119 replies to this topic

[Cyo]

lol

[namida]

being sarcastic with some one who doesn't have a sense of humor or just trying to piss people of by asking stupid questions. This can be achieved intentionally or unintentionally I guess.

I curios where the term came from...I don't see the connection between the mythical animal and this kind of behavior.

[Cyo]

I curios where the term came from...I don't see the connection between the mythical animal and this kind of behavior.

Doesn't the verb troll refer to a baiting (fishing) technique? Could be from there since trolling is essentially just baiting somebody with intentional logical fallacies to provoke some reaction from the trolled.

[Yung]

You can read this yourself at the Ubuntu Forums - The definitive guide to Trolls

----Definition----

An "Internet troll" or "Forum Troll" is a person who posts outrageous message to bait people to answer. Trolls delight in sowing discord on the forums. A troll is someone who inspires flaming rhetoric, someone who is purposely provoking and pulling people into flaming discussion. Flaming discussions usually end with name calling and a flame war.

A classic troll tries to make us believe that he is a skeptic. He is divisive and argumentative with need-to-be-right attitude, "searching for the truth", flaming discussion, and sometimes insulting people or provoking people to insult him. A troll is usually an expert in reusing the same words of its opponents and in turning it against them.

While he tries to present himself as a skeptic looking for truth ... his messages usually sound as if it is the responsibility of other forum members to provide evidence that what forum is all about is legitimate.

]He (and in at least 90% of cases it is he) tries to start arguments and upset people.

Sometimes, he is skeptical, trying to scare people, trying to plant fear in their hearts. Sometimes, Internet troll is trying to spin conflicting information, is questioning in an insincere manner, flaming discussion, insulting people, turning people against each other, harassing forum members, ignoring warnings from forum moderators.

Trolling is a form of harassment that can take over a discussion. Well meaning defenders can create chaos by responding to trolls. The best response is to ignore it, or to report a message to a forum moderator. Ubuntuforums moderators usually move troll messages to the jail and may even ban trolls after a few unheeded warnings. Negative emotions stirred up by trolls leak over into other discussions. Normally affable people can become bitter after reading an angry interchange between a troll and his victims, and this can poison previously friendly interactions between long-time users.

Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash.

When trolls are completely ignored they sometimes step up their attacks, desperately seeking the attention they crave. Their messages become more and more foul, and they post ever more of them. Alternatively, they may protest that their right to free speech is being curtailed. Perhaps the most difficult challenge for a moderator is deciding whether to take steps against a troll that a few people find entertaining. Some trolls do have a creative spark and have chosen to squander it on being disruptive. There is a certain perverse pleasure in watching some of them. Ultimately, though, we have to decide if the troll actually cares about putting on a good show for the regular participants, or is simply playing to an audience of one -- himself. For this reason the staff here often intervene, either with a warning in a thread, jailing one or more posts, sending private messages to offenders, and even banning people--temporarily or permanently--from these forums.

As an idea, the next time you see a post by somebody whom you think is a troll, and you feel you must reply, maybe you could just write a follow-up message in the thread entitled "Troll Alert" and type something like this:
Quote: The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction and not to respond to trolling messages. It is well known that most people don't read messages that nobody responds to, while 99% of forum visitors first read the longest and the largest threads with the most answers. The goal of the Ubuntuforums is to provide a place where people wanting to share experiences using Ubuntu or Linux in general can do so as well as give and receive technical assistance in a friendly, pleasant environment. Trolls disturb and disrupt community and are neither welcomed nor tolerated. There are lots of "free speech" forums available for political, religious, "not safe for work" and family-unfriendly sorts of interactions. If you feel the need to troll, please seek out one of these places.

[Elindoril]

You can read this yourself at the Ubuntu Forums - The definitive guide to Trolls

So even though Sweeney asked us personally for our definition of "Troll", you be lazy and just steal someone else's work?

[Sweeney]

You can read this yourself at the Ubuntu Forums - The definitive guide to Trolls

Why would you post that?

You know that I've read it, because you posted it in another thread that I responded to.
Obviously, I don't agree with that definition, hence the thread.

The reason I don't agree with it, is because it can basically be summed up as "someone who is vocal about not agreeing with everything you post".

[NapisaurusRex]

Why would you post that?

He must be 'trolling'.

[Sweeney]

He must be 'trolling'.

Actually, I think you've just spent the last few months fucking a lobotomy patient.

[NapisaurusRex]

Actually, I think you've just spent the last few months fucking a lobotomy patient.

Better me than you, obviously.

[Sweeney]

Better me than you, obviously.

Well clearly. You're welcome to as many mistakes as you like

[onlyme]

Actually, I think you've just spent the last few months fucking a lobotomy patient.

[NapisaurusRex]

Well clearly. You're welcome to as many mistakes as you like

Thanks! My whole life I've been striving for perfection, to the point of insanity. You've just freed my whole world!

If I believed in emoticons, there'd be an appreciative caret face right here.

I'm off to go get a horrible haircut now. Haircuts are really the worst mistakes a girl can make.

[Sweeney]

Haircuts are really the worst mistakes a girl can make.

Don't you have a daughter?

[luvsmyncis]

Don't you have a daughter?

Just last night my mother said, "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life" and I said, "Yeah, and four really big ones." (Implying me and my siblings.) I got a high five from my brother for that one.
But then my mom had to fuckin' TROLL US by saying, "You were accidents, not mistakes"
D'oh!

[NapisaurusRex]

Don't you have a daughter?

At no point in her life have I ever considered her a mistake.

[Sweeney]

Just last night my mother said, "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life" and I said, "Yeah, and four really big ones." (Implying me and my siblings.) I got a high five from my brother for that one.
But then my mom had to fuckin' TROLL US by saying, "You were accidents, not mistakes"
D'oh!

lol u gt trolld heardcore

At no point in her life have I ever considered her a mistake.

Ever? In any way?
Then you're either a liar, or woefully unimaginative.

[NapisaurusRex]

Ever? In any way?
Then you're either a liar, or woefully unimaginative.

Or genuinely fucked up enough to appreciate someone to love me unconditionally, no matter the means she came.

[Waterfall]

Trlololol

[Sweeney]

Or genuinely fucked up enough to appreciate someone to love me unconditionally, no matter the means she came.

Oh. Just naive.

[iargue]

Anyways. Back on topic after Sweeney derailed everything with insults for no reason.

The first mistake that everyone thinks, is that "trolling" is about attacking someone, or a group of people, and getting them to attack you back. Trolls do not attack people. Trolls take an idea or concept that no one else agrees with, and then states and defends it with such conviction that everyone else believes that they honestly mean it.

Ex:
"I honestly agreed with the NDAA. Terrorism is a growing threat, we need to adapt to the threat in order to overcome it"

Which is then be responded to with things like:

"What the fuck bro? This isn't even targeted towards terrorism"
"Dude! If we do this, we are letting the terrorists win, this just shows that we are scared enough to give up our rights for freedom"
"You are stupid, this isn't going to stop terrorists, its going to stop us from speaking out against the government. It just gives rich people more power"


The troll then takes this opportunity to either respond to everything that was said with a counter argument, or simply lumps them all together with a blanket statement that addresses none of the issues, but again states his concept with authority, even if it is not true

ex:

"9/11 has shown us that our current policies are not strong enough to protect us from them. If we want to be safe, we must trust in our government to do their job, but they cannot do their job without more power. The more we fight against our own government, the easier the terrorists will win. This is a pointless battle that will only end in us losing. We must put this aside and fight back against the terrorists"

The best method of trolling is to never respond with your own insults, unless it serves your purpose perfectly. The more you continue to respond in the same manner or method, without attacking a person directly (Attack their ideas as much as possible) the more successful you become as a troll. When the time is right (Aka, all of your ideas have been disprove) you can take the fight personal inorder to distract people until you can recover and attack again with a better argument.

The greatest power that a troll has is that he does not have to believe what he is typing, thus he can change his argument as his need be. As he looses the fight against the people who are falling for it, he changes his ideas to continue to fight against the majority, and continue to bait people into responding to him over a thought or idea that doesn't actually exist.

The most important thing to discern is between a troll and idiot. For example, a lot of people think that maha was a troll. He was not. He was an idiot. Plain and simple. He created false identifies but fails to stick by them. He responded to people in a retarded manner, and forgot what his original argument was. He told blatant lies, and then acted like he never told them. This wasn't trolling, this was just being a retard. A troll is doing this on purpose. He does not forget what his argument was, because it was created for a single purpose, and only lives to serve that purpose.

An example of a troll in the past for the older members, would be Cyo. Cyo was a fairly intelligent person who instead of typing things as we spell them, he typed things out as it is pronounced. This caused hundreds of members to believe that he was retarded and was speaking "gangster" talk. The major difference was that he did it with a signification larger amount of words then "gangsters" did. This was in itself an act of trolling, because he took the time and effort to change his words to look differently, to pretend to be something he was not. This is a troll. A troll does not admit he is trolling to the masses (Only to people in groups) a troll does not attack people directly, unless it benefits them greatly, and a troll sticks by an idea that will cause the greatest amount of people to respond in turn (Doesn't even have to attack him, he just needs to trick them into thinking he follows this philosophy)

Grey areas do exist in this manner. For instance the ex member Donaldmax was a grey area. Depending on how you look at it (and his underwhelming thoughts that we are not privy to) he was either just a complete ass, or he was a troll. He had the right idea or concept of stating things that got people to respond to in hate, but at the same time most of his concepts attacked people directly. This puts him in a grey area. He said stupid things with complete conviction, making him a troll, but he attacked people directly, instead of presenting ideas, which simply made him an asshole. Thus we define that as a grey area, not really a troll, not really a complete retard (though close).

so in conclusion, a troll is defined as a person who states an idea that they do not believe in, with completely conviction and defense, as to make others respond to him in defense of an differing opinion.

A retard is defined as maha.

[Sweeney]

So in conclusion, a troll is defined as a person who states an idea that they do not believe in, with completely conviction and defense, as to make others respond to him in defense of an differing opinion.

So again, a troll is reduced to someone who is vocal about disagreeing with you, or pretends to disagree with you.

Making it a damn near useless term to throw around in discussions.

[Cyo]

So again, a troll is reduced to someone who is vocal about disagreeing with you, or pretends to disagree with you.

Making it a damn near useless term to throw around in discussions.

What would you like it to mean then?

[Sweeney]

What would you like it to mean then?

I don't care... my point is that calling someone a troll in a discussion as a way of avoiding their arguments is utterly without merit.

[iargue]

So again, a troll is reduced to someone who is vocal about disagreeing with you, or pretends to disagree with you.

Making it a damn near useless term to throw around in discussions.

It is completely pointless to say it at all in a conversation. Anyone that admits to being a troll, is not a troll (Expect if they do it in private to a small group of people. aka, friends). Trolls are determined by other people who are watching/participating. At a certain point, you realize that this person is just arguing for the sake of arguing, and label them as such, and move on, or you realize they are the most retarded person alive, and sign the petition to make abortions legal in hopes of preventing any future offspring of his.

If a person states "Stop trolling me" they most likely are retarded and do not know what trolling means. If someone states "Haha, I trolled you" they are retarded and are trying to escape from the hole they dug. A troll will accept that you think hes retarded, and you dug him into a hole, because that was his objective from the start. He won't defend himself by claiming to be a troll, because deep down, he is happy knowing that you believe everything he said.

[Sweeney]

It is completely pointless to say it at all in a conversation. Anyone that admits to being a troll, is not a troll (Expect if they do it in private to a small group of people. aka, friends). Trolls are determined by other people who are watching/participating. At a certain point, you realize that this person is just arguing for the sake of arguing, and label them as such, and move on, or you realize they are the most retarded person alive, and sign the petition to make abortions legal in hopes of preventing any future offspring of his.

If a person states "Stop trolling me" they most likely are retarded and do not know what trolling means. If someone states "Haha, I trolled you" they are retarded and are trying to escape from the hole they dug. A troll will accept that you think hes retarded, and you dug him into a hole, because that was his objective from the start. He won't defend himself by claiming to be a troll, because deep down, he is happy knowing that you believe everything he said.

(You could have just said yes )