The Tale of the Dating Trolls

Blighting the online dating sphere

Depressing as it is, trolling is so widespread and common that it barely needs any introduction. What had started as an innocent way of pranking other singles, this particular behavior quickly devolved into a nihilist, cruel and sadist way of thinking. Trolls are hell-bent on ruining other people’s fun for the sole purpose of spreading chaos. Trolling on dating sites has several levels of harshness. Mild actions are simply poking fun at the system. Examples of which include registering as an African American on an Asian dating site, writing vulgar or sexist answers in the ‘About Me’ section, uploading inappropriate photos and so on. Such attempts are swiftly deleted by the admin team. They can be insulting for those who take dating seriously, but are otherwise harmless and easy to spot. The same cannot be said about malicious trolling, where they aim to mislead and hurt their partner. From cyberbullying, shock comments and catfishing to downright humiliating other singles, these unscrupulous individuals are willing to go great lengths just to emotionally damage someone else.

Why so mean?

This phenomenon of online trolling is often a target of analysis for sociologists and psychologists. They found out that people indulging in such acts show signs of several darker personality traits, nonclinical psychopathy and dysfunctional impulsivity. Trolling on dating sites can be the result of having a vengeful behavior, taking out your frustration on innocent people just because they had been previously rejected. It’s also true that online daters are believed to be desperate and therefore easy targets. Interestingly, polls show that while men are more likely to be trolling on social media sites and in games, both genders are equal in number among dating site trolls. Why do women participate in this mean game in higher numbers? We don’t know for sure, perhaps because online dating is a platform that is more welcoming to women than gaming.