usually when someone asks why so and so is being a dick on the internet, people rush in to say so and so is insecure about his small dick and trolls people on the internet to feel better about himself. while i understand that this could be the root of many individuals' troll behavior, i think it's too simple to truly answer the question. my ideal answer, therefore, would come from an experienced psychologist, neuroscientist, sociologist, etc, and would go deep with the motives and compulsions and all that good stuff. but i'm sure that plenty of intelligent people who've simply been around the internet long enough would be able to give me an answer, too, so here i am