In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore it,because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts – hence the often-seen warning: "Please do not feed the trolls".