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On Trolls.......

Doghouse Reilly said:
What's particularly annoying is when people think its derived from "troll" as in "the troll sat under the bridge" as opposed to "trolling" as in "that thing fishermen do."
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The metaphor is mixed, but it's worth it for the imagery.
 
Doghouse Reilly said:
What's particularly annoying is when people think its derived from "troll" as in "the troll sat under the bridge" as opposed to "trolling" as in "that thing fishermen do."
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Well, I think of it as a troll, out trolling. So there.
 
Trolls in D+D are creatures that regenerate very fast. If you "kill" one, but don't burn it, it will heal and resurrect. The idea is that internet trolls are like this; they keep coming back.

That was my understanding, anyway.
 
Almo said:
Trolls in D+D are creatures that regenerate very fast. If you "kill" one, but don't burn it, it will heal and resurrect. The idea is that internet trolls are like this; they keep coming back.

That was my understanding, anyway.
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No, it's because they live under bridges.
 
dudalb said:
I can say that in one sentence:Internet Trolls get their kicks by upsetting people and watching their reactions.
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If I was going to be a troll, and have multiple accounts to comment on articles in the local newspaper (for example), that would be the reason I would do it.
 
"trolling" is growing across the internet and other forms of social media.

Thanks Obama.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
And routers, gateways, servers, firewalls, subnets and etc. It's one of the reasons for shutting the Internet for a day every year in April to give a good sweeping out. :p
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This explains why the Internet never gets cleaned these days : April never comes because September hasn't ended for many a year now.
 
Almo said:
I'm not finding any good data on how this became the term. :(
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troll

verb; gerund or present participle: trolling

1. informal

make a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.
"if people are obviously trolling then I'll delete your posts and do my best to ban you"


2. fish by trailing a baited line along behind a boat.

The troll dangles his bait (posting) on the internet to see who'll respond. That's all he's looking for, a response.
 
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=troll

If this dictionary of etymology is to be believed, the two senses of troll (verb and noun) are from different languages.

So the above post is perhaps witty but misleading.

Or to put it negatively, a troll is not one who trawls. -- eta: at least in terms of the history of meanings.

eta2: I see that Mr. Doghouse Reilly, whose name I can't look up at the moment due to connection problems, made the same point a long time ago, post #20.
 
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If someone wrote a message here that they were seriously thinking about doing away with themselves, would some posters -- as in the linked article -- egg them on? If they could do it without being yellow-carded or worse?

I would say yes, absolutely and I bet I could name some of the most likely candidates. But I won't because...that would be attacking them personally.

So let me ask this. A crowd has gathered (at night) to watch someone who is threatening to jump from a building ledge. Is it always wrong to jeer and urge them, "Jump!" Can anyone defend that behavior? :rolleyes:
 
casebro said:
I always figured there would be a doctoral thesis in studying a person's internet posting to find out who the inner soul is. Not 'trolls', but a particular person.

But I do think "troll" is overused. It's just a derogatory word meaning ;somebody I don't agree with".

Go ahead, claim I'm just a troll, for sharing a thought.
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Using your own definition you are correct. :)
 
newyorkguy said:
If someone wrote a message here that they were seriously thinking about doing away with themselves, would some posters -- as in the linked article -- egg them on? If they could do it without being yellow-carded or worse?

I would say yes, absolutely and I bet I could name some of the most likely candidates. But I won't because...that would be attacking them personally.

So let me ask this. A crowd has gathered (at night) to watch someone who is threatening to jump from a building ledge. Is it always wrong to jeer and urge them, "Jump!" Can anyone defend that behavior? :rolleyes:
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What the ledge catches fire? Wouldn't jumping be the safest option?
 
The fact that trolling is used as a verb should make it clear that its origins are from the fishing definition.
 
Depends if it originated in the US. Non-US spelling for that is "trawling".
 
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