[MrGreen]

Wikipedia and other sites give you the picture of the troll from about 2006 onwards. That's pretty narrow.

Classic troll = Lying (or blatant sarcasm) for the sake of inciting conversation
Modern troll = Flaming for the purpose of starting a conversation/making people rage
Post-Modern troll = anyone with an opinion different to yours <- often people get called trolls when they arent trolling now

"A troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. "
Sums it up fairly well as provided by krmathis, but it wasnt always to go off topic or to start a flamewar.

It originated (as a popular means) on 2channel, but then became popular for western audiences on something awful in about 2003 and then exploded excessively on 4chan.

 

[fuseboxx]

I don't know what your problems are.

Trolls are cute.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is up to you to decide. It pretty much fit my description of a troll, but yours may be different. Wikipedia is open for editing by everyone, so everything written in there may not reflect the truth.

We can't handle the truth!

 

[fraseyboy]

Ya'll are postin in a troll thread.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuseboxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know what your problems are. Trolls are cute.

Not all trolls are cute.

 

[krmathis]

 

[Ducks_own]

How is a thread dedicated to trolling still be alive? That's my big question

 

[fenixdown110]

Trolls are resilient creatures.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

... although they can be temporarily stymied by a thread lock

 

[greenhorn]

Nobody mentioned yet Merton?

O, tempora...

 

[Aslan123]

Another kind I've noticed are trolls who give information that appears to be factual and correct, but instead are just making things up for their own amusement.

This happened recently in the ZERO DAC/Amp thread, where a member was making bad recommendations that seemed correct.

 

[Orcin]

Aw darn. I had 40 posts in the "when will it be locked" pool. Oh well.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Aw darn. I had 40 posts in the "when will it be locked" pool. Oh well.

I'm going to suggest that you place your bet on the next post that specifically names a current member.

If you think someone has crossed the line into being a troll, report their post, but to just trashtalk someone here is as bad or worse.

 

[frozenice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixdown110 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Trolls are resilient creatures.

.... so are fan boys.

I always thought of it as a yin/yang thing between the trolls and fanboys, just keeping the universe in balance and harmony.

 

[fuseboxx]

too late to say IBTL?