Hi all, I’ve been here for a while, and still can’t figure out a few things. Guess I’m not a smart as I think I am.
Here’s a few questions that I’m hoping you more experienced Dopers can help me with.
I’ve seen “DNFTT” referred to a lot when dealing with trolls. What does it stand for? I’m assuming something like “Do Not F??? This Thread” or something like that.
I’ve also seen “Check register date and post count.”. What does this tell you? I saw someone with a post count of 54, and a register date of June, 2000. How did this help in determining it was a troll?
What is the “exact” definition of a troll. Is it just someone who steals another’s identity, or someone who gets rude, or both, or a mixture of the two??
Just for curiosity’s sake, where did the term “troll” come from? Is it a term found on most message boards, or is it exclusive to our great SDMB?
Thanks for taking the time to read my questions, and any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
2 : You should watch the post counts because the current imposter is usually picking on the regs. who have very high post counts eg. I have about 300+ posts so if you see a yojimbo with a count of less that this you know it’s a imposter .
Generally, people who engage in trollish behavior do such to get a reaction. By posting anything that reacts to the troll’s behavior- even if you think you’re truly taking the troll to task for his/her infantile behavior- you’re basically feeding the troll’s ego by noticing him/her.
2.) There’s a bug in the current bulletin board software where you can sign up using the same name as someone else; but by including judicious spaces, it looks like you’re the same poster. Some trolls have been using this to ‘pretend’ to be certain other established posters. Of course, the registered date and number of posts for that new troll is much more recent and smaller than for the established poster; thus, check out that column if someone you’ve learned to respect and follow suddenly starts spouting off about Moesha.
3.) A troll is someone who posts aggravating messages solely for the purpose of getting a negative reaction. Someone who jumps into threads solely to disrupt and disturb them.
4.) The term is pretty general; it comes from fishing. To ‘troll’ in fishing is to cast a net and drag it through the waters, catching whatever fish you can. Likewise, a troll on an MB throws out nonsense, nasty, or inflammitory statements in order to see how many people he/she can get to react.
Does that help?
