trolled, even famous people. Among the worst, the cruellest situations were the attacks on the memorial page of dead teenagers, whose families got really upset. Trolls like causing conflicts, shocking controversies, but do not feel any remorse, they are delighted at other people s pain. They gain energy if you insult them, so the best way to stop trolls is to ignore them. Never quarrel with them, simply do not answer their messages and, if it is possible, take away the troll s ability to post online. Please, don t feed the trolls as a famous warning sign says. Adapted from Wikipedia and www.netforbeginners.about.com. 1 Who were the trolls in ancient mythological stories? 2 Were they positive or negative characters? 3 Who are trolls in the Internet world? 4 Where do they act? 5 What technique do they use? 6 What do they want to do? 7 How can we stop trolls? 8 Comment on the sign Please, don t feed the trolls . USEFUL WORDS to feed = nutrire; lightning = lampo; to quarrel = litigare, discutere; to swap = scambiare; upset = turbato, sconvolto; warning sign = avviso di pericolo; wicked = malvagio. 36