Troll: Difference between revisions

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The easiest way for a troll to set off an argument is to find a forum devoted to a specific point-of-view -- fandomview—fandom, hobbyists, politics, what have you -- andyou—and post [[Refuge in Audacity|something inflammatory and profane]] holding an opposite viewpoint. An experienced troll makes sure to hit as many buttons as possible in a single post, making sure that others on the forum spend an equal amount of time responding to and refuting each point. I.E., on a fan forum for "X", a beginning troll may simply post "X Sucks", while an experienced troll may post a [[Hannibal Lecture|long essay]] on ''[["The Reason You Suck" Speech|why]]'' "[[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|X Sucks]]" (usually full of [[Twisting the Words|lies]] and [[Paint the Hero Black|mischaracterizations]], but [[Villains Never Lie|using the truth]] makes it all the more frustrating for the regulars,) and a very experienced troll will even use [[Sock Puppet|Sock Puppets]]s to anger ''both'' sides of an argument at once. Troll messages are often characterized by poor grammar, poor punctuation, excessive use of net slang and CAPS. Whether this is real illiteracy or an additional attempt to garner a response depends on the individual.

One may think that the term "Trolling" comes from the way that people verb every noun they can get their metaphorical hands on, but it's actually the other way around: The (by now, mostly forgotten) origin of the term "Trolling" comes from the phrase "trolling for [[Fan Dumb|suckers]]," a reference to ''trawling'' as a technique in fishing, where a baited hook is slowly drawn through the water rather than simply being cast and allowed to stay in one place -- theplace—the idea being that the troll drags his bait through the group without staying around himself. The use of the term "troll" as a noun, and the attachment of mythical beastly [[Stealth Pun|trolls]] to the concept are all more recent additions.