What is a troll?

[Gunny]

This is an interesting conversation, deserving, I think, of its own thread.
~Abelian Sea

Another McCain troll?

pretty much... you can tell the minute they say Obama broke his "pledge on campaign finance", when it was McCain who broke his legal obligation.

By virtue of the fact the individual initiated the thread, he/she cannot by definition be a troll.

People aren't trolls because you don't like and/or agree with their opinions.

 

[Jon]

By virtue of the fact the individual initiated the thread, he/she cannot by definition be a troll.

People aren't trolls because you don't like and/or agree with their opinions.

At least someone else here knows the definition of what a troll is.

 

[Ravi]

By virtue of the fact the individual initiated the thread, he/she cannot by definition be a troll.

Why not? Trolls can start threads.

People aren't trolls because you don't like and/or agree with their opinions.

Yep. I never indicated such a thing.

 

[Jon]

Why not? Trolls can start threads.

A troll is someone who hijacks a relevant thread by posting off-topic conversations, much like we are doing now.

 

[busara]

A troll is someone who hijacks a relevant thread by posting off-topic conversations, much like we are doing now.

no, a troll is someone who posts false or inflammatory messages for the sake of getting a reaction.

nice to see we all have different definitions of a troll. but anyways ...

 

[Ravi]

A troll is someone who hijacks a relevant thread by posting off-topic conversations, much like we are doing now.

lol, yep, we be trolls.

But seriously, I haven't seen a definition that excludes trolls starting threads of their own.

 

[Jon]

no, a troll is someone who posts false or inflammatory messages for the sake of getting a reaction.

No, people who post inflammatory message are flamers. People who post false information are idiots.

And Ravi, a person who posts TOPICS in the wrong place is a spammer.

Trolls are thread hijackers.

 

[Ravi]

No, people who post inflammatory message are flamers. People who post false information are idiots.

And Ravi, a person who posts TOPICS in the wrong place is a spammer.

Trolls are thread hijackers.

Sorry, I'm not about to believe some doofus on a message board.

Here's an interesting description of trolls, and types of trolls, and types of trolling. Everything you've described and I've described are varying types of trolling.

The definitive guide to Trolls - Ubuntu Forums

 

[busara]

No, people who post inflammatory message are flamers. People who post false information are idiots.

And Ravi, a person who posts TOPICS in the wrong place is a spammer.

Trolls are thread hijackers.

good to see we have the foremost expert on trolls posting here

as i said, everyone has a different definition of a troll, but the one which seems to be most commonly accepted is what i posted

Can anyone define what the word Troll means? | Answerbag.com
Define Troll? - Yahoo! Answers
define:Troll - Google Search
Urban Dictionary: trolling

 

[Jon]

I've been on the Internet a long time. I was administrator of a forum with over 20,000 members. We always defined trolls as people who came into threads and posted for the sole purpose of changing the subject. Anyone who posts just to start fights was flaming.

 

[busara]

I've been on the Internet a long time. I was administrator of a forum with over 20,000 members. We always defined trolls as people who came into threads and posted for the sole purpose of changing the subject. Anyone who posts just to start fights was flaming.

like i said, people have different definitions of a troll. yours isnt the be-all-end-all, so stop acting like it is, and get back on the thread topic

 

[jillian]

This is an interesting conversation, deserving, I think, of its own thread.
~Abelian Sea





By virtue of the fact the individual initiated the thread, he/she cannot by definition be a troll.

People aren't trolls because you don't like and/or agree with their opinions.

And people aren't stupid because YOU don't like/dislike what they say... nor are they trolling.

Notwithstanding your statement, a troll is someone who posts something for the sole purpose of being inflammatory as when someone posts something they know for a fact to be a lie (like Obama being a "secret muslim" or mccain being the "manchurian candidate")... or a loser like jsanders who posts solely to defame Obama and pretend to elevate Hillary and perpetuate whatever perceived hostility he sees between those two "camps".

has nothing to do with partisanship. it is unlikely that you and I would agree on most subjects but I don't think I ever called you a troll or implied a lack of intellect on your part.

i don't think i ever even implied that someone like jose is a troll even though he's a wanna be terrorist who posts insane diatribes and threats of abuse against female posters.

Fact: we're all pretty partisan here... if we weren't, we wouldn't be posting on a political messageboard.

And I disagre about 1000% about someone by definition not being a troll on their own thread. I think, quite frequently, threads are created for the sole purpose of trolling...

 

[Abelian Sea]

My two cents:

I tend to agree with the "inflametory" definition of trolls, but not involving personal attacks. Rather, trolls post on the issues, but do so - typically in an exaggerated way - more to stir shit up than to seriously discuss the issues.

To my mind, an essential element of trolling is insincerity. Even in cases where the troll actually believes everything he's posting, his purpose is not to express or discuss his opinion but to disrupt the conversation. He is fundamentally not participating in the forum so much as fucking with it.

There are grey areas of course. One thing I've noticed a great deal of this campaign season are "deflection" posts. Sometimes they do seem relevant, but often they point in a totally different direction. Even then, I often can't tell if they're a normal part of political debate or if they have the trollish quality of conversational sabatoge. [tangent]Trolling was so much more obvious on the gaming forums I used to frequent.[/tangent]

 

[CA95380]

Trolls are thread hijackers.

If this is true then 99% of we members are trolls.

I would like someone to point out one (1) thread (that has numerous responses) that has not gone If there is one, I will eat this guy's hat.

 

[Ravi]

If this is true then 99% of we members are trolls.

Exactly! We are all trolls, but some trolls are malicious, some are disruptive, and some have an agenda.

 

[Caveguy]

And now for something completely different.


Were you expecting the Spanish Inquisition?

 

[DiamondDave]

I fully believe a troll to be someone posting with the ONLY goal being disruption, inflaming, insulting, and causing havoc... no intent of discussion, sharing ideas, ,etc....

You can usually spot it right away... with a few simple signs... repeating the same line or same link over an over... ignoring the questions at hand to add in more slogans... multiple threads on the same crap with just different titles...

 

[CA95380]

This pretty much sums it up.

A Practical Guide: To "troll" means to allure, to fish, to entice or to bait. Internet trolls are people who fish for other people's confidence and, once found, exploit it. Beware the Troll: A Practical Guide

"The Face of the Internet Troll"

 

[jla1178]

Anyone who posts just to start fights was flaming.

No, Boy George was flaming.

 

[Gunny]

And people aren't stupid because YOU don't like/dislike what they say... nor are they trolling.

Notwithstanding your statement, a troll is someone who posts something for the sole purpose of being inflammatory as when someone posts something they know for a fact to be a lie (like Obama being a "secret muslim" or mccain being the "manchurian candidate")... or a loser like jsanders who posts solely to defame Obama and pretend to elevate Hillary and perpetuate whatever perceived hostility he sees between those two "camps".

has nothing to do with partisanship. it is unlikely that you and I would agree on most subjects but I don't think I ever called you a troll or implied a lack of intellect on your part.

i don't think i ever even implied that someone like jose is a troll even though he's a wanna be terrorist who posts insane diatribes and threats of abuse against female posters.

Fact: we're all pretty partisan here... if we weren't, we wouldn't be posting on a political messageboard.

And I disagre about 1000% about someone by definition not being a troll on their own thread. I think, quite frequently, threads are created for the sole purpose of trolling...

In other words they are a troll for posting something YOU disagree with and believe to be untrue; when YOU do the same damned thing. You don't KNOW FOR A FACT what someone knows. Again, I can easily call YOU a troll for some of the absolute junk you call "fact."

FACT: there is a definition for an internet troll:

Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

FACT: By definition, everyone on this board trolls at one time or another, and YOU are no exception.

You have no argument.