The Information Society, 18:371– 384, 2002 Copyright c ° 2002 Taylor & Francis 0197-2243/02 $12.00 + .00 DOI: 10.1080/0197224029010818 6 Searching for Safety Online: Managing “Trolling” in a Feminist Forum Susan Herring School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA Kirk Job-Sluder School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA Rebecca Scheckler Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA Sasha Barab School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA A common phenomenon in online discussion groups is the indi- vidual who baits and provokes other group members, often with the result of drawing them into fruitless argument and diverting atten- tion from the stated purposes of the group. This study documents a case in which the members of an online community—a feminist web-based discussion forum—are targeted by a “troll” attempting to disrupt their discussion space. We analyze the strategies that make the troller successful and the targeted group largely ineffec- tual in responding to his attack, as a means to understand how such behavior might be minimized and managed in general. The analysis further suggests that feminist and other nonmainstream online forums are especially vulnerable, in that they must balance inclusive ideals against the need for protection and safety, a tension that can be exploited by disruptive elements to generate intragroup conict. Keywords CMC, conict management, deception, disruptive behav- ior, feminism, trolling Received 21 November 2001; accepted 1 April 2002. We received feedback on this article from multiple sources. We are especially grateful to Blaise Cronin, Mary Gray, Geert Lovink, John Paolillo, Barry Wellman, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. Address correspondence to Prof. Susan Herring, SLIS, Indiana Uni- versity, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. E-mail: herring@indiana.edu Online discussion forums allow for convenient and on- going communication among groups of people separated in place and time. In the best of cases, such forums can evolve into communities whose members share informa- tion, experience a sense of belonging, and provide mu- tual support (Preece, 2000; Rheingold, 1993). Moreover, the relative anonymity of the Internet can make people feel safe talking about issues that might be considered sensitive, inappropriate or dangerous in face-to-face pub- lic conversation (Donath, 1999; cf. Kiesler et al., 1984). These properties make online forums especially attractive to individuals seeking support for suffering from disease or abuse, and to members of minority social and political groups such as homosexuals, racial minorities, and femi- nists. Such groups can be considered vulnerable popula- tions, in that they tend to be stigmatized and discriminate d against by mainstream society. 1 At the same time, online discussion forums provide a new arena for the enactment of power inequities such as those motivated by sexism, racism, and heterosexism . The relative anonymity of the Internet releases some of the inhi- bitions of a civil society, resulting in aming, harassment, and hate speech online (Ess, 1996). Despite the illusion they can give of security and privacy (King, 1996), on- line forums can be accessed by individuals hostile to the purpose of the forums, actively seeking to disrupt and un- dermine them. Moreover, the asynchronous, distribute d 371