Which term is used to describe the online behavior of provoking others through inflammatory posts?

• A. Trolling
• B. Flaming
• C. Phishing
• D. Doxxing

Answer: (A)

Provoking others online by posting inflammatory content is trolling. The core idea is deliberate mischief aimed at eliciting reactions and disrupting discussion across conversations or forums. Trolling seeks to bait people, often under the guise of anonymity or a provocative persona, to provoke a broad target audience rather than engage in a single heated exchange.

Flaming, by contrast, is a direct, intense, and hostile exchange in a thread, where one person attacks another with insults. It’s about the heated argument itself, not the broader pattern of provocation used to trigger responses.

Phishing involves tricking someone into divulging sensitive information, such as passwords, while doxxing means publishing private or identifying information about someone. Neither of these describes the behavior of intentionally provoking others through inflammatory posts in the way trolling does.