Yeah, much like the person who seems like a dumb adult might just be an inexperienced kid, the jerk might also just be a child who hasn't learned how to get attention other than by being awful. I got bored with _intentionally_ being an asshole on the internet by the time I was 13, but that was after a few years of it.

In a time where you installed Slackware on a floppy to dial up via AOL I'd say the chance that 2 9 year olds meet online on IRC is negligible.

And I'm saying that as someone who barely missed the 90s on IRC as a teenager. (Although I went online with Linux in 98)