Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Nope, I'm not. Been online before the net was public. Before there were forums. When what we had were BBS systems and dial-up modems. Been there when troll was used for a completely different meaning. So really, the definition of troll regarding forums is way off-base.
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The definition of troll on usenet (and later on web forums) has been set since at least 1994:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.f...22+defintition
Quote:
There's a big difference between trolling and flame-baiting, the act of
posting an obnoxiously offensive *opinion* that you have no intention of
defending.
"Majel Barrett was only on 'Star Trek' because she was married to William
Shatner" is a troll. "You should switch the door you choose when Monty Hall
opens a door and shows you a goat because that way the odds are two in three"
is a troll. "Star Trek fans are incestuous spawn who excessively fantasize
about Gates McFadden" is flame-bait, unless one is prepared to back up that
statement with reasoned argument.
A good troll gives warning that it's a troll, if through nothing but the
blatant obviousness of the error (Anyone who knows who Majel Barrett is
knows that she was married to the late DeForest Kelley, not William Shatner)
or through the newsgroups it's posted to.
Trolling isn't aimed at newbies. It's aimed at self-important people
who feel the need to play net.cop and net.expert and jump down the
throats of every post that they disagree with, immediately hitting
"F" before stopping to think, or even read, the post. It's a lot like
those tests your sixth-grade teacher gave you where she warned you to
read all of the instructions. No doubt future trollees were yodeling and
doing twenty jumping jacks and drawing purple triangles while everyone
else was calmly sitting in their seats having read the last instruction
to ignore the first nineteen instructions, write their name on the paper
and turn it in. Trolling is aimed at those who still haven't mastered
that concept.
When such a person immediately punches "F" without reading the whole
post and is hooked by a troll, he's been hoisted by his own picard.
Paraphrasing r...@netcom.com, the Zen of Trolling is more accurately
described as:
"Tapping someone lightly on their forehead with your right hand,
and telling them their left shoe would taste real good right now."
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It isn't always quite so nuanced these days, but essentially the definition is the same. A troll is someone who posts with the intention of inspiring lots of responses but with no intention of actually entering into a discussion, often by posting something they know is incorrect or that doesn't represent their actual opinions.