The internet troll map of America: Researchers reveal Vermont is home to the most vitriolic commentors and 3AM is the most popular time to post abuse

  • Disqus analyzed 92 million online comments to learn about the toxic ones
  • Looking at each state, Vermont was the most toxic and New Hampshire the least
  •  It was also found 3AM has the highest rate of hostile comments being posted

A new map has revealed just where in America the most prolific online trolls live - and when they post.

Researchers from Disqus, an online commenting platform, worked with Wired to create the map.

They found Vermont has the most vitriolic commentors in the US while its neighbor New Hampshire has the least. 

Comment sections are known as the worst places on the internet, and now data is pointing out where the most toxic comments come from. Wired and Disqus, an online commenting platform, performed an analysis of a 92 million comments posted over a 16-month period

Comment sections are known as the worst places on the internet, and now data is pointing out where the most toxic comments come from. Wired and Disqus, an online commenting platform, performed an analysis of a 92 million comments posted over a 16-month period

TROLLING TIMES 

The most toxic time of day was also revealed as 3 AM, when 11 percent of comments are mean.

9 PM, however, is the most talkative time, with 10,971 comments being posted at the time each day on average. 

 It was also found that 25 percent of all posters made at least one toxic comment.

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The company analyzed 92 million comments posted over a 16-month period to more than 7,000 platforms that use its service, which includes websites but not social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

In total, this included almost 2 million authors. 

Vermont took the cake for being the most toxic state with 12.2 percent of its comments being considered toxic. 

Other toxic states were Iowa, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas. 

Some of the least toxic states were New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Maine, Montana, and Wyoming.  

AMERICA'S TOXIC STATES

Vermont took the cake for being the most toxic state with 12.2 percent of its comments being considered toxic.

Vermont took the cake for being the most toxic state with 12.2 percent of its comments being considered toxic.

 Alabama -9.6%

Alaska - 5.9%

Arizona - 7%

Arkansas - 6.1%

California - 7.5%

Colorado - 6.4%

Connecticut - 6.9 %

Delaware - 8.8%

Florida - 8.6%

Georgia - 9.5%

Hawaii - 5.7%

Idaho - 5.6%

Illinois - 8.2%

Indiana - 6.5%

Iowa - 10.3%

Kansas - 6%

Kentucky - 5.9%

Louisiana - 8.6%

Maine - 5.5%

Maryland - 7.4%

Massachusetts - 6.8 %

Michigan - 7.7%

Minnesota - 6.6%

Mississippi - 7.5%

Missouri - 7.3% 

 Montana - 5.6%

Nebraska - 6.3%

Nevada - 10.1%

New Hampshire - 4.&%

New Jersey - 8.8%

New Mexico - 7.9%

New York - 8.3 %

North Carolina - 7.1 %

North Dakota - 5.7%

Ohio - 7.2%

Oklahoma - 5.2%

Oregon - 5.8%

Pennsylvania - 7.5%

Rhode Island - 8%

South Carolina - 9.8%

South Dakota - 6.3%

Tennessee - 7.2%

Texas - 8.2%

Utah - 5.9%

Vermont - 12.2 %

Virginia - 8.1%

Washington - 6.8%

West Virginia - 5.4%

Wisconsin 6.6%

Wyoming - 5.3%

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Some cities were outliers for their states and had extremely high or low percentages of toxic comments

In Park Forrest, Illinois, 34 percent of comments were hostile; however, the data notes 99 percent of those cam from just two very aggressive authors. 

Sharsburg, Georgia only scored a .8 percent - a big dip from the high state percentage of 9.5.

Bellflower, California was most unlike its neighbors, being 335 percent more toxic than the rest of the state.

The chattiest city was found to be Beverly, New Jersey, were 114 authors were responsible for 150,151 comments.

With a city population of 2,513, that means each person posted 1,317 comments on average over the 16-month period.

Vermont took the cake for being the most toxic state with 12.2 percent of its comments being considered toxic. Other toxic states were Iowa, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas

Vermont took the cake for being the most toxic state with 12.2 percent of its comments being considered toxic. Other toxic states were Iowa, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas

 For the study, Disqus used the Perspective API, a type of software from Alphabet's Jigsaw division that's been trained to rate comments by real people.

A toxic comment was defined as a 'rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion.'

Comments were scored from 0 to 1, with a score of 0.9 or higher indicating a comment is toxic. 

But context was key, Disqus cofounder Daniel Ha said. 

'There's going to be variances to what people deem as inappropriate based on the topic they're discussing,' he said. 

A given example of a non-toxic comments was, 'grilled cheese ideas are limitless.'

'Yes, the socialist Hitler Far right-wing he was,' was given as an example of a mildly toxic comment. 

And an example of a toxic comment was, ' liberal are devil lovers.'

In addition to breaking down commenting tendencies by state, the study also looked at factors like time of day and the total rate of toxic comments. 

It was also found that 25 percent of all posters made at least one toxic comment.

It was also found that 25 percent of all posters made at least one toxic comment. The most toxic time of day was also revealed as 3 AM, when 11 percent of comments are mean

It was also found that 25 percent of all posters made at least one toxic comment. The most toxic time of day was also revealed as 3 AM, when 11 percent of comments are mean

The most toxic time of day was also revealed as 3 AM, when 11 percent of comments are mean.

9 PM, however, is the most talkative time, with 10,971 comments being posted at the time each day on average. 

Ha said toxic posts have been an issue since day one and that 'it's never really going to go away.' 

Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, believes there are three factors that lead people to be uncharacteristically hostile online. 

First, she points out they are often anonymous - or anonymous enough - and thus become more comfortable being rude.

Additionally, whether they're attacking another person or a news article, they are at a distance from the target.

She also notes it's easier to be mean in writing than in speech and points to the fact that an internet comment can be just that - one comment rather than a discourse.

'When you're having a conversation in person, who actually gets to deliver a monologue except people in the movies?' she told Scientific American.

'Even if you get angry, people are talking back and forth and so eventually you have to calm down and listen so you can have a conversation.'