How can a person be one way in real life and be a completely other way behind a computer? Isnt that like being bi polar?

Internet anonymity lifts a lot of the social barriers we hide behind in public. I don't know if the online persona is completely different to the face to face one but there are changes. We always present ourselves to different people as the person we want them to think we are. Online your anonymity prevents you from being anything to anyone that you don't decide to show them. You're just a username and an avatar. Socially that's very liberating, which is why the first internet residents in the 90s were nearly all introverts! The extroverts didn't show an interest until self-promoting social media showed up!

The internet is a dehumaniser, but an ambiguous one, which can be used both positively and negatively. Postive aspects of anonymity allow people to seek help without fear of repercussion, to engage in fantasies or confess to things which they dare not do anywhere else. They can counsel and be counselled. It allows us to air views without opening up to personal ridicule and reputational damage. With that in mind it's no wonder all the closet racists let rip when they get on a comments thread and speak all the things that would get them fired if their co-workers ever found out!

When we troll or flame someone online we don't see their reactions, read their body language or feel the shift in their temperaments. We also don't fear an immediate response such as being shouted at, ganged up on by others or getting punched in the face!

Normal face to face interaction carries a lot of this silent communication and our language just doesn't encode for it, hence the use of emotions and other indicators of mood. It still can't put the human element back in entirely.

Sadly some people are just unpleasant. There's no rule stating anyone has to be reasonable or courteous, only that they obey the law. Some will always put themselves ahead of others and some will have all the empathy of a lamp post. As in real life, the best thing to do with such people is to ignore them. Giving them attention of any kind just gives them the personal acknowledgement they so desperately crave.

I think you're right that there is a bipolar like nature in the way "some" people online choose to communicate and I speak from experience as I'm a severe bipolar sufferer myself. Bipolar moodswings result in outbursts and actions that are driven by overwhelming emotional impulses that the sufferer cannot control. The big differences is that mood disorder sufferers get to reflect on their actions, feel guilt for their wrongdoing and try to take responsibility for the consequences. Persistent online trolls do none of this. They are pathologically closer to sociopathy than bipolar disorder. The indifference to the emotions of others, and the prevalence of self interest are the main characteristics.

Not necessarily. Most people just feel more confident and comfortable when they are distanced from the person to whom they are speaking to. They 'hide' behind their screen in a way.

I think that its more the true self in front of the computer, at least the self we want to be. Clearly, many people would never behave in real life the way do here.

Its a lot harder to say whatever you want when you're looking at somebody face to face. There's enough distance from things on the computer that people feel like they can get away with it.

No, that's like being a schizo.