Trolling?

[someone_else]

So what the hell's "trolling," anyway? I'm new here.

Just asking.

-SE

[Green Bean]

1. Search is your friend.

2. Read the forum descriptions.

That is all.

[peepthis]

Eh, anyone looking to (hopefully) not troll should be filled in. Here's a Mailbag Article on trolling. Not a good thing. This probably does belong in ATMB though.

Welcome aboard, someone_else!

[Hamish]

Originally posted by someone_else
So what the hell's "trolling," anyway? I'm new here.

Just asking.

-SE

Heya,

Trolling is basically being deliberately and pointlessly antagonistic, usually under false pretenses, to get a rise out of people. For instance, our own SavedbyJesus isn't even a Christian, he was just pretending to be one so he could offend everyone.

[SPOOFE]

Some people have an innate desire to piss people off while being insulated from "real" consequences. They feel that they have a good deal of protection by posting anonymously. I don't know why someone would want this - perhaps they were picked on as a child and have just developed a "bully" personality, or perhaps they have an inferiority complex (I'm not about to try to psychoanalyze a troll). All I know is that it's not rational behavior (as it simply stirs up ire, rather than participating in reasoned banter, discussion, and/or debate).

Whatever may spur a person down the path of trollhood, it has certainly seemed to be the lifestyle of the lazy... very few trolls are imaginative. Indeed, the most common ways of trolling have consisted of making posts that are well-known to attract angered responses (like making an OP called "Kill all fags" or "Nazi supermen are our superiors"), and then attempting to dump abuse on those who respond in kind. Fortunately, since trolls seem to be naturally uncreative, such "abuse" is usually limited to "yo' momma", "I get laid more often than you do", or "your website sux!"

Trolls are not to be feared... they are to be pitied. Such wastes of a human life only make me grieve for our species. Lament, lament!

[JustPlainBryan]

For instance, if I posted in the BBQ pit:

I hate trolls! I think they suck. Trolls can eat shit and die! What do you think about that??? Huh?? Huh????

then, since I am not a troll, I would in fact be a troll.


_{wait, if I am constantly self referential and contradictory, do I get bumped to a higher universe? Oh my God, its happening.......}

[SPOOFE]

Wow, it's like tying a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat...