# Calling posters "Trolls"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [February 15, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128 "2000-02-15T06:08:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/1 "2000-02-15T06:08:00Z")
I think we can safely use this “troll” term sparingly in the “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” forum. I don’t have a dictionary here that defines it as we computer-types use it, but to me a “troll” on a message board is someone who purposely posts jibberish or offensive offal with the express purpose of getting your goat, pissing you off, or generally in some other way inappropriately manipulating others to react.
New posters who don’t read the rules, use poor grammar or spelling, post without providing links to the column, bring up topics that have already been discussed, etc. usually do not fall into the “troll” category, in my opinion. At least in this forum they haven’t.
Yeah, all those things can piss us off, but they are usually not intentional. I think this difference is important. I’m wondering if we can in the future refrain from public name-calling and gently lead these people onto the enlightened path? Maybe even using email to do this would be best.
Jill
(I can be pretty damn bad at following directions, too.)
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### Author:  [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/2 "2000-02-15T14:41:00Z")
## [Mea culpa](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000480.html)
rocks
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/3 "2000-02-15T15:29:00Z")
Has someone here used the word “troll” to describe naive posts? I’ve only seen it used to describe someone posting with the intent of getting strong reactions. Using for the unwitting mistakes of newbies is the kind of grammatical sloppiness that shouldn’t fly here.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/4 "2000-02-15T20:35:00Z")
Yes, it’s happened. I’m to lazy to look up examples, but people have been a little eager to jump on newbies.
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### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/5 "2000-02-15T23:40:00Z")
[[Yes, it’s happened. I’m to lazy to look up examples, but people have been a little eager to jump on newbies.]]
Don’t you mean _too_ lazy? Jesus, what a troll.
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### Author:  [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/6 "2000-02-16T15:47:00Z")
I think I may be guilty of this as well: [Chastising the Newbie? You Decide!](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000482.html)
In my defense, what I tried to say was that I did _not_ want to consider the OP the t-word, but that the tone struck me as churlish and uninformed. I attempted to bring that new seeker closer to The Light That Is Cecil in my own humble way, but perhaps that wasn’t the way it came off.
* * *
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/7 "2000-02-16T20:40:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by JillGat:
> \*\*[[Yes, it’s happened. I’m to lazy to look up examples, but people have been a little eager to jump on newbies.]]
>
> Don’t you mean _too_ lazy? Jesus, what a troll.\*\*
I’m to lazy to put the extra “o” in “too”, to. 😉 (Typos attack!)
(Is there a smiley with a hand waving from the nose?)
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### Author:  [@SSittser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSittser)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/8 "2000-02-17T06:37:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t have a dictionary here that defines it as we computer-types use it, but to me a “troll” on a message board is someone who purposely posts jibberish or offensive offal with the express purpose of getting your goat, pissing you off, or generally in some other way inappropriately manipulating others to react.
A good definition and etymology are available in “The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000”, found at [http://pebbles.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html](http://pebbles.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html) . Sense 2 is substantially similar to Jill’s.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/9 "2000-02-17T20:09:00Z")
What I _think_ happens is some newbie posts a poor post, and a reg decides that newbies aren’t that stupid, and it’s somebody doing it on purpose, and thus a troll.
I think some of the regs are a little too fast to assign that label to some people.
Let’s all strive to be more forgiving, and less rash.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/10 "2000-02-18T02:16:00Z")
Yes, and when they krrterrogarrx your pniflglab, that reallly hurts 2!!
(Is that a troll?)
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### Author:  [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/11 "2000-02-18T02:38:00Z")
Sorry, **foolsguinea** , a troll would be more like:
“I tHiNk U aL SuCk CuZ MArElYn VoS SaVaNt iZ MuCh SmArTeR TaN YuR CeCiL AdDaMs. I tHnK U WaNt AlL 2 B LiKe HeR”
The following are annoying, but not troll-specific:[ul][li]Poor grammar.[/li][li]Atrocious spelling.[/li][li]That darned alternating caps thing.[/li][li]Chat-room Shorthand (‘u’ for ‘you’; 2 for ‘to’; ‘b’ for ‘be’)[/ul][/li]
The following are troll specific:[ul][li]Makes an insulting/obviously false claim (in this case, both).[/li][li]Is posted in the wrong area, either disrupting a thread or a forum. (Insults to Cecil should go in The Pit.)[/ul][/li]
Following this are two questions:
1.) Does the poster stick around to continue discussion of his/her original statement? If so, it’s possible it’s just a rude, illiterate poster in need of education. If not, then we’ve been trolled.
2.) Does the poster place other questions or ill-fitting statements to other threads/forums? If so, again, it makes it more likely that it’s a troll.
That’s the general, rational consensus definition I try to use. But because it can be a gray area, it’s best not to shout “Troll!” until one is sure.
Sorry about the hijack, Jill.
* * *
JMCJ
Winner of the _Mr. & Mrs. Polycarp Award for Literalizing Cliches_ for knowing an actual atheist in a foxhole.
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### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/12 "2000-02-18T04:12:00Z")
[[Sorry about the hijack, Jill.]]
Not a hijack at all. Right on topic. Thanks.
Jill
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### Author:  [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/13 "2000-02-18T11:32:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by John Corrado:
> **Sorry, foolsguinea, a troll would be more like:**
>
> \
## OK. I take back my _mea culpa_, and change it to [I told you so](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000480.html).
rocks
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### Author:  [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/14 "2000-02-18T11:40:00Z")
To add to John Corrado’s list of indicative grammatical traits, what about starting sentences with “And”?
Or is it just that it is an irritating construction, so just one more straw when reading something that has already irked you?
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/15 "2000-02-18T14:20:00Z")
\<\< To add to John Corrado’s list of indicative grammatical traits, what about starting sentences with “And”? \>\>
That’s Biblical. And not necessarily trollistic.
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### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/16 "2000-02-18T15:56:00Z")
And it is often my favorite way to start a sentence.
But there probably is something wrong with it, I used to teach English and just can’t reacall.
However, I’m glad it is a biblical trait.
Thanks.
Jois
* * *
Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&\* codes 'til I get 'em right.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2000, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/17 "2000-02-19T12:10:00Z")
Strictly within the bounds of this discussion I have a specific question. The answer to which could prove enlightening to me.
Can you “troll” in the Pit ?
Isn’t the Pit, by its very nature, supposed to be a place of inflammatory statements, and other posts put there for the specific purpose of “getting someones goat” ?
Thanks in advance for the input.
* * *
“A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject.” - Seneca
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### Author:  [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/18 "2000-02-19T22:42:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by SSittser:
> \*\* A good definition and etymology are available in “The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000”, found at [http://pebbles.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html](http://pebbles.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html) . Sense 2 is substantially similar to Jill’s.\*\*
I went to that page. It’s quite possibly the longest page I’ve ever scrolled down. WHEW!
It’s not necessarily a phenomenon new to the SDMB. **DrFidelius** thought I was a troll when I first posted in the [“Kansas vote on Evolution”](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000219-6.html) thread in Great Debates and trolled me right back and fooled me for a long time before I finally caught on. (I kept asking about inconsistencies in the first chapter of _Genesis_ and he responded as if he were a Christian old-Earth Creationist. Now that I look back on it, it’s pretty funny.)
BTW, I’m STILL asking creationists those questions. Check out [“Light before the Sun”](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001205.html) in Great Debates. And they STILL won’t admit _Genesis_ is flawed. Oh, well, some say hopeless causes are the only ones worth fighting for.
(Go on, **CK** , tell me again that _Genesis_ is poetry. I think even poetry should have some logic to it.)
* * *
\>\< DARWIN \>
\_\_ **L\_\_\_L**
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### Author:  [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/19 "2000-02-20T01:01:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Gabriel:
> \*\*Strictly within the bounds of this discussion I have a specific question. The answer to which could prove enlightening to me.
>
> Can you “troll” in the Pit ?
> Isn’t the Pit, by its very nature, supposed to be a place of inflammatory statements, and other posts put there for the specific purpose of “getting someones goat” ?
>
> Thanks in advance for the input.\*\*
The Pit is intended for disagreements that get too heated for rational discussion; those involved can take the disagreement to the Pit without continuing to disrupt the thread it started in.
Posters also use to discuss issues (both on and off the board) that upset them–issues that they feel are likely to end up in the Pit so they may as well start them there.
* * *
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.
_Thunder’s just a noise, boys; lightning does the work._ --C. Brock
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### Author:  [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-posters-trolls/1128/20 "2000-02-28T06:44:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by AKAmame:
> \*\*To add to John Corrado’s list of indicative grammatical traits, what about starting sentences with “And”?
>
> Or is it just that it is an irritating construction, so just one more straw when reading something that has already irked you?\*\*
If you’re going to consider conjunctions to be improper sentence starters, wouldn’t starting a sentence with “or” be just as much a no-no?
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