# Accusations of trolling **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814 "2002-12-01T20:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/1 "2002-12-01T20:05:22Z")
I have noticed a rash of accusations of trolling in this forum lately. My comments in the threads in question don’t seem to be doing the trick, so I’m saying it here: Cut it out. If you want to take someone to the BBQ Pit, then you can do that. What we really prefer is that you e-mail your concerns to us. The “Report this post to a moderator” function works particularly well for that. If you don’t know what a troll is, please read [What is a troll?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html) I’ll say it one more time: **Accusations of trolling do not belong in the General Questions forum.** ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/2 "2002-12-02T05:10:20Z")
So calling people **bibliophage** is still cool? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/3 "2002-12-04T16:32:18Z")
**Derleth** - “_So calling people **bibliophage** is still cool?_” I don’t get this at all. Is it yet another inside joke? Somebody tell me just what this is supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/4 "2002-12-05T06:29:20Z")
It’s one of my stupid little jokes. It’s `inside’ only insofar as it’s funny inside my head. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/5 "2002-12-08T05:36:58Z")
I think Derleth is Bibliophaging here… ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/6 "2002-12-08T09:18:13Z")
A sticky, eh? Well somebody’s looking for attention with this thread… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/7 "2002-12-08T12:16:38Z")
**Ender** : Yea, you never can trust a mod. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/8 "2002-12-09T23:53:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*So calling people **bibliophage** is still cool? > \*\* Of course. But calling someone a “ **Derleth** ” is a bannable offense, even in the Pit. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/9 "2002-12-10T02:23:00Z")
Colibri, don’t be such a Derleth. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/10 "2002-12-10T19:09:27Z")
I think I’ve seen some orcs around here, and even some goblins. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/11 "2002-12-11T18:03:01Z")
Ok, I’m not a troll, so I don’t really know why the other thread got locked. Is this not a discussion board? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/12 "2002-12-11T18:17:12Z")
**Andygrrl** , I can’t speak for the moderators but if you read **MEBuckner** ’s post in that thread you’ll see why he closed it. I’m sure no offense was intended but this board is a bit of a stickler for posting threads in the appropriate forum. Your thread was a “getting to know you” type thread that more belongs in the MPSIMS forum. The “General Questions” forum is more for threads looking for specific (hopefully factual) answers. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/13 "2002-12-11T18:28:01Z")
**Andygrrl** , for obvious reasons you can only have one poster with a given name – as you of course discovered when you found **Andygirl** already used here, and used the **-grrl** variant for yourself. **Andygirl** is a very well loved young woman here who attends Dartmouth, does extensive and important volunteer work, and is a real sweetheart to a lot of people in this online community. Why you may have thought she was a boy is that she is lesbian, and has a girlfriend. As **MEB** and **Carnal** pointed out, with a very active board and a lot of posters, there is a strong tendency on the part of the moderators to insist that a thread go into the “proper” forum. MPSIMS is specifically set up for casual sharing of life stories, including the “I’m new – who is this person who uses my standard online name?” sort of thread you opened. GQ is focused on factual questions with definite answers, such as “What evidence is there that the chupacabra is extinct?” 🙂 Great Debates is for arguing about the Big Questions that people tend never to agree about the answers to: “Why are we here? What would have happened if God were female? Who _really_ won the 2000 Presidential election?” IMHO is a bit harder to describe, but it’s for opinion polls and debates about Not-So-Big Questions. ATMB is specifically devoted to questions and discussions about the board itself, as an entity. The two comments forums relate to the weekly Straight Dope column and the Staff Reports that supplement them. And the BBQ Pit is the place for getting rants, whether about another poster or about life in general, off your chest – it’s the **only** place where one may directly criticize another poster or the board as a whole, as opposed to disagreeing with what he/she has to say. It’s really a pretty free and open place, where you can be yourself and express your own point of view – although you need to be able to back up what you say with logical reasons in many cases. The rules are pretty few, and are covered in the membership agreement – many of them are there for “worst case” scenarios (which _have_ happened). ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/14 "2002-12-11T18:55:40Z")
Gotcha. I’m always interesting in new messageboards. I’ll try to stay in the right forum. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/15 "2002-12-15T10:18:08Z")
My favorite poster type/insult is an “albatross.” Like a troll that starts a thread, only they don’t stick around to respond to anything: just they just plop and go. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/16 "2002-12-16T18:13:21Z")
You are right **Apos** and there is a whole flock of “albatross” around these parts. Merriam-Webster gives this definition of “albatross”: 2 a : something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety. As to the birds they are known as **“looney birds”** because of their clumsiness on or near the ground. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Devil_s_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/17 "2002-12-16T19:27:45Z")
OK, someone explain this to me… Why is it that I see the user name “ **Indygrrl** ” but people are responding with the name “ **Andygrrl** ”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/18 "2002-12-16T19:32:46Z")
**Andygrrl** asked to have her username changed, because it was too similar to **andygirl** , another poster. When your username is changed, it changes in the headers of all your posts, but any references to the old name in the body of posts stay as is. ---
**Author:** ![Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Devil_s_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/19 "2002-12-17T22:26:22Z")
OK, thanks. That’s a bit confusing to the uninitiated. ---
**Author:** ![cw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@cw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cw)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814/20 "2003-01-18T13:42:07Z")
Screw the trolls, look out for that dragon!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accusations-of-trolling/139814.md?page=2)