# Trolls **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 12, 2000, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763 "2000-02-12T06:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lexicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lexicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lexicon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/1 "2000-02-12T06:47:00Z")
## Okay, curse me, flame me, tell me off and call me stupid and ignorant, both you on this board who hate me can make fun of me, But… What the hell is a troll? I’m just dying to know. I think I suspect the answer, but what the hell? how did it start? well i don’t know i just feel the craving. i see the flesh and it smells fresh and it’s just there for the taking… VvvV ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Normal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@Abner\_Normal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Normal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/2 "2000-02-12T07:04:00Z")
As far as I know, elsewhere on the net they are called flamers. Methinks trolls are trying to get your dander up. Seems to work here an awful lot. One word I learned from my years on the net… Ignore. * * * “Tell me and I’ll forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I’ll understand.” - Old Chinese Proverb ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/3 "2000-02-12T08:46:00Z")
A troll is a mythical creature that lives under bridges and eats billygoats. Oh wait, not _that_ kind of troll. On the net, a troll is someone who posts in an obvious (or not so obvious) attempt to disrupt the purpose of the board, usually through an attention getting device. It is an ego thing. Trolls do things like cross-post leading comments between opposing newsgroups. Such as a topic on abortion cross-posted between a christian fundamentalist group and an abortion rights group. Or they post inflammatory material in an effort to make the conversation focus on them rather than useful dialogue. This is not quite the same thing as a flamer. A flamer is someone who is always (or usually) nasty. They don’t have to be synonyms, but often are. Better? If I screwed that up, someone will come correct me. -Irishman Not a troll, just play one on TV. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/4 "2000-02-12T16:06:00Z")
In fishing, “troll” means to slowly draw a hook back-and-forth, trying to get your prey to rise to the bait. The cyberworld equivalent is to post a statement with the purpose of seeing how people respond to it, rather than making any sort of serious attempt at intellectual discussion. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2000, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/5 "2000-02-12T16:10:00Z")
## lexi just in case you were wondering… They are called trolls from the fishing technique of trolling, baiting a hook and pulling it through the water behind a boat to see if anything bites. In this case the bait is apost that is particularly contraversal, the anti position posted in a pro board for example. Or something intentional obtuse, perverted, ignorant, just any thing designed to get a bite, reply, from an unsuspecting victim. Now if someone could tell me the term for a person who just has to get in on every thread… “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.” -Marx ---
**Author:** ![Minxsmom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Minxsmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minxsmom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2000, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/6 "2000-02-13T06:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by mr john: > \*\*Now if someone could tell me the term for a person who just has to get in on every thread… > > \*\* I believe the term is “annoying”. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2000, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/7 "2000-02-13T01:15:00Z")
Hey, Mr. John, where you been? LTNS!! (Musta been some strange interlude.) 🙂 Nice to see you again. I can’t talk about this topic too much or I’ll start to froth at the mouth and they’ll come give me the good drugs until I calm down. On second thought, what’s the downside in that? Okay, trolls are the folks that come to boards just to be annoying and nuisances and make you want to commence to slapping them into the middle of next week and then you jump into the mosh pit of stupidity along with them and then they post more stupid stuff to your board and then you get so mad you want to ki–arhghfhoirjsofoiejrofklsdmfs ---
**Author:** ![Troll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Troll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troll)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/8 "2000-02-14T01:05:00Z")
OOOAAAHHHWWW * * * Oi! Oi! Oi! Come here you little Billy Goats Gruff, get in my BELLY right now! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls/763/9 "2000-02-14T15:52:00Z")
May I translate this > [@](#): > > then you get so mad you want to ki–arhghfhoirjsofoiejrofklsdmfs for you Tuba? Okay. “Then you get so mad you want to pull out their intestines, set them on fire and strangle the worthless schmuck with them.”