Re: [spoon-discuss] Fwd: Re: Observers

["Baron von Skippy" <baronvonskippy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > -B Nomic, meet "deltanine," a.k.a. "sam nichols," a.k.a. "quarksbar9." 
> > Deltanine is quick to anger, quick to friendliness. Her attention span is 
> > pretty short, as is her temper. As you can no doubt guess, the "troll" 
> > (what is that, anyway?) is yours truly. If you'd like anything passed on, 
> > you who are observers, send it through me. I won't edit it or comment on 
> > it, and I'm not the one who tried to bring B Nomic down.
<SNIP>
> From Jargon File (4.3.0, 30 APR 2001):
>
> troll v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a
>    posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or
>    flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for
>    newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of
>    fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a
>    bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies
>    and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they 
> already
>    do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is
>    in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to
>    be in on it. See also YHBT. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in
>    sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks
>    to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than
>    to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by 
> the
>    fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at 
> hand
>    - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they 
> are
>    named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such,
>    they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh,
>    ignore him, he's just a troll." Compare kook. 3. [Berkeley] Computer
>    lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS students. Duties include
>    helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably
>    so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.
>
>    Some people claim that the troll (sense 1) is properly a narrower
>    category than flame bait, that a troll is categorized by containing
>    some assertion that is wrong but not overtly controversial. See also
>    Troll-O-Meter.
>
>    The use of `troll' in either sense is a live metaphor that readily
>    produces elaborations and combining forms. For example, one not
>    infrequently sees the warning "Do not feed the troll" as part of a
>    followup to troll postings.
-Ah, so I was close. That doesn't sound a lot like me. I'd say the term 
"bear" is more appropriate, as in "bear-bait," where a bear is chained and 
people poke it with sticks and spears until it dies. It's rather cruel to 
the bear.-

[[BvS]]

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