Trolling as a Digital Literary Practice in the Russian Language Internet

Abstract

This article explores trolling as a form of literary activity. It presents a number of specific types of trolling on the Russian-language Internet in connection with digital literature and the literary practices of various groups of Internet users. Techniques for writing provocative “troll-texts” were created and developed within subcultural groups in the 1990s. Later, from being a subversive practice known only to a few insiders, it became a mass technique described in meta-texts that identified rules for trolling and shared facts about its culture with all interested users. In the 2010s, the now popularised techniques of trolling came to be seen as effective strategies to deploy in online debates. At the same time, trolling began to be exploited as a weapon in online political campaigns. This study also shows that trolling texts are often structured around the fight for voice, and it is this conflict that dictates the formal properties of the discourse of trolling.