# Channelling a troll?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 25, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605 "2001-09-25T01:23:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/1 "2001-09-25T01:23:46Z")

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[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=89152) **manhattan** uses the phrase “Channelling a troll”.

> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by manhattan_
> 
> waterj2 was kidding – he was channeling an old troll.
> 
> waterj2, please don’t channel old trolls in GQ. A) The board’s a lot bigger now, and lots of people will not know what you’re talking about without a lot of off-topic explanation and B) man, was he ever annoying! We banned him for a reason.

I’ve never seen this phrase before. Does it mean emulating a troll, fishing for socks, or perhaps summoning the troll through arcane rituals only known by freemasons? 😃

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/2 "2001-09-25T01:27:42Z")

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I’m afraid you’ll need to ask Manny.

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/3 "2001-09-25T01:28:47Z")

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Maybe **manhattan** meant “trolling a channel” as in …To fish for by trailing a baited line from behind a slowly moving boat.

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**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/4 "2001-09-25T01:57:55Z")

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I believe **manhattan** meant, by this expression, that **water2j** was allowing an old, annoying, frequently banned poster to speak through **water2j**. Like a medium would do at a seance, or Miss Cleo would do at an Irish/Jamaican fund-raising rally.

The poster being “channelled” was **JohnJohn** , also known as **fatherjohn**. (Did I miss any usernames?) He was poorly-behaved. You can see him in all his legendary spit and fury [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60487).

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**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/5 "2001-09-25T02:11:39Z")

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Yes, channelling as in (pretending to) providing a voice for a deceased soul to speak through. I did it as a joke (a thread called “Hillary’s Ugly Face” just _screamed_ **John John** to me), rather than to separate fools from their money, as is usually done.

> [@](#):
>
> (Did I miss any usernames?)

Yes. At the very least, **Cyberian54** and **Sancycane** , from what I understand. Note that the **Cyberian54** registered here is not him, it was just a name entered as a joke when they were getting the SDMB up and running here, before going public. That name was banned way back in AOL days.

Now off, apparently, to go apologize to manny.

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**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/channelling-a-troll/83605/6 "2001-09-25T04:11:37Z")

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I remember JohnJohn. Not from here, though. He had lots of names (AOL not being so quick to recognize pulled accounts.) His trademark was to start incredibly stupid arguments with pretty much anybody. Tell me, did he ever bring up god-hating married lesbians?