# Weird Al and Trolls **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462 "2000-10-26T18:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/1 "2000-10-26T18:28:02Z")
In Weird Al’s song “All About the Pentiums”, he says… “I never feed trolls and I don’t read spam…” What does the troll thing mean? ---
**Author:** ![Mughi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mughi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mughi)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/2 "2000-10-26T18:32:23Z")
“Trolling” is the act of posting a blatantly inflammatory thread to a message board. It gets its name from the fishing technique known as trolling, which involves haning a baited line from your boat and cruising around slowly until something bites. You have nodoubt seen this technique in action on this very board. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/3 "2000-10-26T18:34:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by c\_goat \* > \*\*In Weird Al’s song “All About the Pentiums”, he says… > > “I never feed trolls and I don’t read spam…” > > What does the troll thing mean? \*\* Well, someone has to field this question seriously, so it may as well be me. In computer lingo, a **troll** is a person who posts inflammatory or insulting messages purely for the sake of evoking an angry reaction. This could mean personally insulting other posters, saying outrageous, false or offensive things, or engaging in flame wars for their own sake. To **feed** a troll is to respond to their messages in detail, thereby encouraging them to keep it up. It’s generally agreed that ignoring trolls is the best way to make them go away, so an experienced user would “never feed trolls,” hence the line. ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/4 "2000-10-26T18:34:49Z")
Ahhhh… it all makes sense now… thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/5 "2000-10-26T18:37:11Z")
You _are_ new here! The word “troll” originated among NewsGroups and Message Boards for posters who would drop something argumentatitve (and usually stupid) into a thread simply to get angry responses from other posters. The analogy was to the method of fishing in which one trolls a line hoping to get a strike on the hook. The more people who responded, the more “successful” the troller considered himself. Since a very large number of internet users are from the U.S. where most of us grew up having read **The Three Billy Goats Gruff** , the word troll (already used as the verb, above) became associated with grouchy, unhuman monsters lurking under bridges, as well. To respond to posts by trolls, thereby giving them joy in their chancrous hearts, is to “feed” them. Hence, polite users avoid “feeding the trolls.” ( **DNFTT** is the abbreviation for Do Not Feed The Troll(s). ---
**Author:** ![TampaFlyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@TampaFlyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TampaFlyer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/6 "2000-10-26T18:41:57Z")
Oh, you’re talking about Weird Al the singer. I thought this was another thread about Gore kissing his wife. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/7 "2000-10-26T23:18:49Z")
**SDSTAFF David** and **SDSTAFF Ed** on [What is a Troll?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-al-and-trolls/38462/8 "2000-10-27T06:16:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **Since a very large number of internet users are from the U.S. where most of us grew up having read The Three Billy Goats Gruff, the word troll (already used as the verb, above) became associated with grouchy, unhuman monsters lurking under bridges, as well.** The Three Billy Goats Gruff is an English translation of one of the Norwegian folktales collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe (Norway’s equivalent of the Brothers Grimm). It’s worth noting that this is the _only_ story in which a troll is found under a bridge. They usually live inside mountains or underground in forests, hiding until they feel like bothering humans again… which, come to think of it, sounds like a good metaphor for an Internet troll as well.