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People can be mean on forums and the internet in general because they're anonymous. They know nobody and they're not going to face any repercussions due to it, unless a forum ban is regarded as a punishment. It's hardly a suitable punishment but nothing else can be done really. At the end of the day, people can just create another account or just go to another forum and behave similarly. A banning is only a temporary nuisance at best for the troublemaker.

Below, some of the reasons as to why a person can be mean on forums are listed.

Mean person isn't well liked:

If a person isn't well liked, then it's a safe bet that they're going to be pretty frustrated and generally unhappy. Under normal circumstances, they won't be able to vent away from the internet, though they might be liable to snap.

So, what does the internet give this sort of person? It gives them a place to go to and let out their frustrations on people who they don't have contact with, thus meaning they don't get to see the repercussions of their actions or have to deal with them. Somehow, due to the anonymity of the internet, people find it easier to act how they wouldn't elsewhere. At the end of the day, people can also forget that they're hurting a real person's feelings.

Definition of a troll:

A troll is someone who deliberately goes around forums attempting to rile up whoever they can. As to why these people do it, it isn't too clear but they can't have much else to do with their life or live a particularly good one.

Essentially, they get a kick out of spreading false information and in general, not being nice. The easiest forum targets for trolls are writing and computer game forums (writing forums not as much). The reason computer game forums are easy targets is pretty self-explanatory. People who play games tend to take things a bit too seriously when they shouldn't. As for writing forums, writers are pretty self-conscious/defensive about their work, so a troll can get their fun by preying on that. Again, the anonymity of the internet comes into play as to why trolls exist and behave how they do.

The best way to handle the above type of person is to not respond, thus not giving them anything they can use. If nobody responds to them, they'll soon get bored and give it up.

Why people complain, despite the fact that sometimes nothing's wrong (with whatever they're complaining about or it's minimal at best):

People tend to only post on forums when they (like game forums owned by the makers of a particular product) have something negative to say. It leads to an overly biased view of a product. A lot of the time, the person's issues aren't really worth even bothering to type up a forum post. People will for the most part complain about anything or look to find fault wherever they can and the positives of a product gets overlooked.

Learn more about this author, Dan Cartwright.
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