It's probably best to start defining what factors contribute to trolling of an online community. What particular communities are more susceptible and why? Let

It's probably best to start defining what factors contribute to trolling of an online community. What particular communities are more susceptible and why? Let's first tackle the non-sybil form of trolling and think about individuals. Consider the differences and similarities between a community like linked in vs say 4chan? These are as far apart on the spectrum of communities as I can currently think of. Is one of these communities more easily trolled or duped than the other? Why might that be? I hypothesize a community like linkedin would be more difficult to troll as you must offer personal data or spoof personal data in order to be let into the community. Certainly this isn't impossible to circumvent, but requires a greater degree of commitment. This commitment is essentially a subconscious time value calculation as well as a calculation of social cost. The logical conclusion is that the social cost of being a troll on Linked in is difficult as there is a very real and immediately perceivable lost opportunity cost. Let's take another example of online discourse and hold a single variable constant, identity. Consider a discussion forum for a college course where students are asked to participate in discussion of class material learned from a physical lecture hall VS topical online discussion on a facebook group. Both groups are forced to offer up some form of personal identification. There is one difference between the groups and that is face to face interaction. My hypothesis is that the first group has a larger social cost tied to being a troll on the discussions and perceivable punishment from acting in bad faith vs facebook where the social costs can be diminished and mostly result in being unfriended. Even removing the possibility of lost tuition dollars as punishment (aka you attend free college) I would argue that the per capita rate of trolling would be diminished compared to facebook. To summarize my hypothesis with in the original scope, if an individual does not perceive the social costs for their actions with in any community their propensity for becoming a bad actor should increase.